1 00:00:02,202 --> 00:00:06,036 Freeman: The end of life. 2 00:00:06,106 --> 00:00:12,306 It's a reality that terrifies us and motivates us. 3 00:00:12,379 --> 00:00:16,076 Now cutting-edge science embarks on a bold mission 4 00:00:16,149 --> 00:00:18,549 to extend human life. 5 00:00:19,819 --> 00:00:22,413 Some think the answer lies in biology. 6 00:00:22,989 --> 00:00:26,857 Some believe it might be in our brains. 7 00:00:26,926 --> 00:00:29,224 And others claim that immortality would mean 8 00:00:29,295 --> 00:00:32,093 the end of humanity. 9 00:00:32,165 --> 00:00:36,431 Will death remain inevitable? 10 00:00:36,503 --> 00:00:38,937 Or can we live forever? 11 00:00:43,877 --> 00:00:48,610 Freeman: Space, time, life itself. 12 00:00:50,784 --> 00:00:55,687 The secrets of the cosmos lie Through the Wormhole. 13 00:01:07,500 --> 00:01:11,334 The sands of time run swiftly, 14 00:01:11,404 --> 00:01:14,464 a reminder that life is fleeting; 15 00:01:14,541 --> 00:01:17,009 death is a humbling reality. 16 00:01:17,077 --> 00:01:21,878 But what if life had no end? 17 00:01:21,948 --> 00:01:25,008 In just the past 200 years, 18 00:01:25,085 --> 00:01:27,110 the average life-span has doubled 19 00:01:27,187 --> 00:01:30,384 from about 40 to almost 80 years. 20 00:01:30,457 --> 00:01:32,948 Breakthroughs in biology and physics 21 00:01:33,026 --> 00:01:36,427 could soon bring immortality within our grasp. 22 00:01:36,496 --> 00:01:40,432 For better or worse, many of you watching me right now 23 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:41,899 may live to see the day 24 00:01:41,968 --> 00:01:47,702 when aging and death itself are relics of a distant past. 25 00:01:50,944 --> 00:01:54,243 I remember rummaging through my grandmother's trunk once, 26 00:01:54,314 --> 00:01:58,614 happening upon objects that had been stored away for years. 27 00:01:58,685 --> 00:02:04,920 Everything was faded, curled, rusted. 28 00:02:04,991 --> 00:02:06,788 I couldn't help but wonder, 29 00:02:06,860 --> 00:02:09,920 when would the same decay happen to me? 30 00:02:14,968 --> 00:02:16,936 Michio Kaku, 31 00:02:17,003 --> 00:02:19,972 a theoretical physicist at City College of New York, 32 00:02:20,039 --> 00:02:23,099 is fascinated with the big questions in science, 33 00:02:23,176 --> 00:02:25,440 like whether the laws of physics 34 00:02:25,512 --> 00:02:29,744 require that all living things die. 35 00:02:29,816 --> 00:02:31,579 One of the iron laws of physics 36 00:02:31,651 --> 00:02:33,881 is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, 37 00:02:33,953 --> 00:02:35,318 which says that everything rusts, 38 00:02:35,388 --> 00:02:38,755 everything decays, falls apart. 39 00:02:38,825 --> 00:02:41,953 We're all made out of atoms, and these atoms, in turn, 40 00:02:42,028 --> 00:02:44,360 obey the Second Law of Thermodynamics. 41 00:02:46,366 --> 00:02:49,529 Freeman: Anything and everything in the Universe 42 00:02:49,602 --> 00:02:53,868 has the tendency to go from order to disorder. 43 00:02:53,940 --> 00:02:56,465 And once the damage is done, 44 00:02:56,543 --> 00:03:01,845 it's extremely difficult to reverse things and un-mix them. 45 00:03:01,915 --> 00:03:04,713 It's a process known as entropy. 46 00:03:04,784 --> 00:03:07,082 If I mix coffee, 47 00:03:07,153 --> 00:03:13,092 I realize that when I put cream into coffee, I increase entropy. 48 00:03:13,159 --> 00:03:14,558 I increase disorder. 