Can Science Reverse Death?

[Michie]

Popular Mechanics recently re-shared an article on social media with the audacious title, “A Groundbreaking Scientific Discovery Shows that We Can Reverse Death.” Is that true?

It depends on how you understand death. In the old days, it was relatively easy to determine whether someone was dead: he stopped breathing and his pulse disappeared.

That was a useful way of determining death because breathing is necessary to get oxygen to the blood, and a beating heart is necessary to push oxygen-laded blood to the cells of the body. Without that happening, every cell in the body would die.

Of course, mistakes could be made. Someone might be breathing really shallowly, and he might have only a faint pulse, but if he really stopped breathing and his heart really stopped, he was dead. End of story.

Things got more complex in the twentieth century. Techniques became available to keep someone breathing and to restart his heart.

In the 1950s, ventilators were introduced. These are machines that act like bellows to move air in and out of the lungs.

Also in the 1950s, the first (external) mechanical hearts became available, and by 1960, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) could help keep blood moving during a cardiac arrest, adrenaline could encourage the heart to resume beating, and defibrillators could hopefully shock it back into a normal rhythm.

All this raised the question of whether people who met the previous definition of death (no breathing and no heartbeat) should be considered dead.

By the late 1960s, a new criterion was proposed: absence of brain activity. This could make sense because a functioning brain was needed to keep things like breathing and hearts going without mechanical aid.

Continued below.

Can Science Reverse Death?

Popular Mechanics recently shared an article claiming audaciously that, thanks to science, "We Can Reverse Death.” Is that true?

www.catholic.com

 

[RileyG]

Thanks for posting

 

[Wolseley]

I'd just be happy if science could reverse stupidity.....

 

[AlexB23]

Popular Mechanics recently re-shared an article on social media with the audacious title, “A Groundbreaking Scientific Discovery Shows that We Can Reverse Death.” Is that true?

It depends on how you understand death. In the old days, it was relatively easy to determine whether someone was dead: he stopped breathing and his pulse disappeared.

That was a useful way of determining death because breathing is necessary to get oxygen to the blood, and a beating heart is necessary to push oxygen-laded blood to the cells of the body. Without that happening, every cell in the body would die.

Of course, mistakes could be made. Someone might be breathing really shallowly, and he might have only a faint pulse, but if he really stopped breathing and his heart really stopped, he was dead. End of story.

Things got more complex in the twentieth century. Techniques became available to keep someone breathing and to restart his heart.

In the 1950s, ventilators were introduced. These are machines that act like bellows to move air in and out of the lungs.

Also in the 1950s, the first (external) mechanical hearts became available, and by 1960, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) could help keep blood moving during a cardiac arrest, adrenaline could encourage the heart to resume beating, and defibrillators could hopefully shock it back into a normal rhythm.

All this raised the question of whether people who met the previous definition of death (no breathing and no heartbeat) should be considered dead.

By the late 1960s, a new criterion was proposed: absence of brain activity. This could make sense because a functioning brain was needed to keep things like breathing and hearts going without mechanical aid.

Continued below.

Can Science Reverse Death?

Popular Mechanics recently shared an article claiming audaciously that, thanks to science, "We Can Reverse Death.” Is that true?

www.catholic.com

Hypothetically, say a fictional alien civilization (say the Vulcans from Star Trek) developed technology to rearrange atoms from thin air or matter placed into the machine, a high-tech molecular assembler that followed the laws of physics. If the alien Spock crashes your dead family member's funeral and says "I can revive your dead family member by rearranging the dead body's atoms", you should probably say no. The reason for this, is that the person is in heaven, and it would feel ethically wrong to take away his/her life up there with God by using said machine to revive dead folks.

Personally, I'd use that hypothetical molecular assembler for better purposes, to make a supply of German chocolate out of thin air when I run low, or make meals for myself and others so I didn't have to cook and clean up my dishes. Imagine the energy bill to use such a device, a machine materializing molecules out of atoms around us.

 

[Ave Maria]

That is a very interesting article, and it's a subject that I have wondered about for several years. How can we be absolutely certain that someone has died? If a doctor makes a premature decision that someone has died and then removes their organs for an organ transplantation, then they are inadvertently ending that person's life by removing the person's vital organs.

 

[Bob Crowley]

I once prayed that I might meet someone who'd had a near death experience.

A day or so later I picked up a passenger in the cab I was driving who told me that he'd been clinically dead for ten minutes. I was surprised I even got the job as it was a fair way to the pickup point, but for some reason it was reserved for a maxi-cab (van with wheelchair facilities) when he didn't need a wheelchair. I was driving a Maxi Taxi at the time.

I picked him up at a retirement village with some semi independent units and if I remember rightly I think he might have gone to school with one of my cousins, as he was about my age. The retirement complex was in a suburb called Brighton and that was where these particular cousins grew up. I thnk that was why I asked him if he knew them and to my surprise he said he knew one of them. Small world at times.

He was in hospital and he had technically died following a major operation if I remember rightly. But he said he could still hear everything that was going on.

He heard someone say "Well, he's gone. I suppose we'd better go and tell the registrar."

But then a few minutes later he heard "Hang on, one of his fingers just moved! We'd better try again!"

So they did and they brought him around. He still had medical issues after which was the reason he was in the retirment / nursing complex at an early age. But he survived.

He said "You should have seen the looks on the doctor's faces when they came to visit!"

I suppose there is always a faint chance someone who is technically dead may just not be.