Information-theoretic death

Information-theoretic death is a term of art used in cryonics to define death in a way that is permanent and independent of any future medical advances, however distant or improbable. Because detailed reading or restoration of information-storing brain structures is beyond current technology, the term lacks practical importance in contemporary medicine.¹

References

Sebastian Seung (2012). Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are. Houghton Mifflin. p. 271. ISBN 9780547678597. Merkle's definition of death is of more philosophical than practical importance. To apply it, we need to know exactly how memories, personality, and other aspects of personal identity are stored in the brain.

[1] Sebastian Seung (2012). Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are. Houghton Mifflin. p. 271. ISBN 9780547678597. Merkle's definition of death is of more philosophical than practical importance. To apply it, we need to know exactly how memories, personality, and other aspects of personal identity are stored in the brain.

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