49 00:03:14,627 --> 00:03:19,291 In fact, to see this milk jump out and reform in this cup 50 00:03:19,365 --> 00:03:21,890 is such a preposterous event 51 00:03:21,968 --> 00:03:23,731 that you would have to wait longer 52 00:03:23,803 --> 00:03:27,330 than the lifetime of the Universe to see it happen. 53 00:03:27,407 --> 00:03:32,538 Freeman: The Second Law of Thermodynamics is an unremitting force. 54 00:03:32,612 --> 00:03:37,311 Nothing is immune to the power of entropy, 55 00:03:37,383 --> 00:03:39,510 not even the cells in our body. 56 00:03:39,586 --> 00:03:41,645 Kaku: And that's why we age. 57 00:03:41,721 --> 00:03:44,986 In fact, that's why we die. 58 00:03:45,058 --> 00:03:49,893 But it turns out that there is a loophole to the law of entropy. 59 00:03:49,963 --> 00:03:54,764 There is a way to restore order from disorder. 60 00:03:54,834 --> 00:03:57,632 Kaku: Imagine that each one represents an atom. 61 00:03:57,704 --> 00:04:01,731 Now, if I apply the Second Law of Thermodynamics, 62 00:04:01,808 --> 00:04:05,608 it means that entropy increases. It mixes. Chaos reigns. 63 00:04:05,678 --> 00:04:07,168 Watch this. 64 00:04:07,247 --> 00:04:11,547 Freeman: The candy on the tray starts off organized and color-coded. 65 00:04:11,618 --> 00:04:13,984 But if the tray begins to vibrate, 66 00:04:14,053 --> 00:04:16,351 the Second Law takes over. 67 00:04:16,422 --> 00:04:18,219 Kaku: Even though this is entropy in action, 68 00:04:18,291 --> 00:04:23,092 I can reverse entropy by adding energy from the outside. 69 00:04:24,030 --> 00:04:27,056 But the price is, I have to constantly be on alert, 70 00:04:27,133 --> 00:04:30,000 constantly add energy from the outside. 71 00:04:31,271 --> 00:04:34,502 I mean, this is hard work. 72 00:04:36,409 --> 00:04:38,536 Freeman: With energy and concentration, 73 00:04:38,611 --> 00:04:43,048 Michio can step in and stop the chaos. 74 00:04:43,116 --> 00:04:46,381 But reversing entropy in a tray of vibrating candy 75 00:04:46,452 --> 00:04:50,013 is far less complicated than reversing entropy in our bodies. 76 00:04:50,089 --> 00:04:52,853 Where would we even begin? 77 00:04:57,330 --> 00:05:00,163 Valter Longo is searching for the answer. 78 00:05:00,233 --> 00:05:02,758 He is a professor of gerontology 79 00:05:02,835 --> 00:05:05,395 at the University of Southern California. 80 00:05:05,471 --> 00:05:11,000 He knows that many things live fast and die young, 81 00:05:11,077 --> 00:05:14,945 and he believes the road to reversing entropy in the body 82 00:05:15,014 --> 00:05:19,417 starts where things get the hottest - in the engine. 83 00:05:19,485 --> 00:05:22,579 Longo: In the engine, the gasoline gets oxidized, 84 00:05:22,655 --> 00:05:24,088 and that's a combustion process, 85 00:05:24,157 --> 00:05:26,523 and this provides energy to the car. 86 00:05:26,592 --> 00:05:28,287 But because of the combustion, 87 00:05:28,361 --> 00:05:30,591 the engine itself can become damaged, 88 00:05:30,663 --> 00:05:33,393 and eventually, you have to rebuild the engine. 89 00:05:33,466 --> 00:05:36,230 Freeman: Every cell in our bodies 90 00:05:36,302 --> 00:05:41,831 have tiny engines called mitochondria. 91 00:05:41,908 --> 00:05:44,877 Mitochondria are double-membraned structures 92 00:05:44,944 --> 00:05:48,846 whose job is to provide energy. 93 00:05:48,915 --> 00:05:51,406 But when these powerhouses wear down, 94 00:05:51,484 --> 00:05:55,716 our body begins to decay and age. 95 00:05:55,788 --> 00:05:59,849 And so, you can imagine in the cells, instead, 96 00:05:59,926 --> 00:06:02,292 you have hundreds of these mitochondria, 97 00:06:02,362 --> 00:06:03,693 these little engines. 