Dennis Kowalski, the director of the US-based Cryonics Institute (CI), recently said that unlike the human body the brain can go past the point of repair. His institute is, therefore, trying to preserve the brain after death to achieve immortality.
Kowalski's statement comes soon after a scientific study found that the brain continues to be conscious for some time after the heart stops beating.
Kowalski told Daily Star: "If the brain decays too much, we have what we call 'information theoretic death'."
On the website of Cryonics Institute, it says: "Absolute death may only be said to occur when the brain's essential information is destroyed — and brain preservation is precisely what cryopreservation aims to achieve."
Dennis claimed Cryonics Institute does more of an extension of stem cell research than bringing back people from the dead.
"Stroke victims have stem cells injected into them, so we could do the same on a larger scale with cryonics," he explained. "The brain is like a document or a painting."
Kowalski believes that cryonics will allow humans to keep their minds alive and in a state of consciousness even when the bodies have been frozen.
In 20 years, Cryonics technology has advanced a lot that Kowalski says might even bring an end to traditional funerals and people would go to "Cryo-Parlors" to freeze themselves after death.
Currently, almost 2,000 people have put their names down at CI to be frozen after they die, including Kowalski and his family. The list also includes popular stars like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Simon Cowell.
Meanwhile, at least 160 people and more than 100 pets have been frozen at the Institute's Michigan laboratory. In just 10 years, attempts will be made to bring back to life the first human frozen using cryonics.
