An Ambulance Into the Future: Jose Luis Cordeiro on Cryonics, 2045, and The Death of Death

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