98 00:06:03,763 --> 00:06:06,789 And these hundreds of engines provide the energy locally 99 00:06:06,866 --> 00:06:09,061 to every single cell in our body. 100 00:06:09,135 --> 00:06:11,660 Freeman: But Valter has found a way 101 00:06:11,738 --> 00:06:14,366 to reverse this deterioration process 102 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:19,070 and rejuvenate mitochondria in one tiny organism. 103 00:06:19,145 --> 00:06:21,943 He has extended the life of baker's yeast - 104 00:06:22,014 --> 00:06:26,576 the kind you use to make bread and beer - to 10 weeks. 105 00:06:26,652 --> 00:06:32,113 That's 10 times the yeast's normal life-span of 6 days. 106 00:06:32,191 --> 00:06:35,854 It may not sound like a long time, 107 00:06:35,928 --> 00:06:40,831 but it's equivalent to 800 human years. 108 00:06:40,900 --> 00:06:43,596 The yeast's longevity occurred 109 00:06:43,669 --> 00:06:48,936 when two genes, R.A.S.2 and S.C.H.9, 110 00:06:49,008 --> 00:06:51,135 were removed from its DNA. 111 00:06:51,210 --> 00:06:55,203 Longo: So these pathways that we've identified in yeast, 112 00:06:55,281 --> 00:06:59,650 in addition to promoting aging, they also promote DNA damage 113 00:06:59,719 --> 00:07:01,186 and the damage 114 00:07:01,254 --> 00:07:03,722 of a variety of different systems within the cells. 115 00:07:03,790 --> 00:07:06,554 Freeman: Valter wondered if this fountain of youth for yeast 116 00:07:06,626 --> 00:07:10,084 might apply to more complex life-forms. 117 00:07:10,163 --> 00:07:14,156 And so he began looking for the equivalent genes 118 00:07:14,233 --> 00:07:17,669 in a much larger organism - 119 00:07:17,737 --> 00:07:19,637 mice. 120 00:07:19,705 --> 00:07:22,674 When he knocked out those two genes, 121 00:07:22,742 --> 00:07:26,542 these mice doubled their life expectancy. 122 00:07:26,612 --> 00:07:28,705 Longo: This is very encouraging 123 00:07:28,781 --> 00:07:31,272 because if you look at the similarities 124 00:07:31,350 --> 00:07:33,978 between a mouse and a human, 125 00:07:34,053 --> 00:07:37,181 we are over 90% identical in many ways. 126 00:07:37,256 --> 00:07:41,852 A mouse lives for 2 years, and people live for 100 years. 127 00:07:41,928 --> 00:07:43,190 So, you can see, 128 00:07:43,262 --> 00:07:46,129 with just a small modification of the genome, 129 00:07:46,199 --> 00:07:48,895 you can go from 2 years to 100 years. 130 00:07:48,968 --> 00:07:51,266 There's no law of physics 131 00:07:51,337 --> 00:07:54,636 that prevents us from finding the secret of longevity, 132 00:07:54,707 --> 00:07:58,268 the secret, perhaps, even of immortality. 133 00:07:58,344 --> 00:08:02,610 If you take, for example, the genome of millions of old people 134 00:08:02,682 --> 00:08:05,276 and the genome of millions of young people - 135 00:08:05,351 --> 00:08:08,320 which we will do in the coming years - and subtract, 136 00:08:08,387 --> 00:08:13,154 you will then find the genes where aging is concentrated. 137 00:08:13,226 --> 00:08:16,161 Already, we've identified over 60 genes 138 00:08:16,229 --> 00:08:18,322 involved in the aging process. 139 00:08:18,397 --> 00:08:19,830 Longo: Now, the question is, 140 00:08:19,899 --> 00:08:23,995 how do you reprogram a human that lives 100 years 141 00:08:24,070 --> 00:08:27,096 to be now a 2,000 - or 3,000-year-old person? 