Practitioner forecasts of technological progress in biostasis

TL;DR

This study surveyed 22 biostasis experts to identify key biomarkers, barriers, and revival strategies, revealing consensus on certain indicators and outlining future research priorities in life extension technologies.

Contribution

It provides a collaborative forecast on biostasis, highlighting reliable biomarkers, major failure modes, and the timeline for potential revival methods, which advances understanding of the field's challenges and prospects.

Findings

Synaptic connectivity as a reliable biomarker

Major failure modes include preservation quality and geographic barriers

Whole brain emulation and nanotechnology are promising revival strategies

Abstract

Biostasis has the potential to extend human lives by offering a bridge to powerful life extension technologies that may be developed in the future. However, key questions in the field remain unresolved, including which biomarkers reliably indicate successful preservation, what technical obstacles pose the greatest barriers, and whether different proposed revival methods are theoretically feasible. To address these gaps, we conducted a collaborative forecasting exercise with 22 practitioners in biostasis, including individuals with expertise in neuroscience, cryobiology, and clinical care. Our results reveal substantial consensus in some areas, for example that synaptic connectivity can serve as a reliable surrogate biomarker for information preservation quality. Practitioners identified three most likely failure modes in contemporary biostasis: inadequate preservation quality even under ideal conditions, geographic barriers preventing timely preservation, and poor procedural execution. Regarding revival strategies, most respondents believe that provably reversible cryopreservation of whole mammalian organisms is most likely decades away, with provably reversible human cryopreservation expected even later, if it is ever achieved. Among revival strategies from contemporary preservation methods, whole brain emulation was considered the most likely to be developed first, though respondents were divided on the metaphysical question of whether it could constitute genuine revival. Molecular nanotechnology was viewed as nearly as likely to be technically feasible, and compatible with both pure cryopreservation and aldehyde-based methods. Taken together, these findings delineate current barriers to high-quality preservation, identify future research priorities, and provide baseline estimates for key areas of uncertainty.