What if death is optional?

From the BOLD Awards in Barcelona, Keith Koo sits down with Jose Luis Cordeiro – MIT-trained engineer, student of Marvin Minsky, longtime collaborator of Ray Kurzweil, former Singularity University faculty, and author of “The Death of Death” (now in 15 languages) – for a deep dive on the science of cryonics, transhumanism, and the future of human longevity.

Cordeiro calls cryonics Plan B. Plan A is biological rejuvenation by 2045 – Ray Kurzweil’s forecast for when humanity reaches the technological singularity. Cordeiro argues death is already becoming optional, with the 2050s as the projected window for reanimating cryonically suspended people.

Inside this episode:

The difference between cryonics, cryogenics, and cryopreservation

How cryoprotectants work, and why ice crystals – not cold – are the real problem

Current progress: sperm, eggs, embryos, ovaries, corneas, trachea, and small-animal kidneys all successfully cryopreserved

Why full brain reanimation still waits on nanotechnology

The Walt Disney myth corrected (his head is not in cold storage)

James Bedford, the first human ever cryopreserved – January 12, 1967, one month after Disney died

The actual cost: $20,000 to $80,000 for a brain, not the $1 million most people assume

The billionaire-funded race: Altos Labs ($3B from Bezos and Yuri Milner), Calico ($3B from Sergey Brin and Larry Page), the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

UC Davis as a quietly leading longevity research institution

The ethical case for extending life

110,000 people die every day of age-related diseases – more than any war in history

Why Cordeiro calls cryonics “an ambulance into the future”

The faith and ethics questions this conversation raises are taken up in the companion episode on Ten Talents this week. Both episodes belong together.

“The Death of Death” by Jose Luis Cordeiro – available on Amazon in 15 languages.

Silicon Valley Insider with Keith Koo. More at svin.biz and keithkoo.com.

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Chapter markers

00:00 Show Intro

00:26 Barcelona Guest Setup

01:17 Cordeiro Background

02:09 Defeating Death

04:18 Cryonics Basics

06:48 Organs to Brains

08:31 Break and Contacts

11:10 Tech Roadmap 2045

12:33 Cloning and Identity

14:44 Rejuvenation and Disease

18:13 IVF and Selection

19:05 Next Segment Tease

19:52 Return to Barcelona

20:20 Sci-Fi Cryonics Inspirations

21:49 Ethics of Immortality

25:54 Organs, Brains, Identity

28:08 Resource Scarcity Debate

30:20 Funding the Longevity Race

33:04 Book Plug and Break

34:49 Democratizing Life Extension

37:06 Plan A vs Plan B

38:02 How Cryonics Works

39:18 Ambulance to the Future