142 00:08:28,774 --> 00:08:31,607 Freeman: Valter's mission to keep our engines running forever 143 00:08:31,677 --> 00:08:35,773 has just begun, and he's in it for the long haul. 144 00:08:35,848 --> 00:08:37,475 Suppose we do find a way 145 00:08:37,550 --> 00:08:40,917 to keep our engines running for hundreds of years or more. 146 00:08:40,987 --> 00:08:45,390 We would all be very old for a very long time. 147 00:08:45,458 --> 00:08:47,358 But this scientist 148 00:08:47,426 --> 00:08:52,193 is digging for ways to keep us not just eternally alive... 149 00:08:52,265 --> 00:08:54,495 but eternally young. 150 00:09:01,541 --> 00:09:03,702 Take our current life-span 151 00:09:03,776 --> 00:09:08,304 and stretch it 5 or even 10 times longer. 152 00:09:08,381 --> 00:09:13,080 The joys of our youth would endure like an endless summer. 153 00:09:13,152 --> 00:09:18,215 But imagine suffering decade after decade with fragile bones, 154 00:09:18,291 --> 00:09:23,058 failing eyesight, and an ever-more-feeble mind. 155 00:09:23,129 --> 00:09:27,998 If we want to become immortal, we can't just extend life. 156 00:09:28,067 --> 00:09:34,028 We need to discover how to keep our bodies eternally youthful. 157 00:09:37,510 --> 00:09:42,709 Aubrey De Grey thinks of himself as a modern-day Methuselah. 158 00:09:42,782 --> 00:09:47,185 He has dedicated his career to fighting aging. 159 00:09:47,253 --> 00:09:50,518 Aubrey believes that many people who are born today 160 00:09:50,590 --> 00:09:53,024 could live to be 1,000 years old 161 00:09:53,092 --> 00:09:56,528 and remain physically young for most of that time. 162 00:09:56,596 --> 00:10:00,555 The key is a matter of good biological housekeeping - 163 00:10:00,633 --> 00:10:03,625 taking the trash out of ourselves. 164 00:10:03,703 --> 00:10:05,295 So, what happens, indeed, 165 00:10:05,371 --> 00:10:08,306 is that certain types of material in the body 166 00:10:08,374 --> 00:10:10,433 just accumulate junk. 167 00:10:10,509 --> 00:10:14,843 Certain types of junk accumulate inside cells and between cells 168 00:10:14,914 --> 00:10:17,474 and stuff that we would not think of as junk, like DNA, 169 00:10:17,550 --> 00:10:21,884 accumulates randomness, which is a type of junk. 170 00:10:21,954 --> 00:10:23,945 Freeman: Cells have the important job 171 00:10:24,023 --> 00:10:26,321 of constantly breaking down waste, 172 00:10:26,392 --> 00:10:28,758 and they're mostly pretty good at it. 173 00:10:28,828 --> 00:10:29,886 But sometimes a cell 174 00:10:29,962 --> 00:10:32,590 comes across things that are so weird... 175 00:10:32,665 --> 00:10:36,032 none of this degradation machinery works on them. 176 00:10:36,102 --> 00:10:38,070 That's when the junk gets re-routed 177 00:10:38,137 --> 00:10:40,367 to what's called the lysosome, 178 00:10:40,439 --> 00:10:42,270 a vessel that houses 179 00:10:42,341 --> 00:10:45,742 the most powerful degradation machinery in the cell. 180 00:10:45,811 --> 00:10:48,336 And if the garbage can't be broken down, 181 00:10:48,414 --> 00:10:51,042 it stays there forever. 182 00:10:53,185 --> 00:10:56,712 Aubrey believes that the accumulation of garbage 183 00:10:56,789 --> 00:11:00,452 in the lysosomal storage unit is what causes aging. 184 00:11:00,526 --> 00:11:04,485 And he wants to free our bodies of these buildups. 185 00:11:04,563 --> 00:11:06,463 He realized the most logical way 186 00:11:06,532 --> 00:11:09,990 was to take a close look at waste itself. 187 00:11:10,069 --> 00:11:16,030 And he wondered, "In nature, what likes to eat junk?" 188 00:11:16,108 --> 00:11:18,167 Longo: We're working on an idea 189 00:11:18,244 --> 00:11:20,735 that we might be able to find other species, 190 00:11:20,813 --> 00:11:24,579 especially bacteria, that are able to break down 191 00:11:24,650 --> 00:11:28,051 the substances that accumulate in the human body. 192 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:31,385 Freeman: Aubrey's hunt for the fountain of youth 193 00:11:31,457 --> 00:11:35,951 led him to a final resting place - graveyards. 