Mind Savers Pursue Six Speculative Paths to Preserve the Self Beyond Death

The article begins with the premise that the self is tied to the roughly three-pound brain, with its billions of neurons and trillions of connections, though science still cannot fully explain self-awareness or pinpoint where a first memory resides. It notes that people forget most experiences as they age, yet retain continuity: at 30, 50, or 70, a person will still be that person. To preserve that continuity, some far-thinking technologists are pursuing ways to keep the brain going beyond death.

One path examined is head transplant, or body transplant. The article cites the grim fascination of White’s experiments and says a few neuroscientists see inspiration in them. The main proponent is Sergio Canavero, a controversial Italian surgeon who 10 years ago claimed he had found a volunteer, Valery Spiridinov, a computer programmer with a degenerative muscle disease. Spiridinov initially agreed to have his head transferred to the body of a brain-dead donor in China, but later bowed out and married instead. Critics say the procedure would be more like murder than medicine, or that volunteers would be left paralyzed and needing a ventilator for life.

Canavero disputes that view. He told MIT Technology Review that views will change once people accept that reconnecting severed spinal cords is already possible. He pointed to a research article from the past summer that he coauthored with surgeons at Moscow’s Sklifosovsky Research and Clinical Institute for Emergency Medicine. The team cut through the spinal cords of three pigs midway along their backs and tested whether the severed nerve bodies could be fused with a surgical sealant. According to the paper in PLOS One, all three pigs regained the ability to stand and even walk unsteadily.

The article says mainstream researchers are not convinced that a head could be attached to a new body and control it. Grégoire Courtine, a spinal rehabilitation specialist at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, said he has followed Canavero’s claims “with little respect” and thinks people should “pay zero attention.” He wrote in an email that “[t]here is no technology … capable of such a crazy idea.”

Another path is the mindclone. The article says that 12 years after a book on the subject appeared, AI technology has brought some predictions to “life.” Services such as StoryFile, Afterlife AI, and Synthesia let users upload personal information and likeness to produce conversational bots that share memories or video talking heads that sound and look like them. Influencers now let their “AI clones” work on TikTok, and some people build avatars of aging parents to preserve their personalities. The article notes that mimicry can produce comical results, unhealthy attachments, or uncanny vibes, while increasing realism invites emotional acceptance of avatars as real beings.

It cites a 2025 event held by the UCLA Department of Communication called “The Bridge to Humanizing AI,” where Rothblatt appeared as a digital avatar. Her copy, named Marvatar, was projected on a screen, led discussions, and talked with the physical Rothblatt as an equal, at one point saying, “The dance isn’t about who leads, but how we move together.” According to the university, attendees were “visibly moved” and wept “with wonder” at Rothblatt’s vision of digital equality.

What remains missing from the mindclone prediction, the article says, is evidence that avatars have or ever will have true self-awareness. When MIT Technology Review asked ChatGPT if it is conscious, it answered, “Probably not.” Neuroscientists do not have a clear definition of consciousness, much less a diagnostic test for an avatar. The article says the final determination may be in the eye of the beholder: a digital clone might not be you, but at some point it might be good enough for me.

A third path described in the article is a brain in a jar. The article says that last year, a company called Bexorg began showing journalists actual human brains in vats, which it has been acquiring from organ donors soon after death.