194 00:11:37,797 --> 00:11:39,389 Since graveyards are riddled 195 00:11:39,465 --> 00:11:42,400 with the waste of decomposing bodies, 196 00:11:42,468 --> 00:11:44,800 he suspected he might find microbes 197 00:11:44,870 --> 00:11:47,498 who live to feast on death. 198 00:11:47,573 --> 00:11:52,977 De Grey: And if we can find the genes and enzymes that they are using 199 00:11:53,045 --> 00:11:54,979 to actually perform that function, 200 00:11:55,047 --> 00:11:58,107 then we might be able to put those genes and enzymes 201 00:11:58,184 --> 00:12:00,277 into our own cells 202 00:12:00,352 --> 00:12:02,286 so that our own cells can break stuff down 203 00:12:02,354 --> 00:12:04,219 that they could not naturally break down. 204 00:12:04,290 --> 00:12:07,726 Freeman: The secret to longevity might be 6 feet under. 205 00:12:07,793 --> 00:12:13,459 Aubrey and his team are still digging for the right microbe 206 00:12:13,532 --> 00:12:14,965 that will work in mammalian cells. 207 00:12:15,034 --> 00:12:16,831 And when they find it, 208 00:12:16,902 --> 00:12:22,738 he believes we will all live like 25-year-olds forever. 209 00:12:22,808 --> 00:12:26,539 De Grey: I think that we have maybe a 50/50 chance 210 00:12:26,612 --> 00:12:29,240 in the next 25 years or so 211 00:12:29,315 --> 00:12:32,216 of developing what I think of as the first generation 212 00:12:32,284 --> 00:12:34,980 of bona fide rejuvenation biotechnology. 213 00:12:35,054 --> 00:12:36,282 In other words, 214 00:12:36,355 --> 00:12:38,915 technologies that are sufficiently comprehensive 215 00:12:38,991 --> 00:12:42,483 that we can give them to middle-aged people, 216 00:12:42,561 --> 00:12:46,327 people 60 or 70 or so, and fix them up well enough 217 00:12:46,398 --> 00:12:50,129 that they don't become biologically 60 or 70 again 218 00:12:50,202 --> 00:12:52,636 until 30 years later or something like that. 219 00:12:55,274 --> 00:12:59,005 Freeman: Aubrey is looking for the magic bullet that will fight aging, 220 00:12:59,078 --> 00:13:01,603 but synthetic biologist Chris Voigt 221 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:04,877 is looking to build an entire army 222 00:13:04,950 --> 00:13:08,010 out of various parts from all over nature. 223 00:13:10,222 --> 00:13:13,783 Voigt: All right. Let's give this a shot. 224 00:13:18,197 --> 00:13:20,461 One of the things we're often trying to do 225 00:13:20,533 --> 00:13:22,865 in synthetic biology is create new functions 226 00:13:22,935 --> 00:13:26,462 out of parts that already exist in nature for other reasons. 227 00:13:26,539 --> 00:13:29,906 So we're often having to go out and grab those components 228 00:13:29,975 --> 00:13:32,808 from different organisms and put them together. 229 00:13:32,878 --> 00:13:35,779 Freeman: Chris searches for microorganisms 230 00:13:35,848 --> 00:13:39,614 throughout biology to find the right parts. 231 00:13:39,685 --> 00:13:42,085 And they end up at his lab 232 00:13:42,154 --> 00:13:45,214 at the University of California, San Francisco, 233 00:13:45,291 --> 00:13:48,522 where biology meets mechanics. 234 00:13:48,594 --> 00:13:51,358 Voigt: When you look at being able to fight disease, 235 00:13:51,430 --> 00:13:53,227 whether it's identifying malignant cells 236 00:13:53,299 --> 00:13:54,664 and killing them, 237 00:13:54,733 --> 00:13:56,928 we're trying to go through the garbage of all the functions 238 00:13:57,002 --> 00:13:58,435 that are out in the natural world 239 00:13:58,504 --> 00:14:01,962 and identify those that are useful to us 240 00:14:02,041 --> 00:14:04,100 in trying to be able to identify 241 00:14:04,176 --> 00:14:06,667 a correct disease state in the body. 242 00:14:06,745 --> 00:14:10,511 Freeman: To build a bio robot that can detect its surroundings, 243 00:14:10,583 --> 00:14:14,485 Chris and his team needed to find an organism with a sensor. 244 00:14:14,553 --> 00:14:18,717 And they found it... in pond scum... 245 00:14:18,791 --> 00:14:23,694 where they discovered that algae are equipped with light sensors. 246 00:14:23,762 --> 00:14:26,925 Voigt: We took a bacterium that normally lives in your gut - 247 00:14:26,999 --> 00:14:29,524 so it's not used to the Sun shining - 248 00:14:29,602 --> 00:14:32,571 and we put in a light sensor out of an algae. 249 00:14:32,638 --> 00:14:36,369 Freeman: Inside Chris' bacterial darkroom, 250 00:14:36,442 --> 00:14:38,535 colonies of bacteria 251 00:14:38,611 --> 00:14:40,340 that are now implanted with algae light sensors 252 00:14:40,412 --> 00:14:43,745 are able to take photographs of slide-projected images. 253 00:14:46,018 --> 00:14:48,646 Freeman: It might look like bacterial art, 254 00:14:48,721 --> 00:14:50,780 but this is the first big step 255 00:14:50,856 --> 00:14:54,087 toward creating programmable biological robots 256 00:14:54,159 --> 00:14:56,753 that will keep our bodies healthy forever. 257 00:14:56,829 --> 00:15:00,287 Voigt: There are bacteria all throughout our bodies, 258 00:15:00,366 --> 00:15:03,392 and we can reprogram those bacteria 259 00:15:03,469 --> 00:15:06,597 in order to be able to implement therapeutic effects 260 00:15:06,672 --> 00:15:10,073 for just about any disease that you can imagine. 261 00:15:10,142 --> 00:15:14,010 The possibilities are limitless. 262 00:15:14,079 --> 00:15:16,707 Freeman: Chris' photographic bacteria 263 00:15:16,782 --> 00:15:18,943 are able to turn themselves on and off 264 00:15:19,018 --> 00:15:20,417 like the flip of a switch. 265 00:15:20,486 --> 00:15:21,976 But the question is, 266 00:15:22,054 --> 00:15:27,424 can Chris figure out how to program and control that switch? 267 00:15:27,493 --> 00:15:29,518 We'd like to see the programming of cells 268 00:15:29,595 --> 00:15:31,460 be the same as programming a computer 269 00:15:31,530 --> 00:15:32,997 or designing an electronic chip, 270 00:15:33,065 --> 00:15:35,659 where, as programmers, we would write out 271 00:15:35,734 --> 00:15:38,828 the exact function that we'd want the cells to do. 272 00:15:38,904 --> 00:15:41,737 And then that would be automatically compiled 273 00:15:41,807 --> 00:15:43,035 into a DNA sequence 274 00:15:43,108 --> 00:15:45,133 in the same way that a computer program 275 00:15:45,210 --> 00:15:48,577 gets compiled, ultimately, into ones and zeroes. 276 00:15:48,647 --> 00:15:49,909 That's the dream. 277 00:15:52,518 --> 00:15:55,544 Freeman: Bio robots may one day roam our blood streams, 278 00:15:55,621 --> 00:16:00,081 police our organs, and respond to our internal 911 calls, 279 00:16:00,159 --> 00:16:04,118 keeping us free from the threat of disease. 280 00:16:05,864 --> 00:16:09,061 Chris Voigt's and Aubrey De Grey's research 281 00:16:09,134 --> 00:16:11,295 to keep our bodies healthy for eternity 282 00:16:11,370 --> 00:16:13,361 is still in the beginning stages. 283 00:16:13,439 --> 00:16:16,499 But what does this mean for us mere mortals 284 00:16:16,575 --> 00:16:19,066 who will never live to see the day 285 00:16:19,144 --> 00:16:21,510 when immortality is within reach? 286 00:16:21,580 --> 00:16:24,640 There is one chilling possibility 287 00:16:24,717 --> 00:16:31,179 that will give us all a chance to hang on, even after we die. 288 00:16:37,162 --> 00:16:39,892 We're all genetically programmed 289 00:16:39,965 --> 00:16:43,628 to lust for life and to flee from death. 290 00:16:43,702 --> 00:16:48,503 Eventually, we will discover the secret of immortality, 291 00:16:48,574 --> 00:16:50,804 but we're not there yet. 292 00:16:50,876 --> 00:16:55,904 To cheat death right now, we need to put aging on ice 293 00:16:55,981 --> 00:17:00,350 and be ready to grasp eternal life 294 00:17:00,419 --> 00:17:03,684 long after life abandons us. 295 00:17:06,925 --> 00:17:09,621 Greg Fahy is a cryobiologist. 296 00:17:09,695 --> 00:17:15,190 The goal of his team at Biotech Outfit 21st Century Medicine 297 00:17:15,267 --> 00:17:18,361 is to freeze human organs and tissues 298 00:17:18,437 --> 00:17:23,101 so that they can be revived, undamaged, centuries from now. 299 00:17:24,743 --> 00:17:27,234 Fahy: Cryopreservation is the preservation of living systems 300 00:17:27,312 --> 00:17:29,075 at very low temperatures. 301 00:17:29,148 --> 00:17:32,549 We usually are referring to temperatures that are low enough 302 00:17:32,618 --> 00:17:35,815 that you can store the system as long as you wish 303 00:17:35,888 --> 00:17:37,446 before you use it again. 304 00:17:37,523 --> 00:17:39,718 Cryopreservation is essential 305 00:17:39,792 --> 00:17:42,158 to get a cell or a tissue, an organ, 306 00:17:42,227 --> 00:17:45,162 from one place in time to another place in time 307 00:17:45,230 --> 00:17:49,064 without allowing that system to change in the process. 308 00:17:49,134 --> 00:17:51,329 Freeman: Scientists have been trying 309 00:17:51,403 --> 00:17:54,031 to preserve whole organs for decades. 310 00:17:54,106 --> 00:17:57,872 But it's a lot harder than throwing food in the freezer. 311 00:17:57,943 --> 00:18:03,745 When biological material freezes, ice crystals form, 312 00:18:03,816 --> 00:18:07,343 which push the cells out of their normal position. 313 00:18:07,419 --> 00:18:11,685 When you thaw the organ, it may look okay from the outside, 314 00:18:11,757 --> 00:18:16,091 but on the inside, it's damaged beyond repair. 315 00:18:18,230 --> 00:18:21,324 The biggest problem, we think, is really mechanical. 316 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,891 It's the formation of ice between cells. 317 00:18:23,969 --> 00:18:27,063 If the cells are dislodged from their normal locations, 318 00:18:27,139 --> 00:18:28,299 then you can destroy 319 00:18:28,373 --> 00:18:30,967 the function of that structure as a whole 320 00:18:31,043 --> 00:18:32,635 even if the cells survive. 321 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,849 Freeman: Greg and his team decided to focus their efforts 322 00:18:37,916 --> 00:18:39,747 on preventing bodily fluids from freezing 323 00:18:39,818 --> 00:18:41,843 and eventually developed a way 324 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:46,721 to turn those fluids into a form of biological glass - 325 00:18:46,792 --> 00:18:50,694 a technique he calls vitrification. 326 00:18:50,762 --> 00:18:53,925 Fahy: Vitrification is the formation of a glass. 327 00:18:53,999 --> 00:18:57,332 So if you take water and you mix it with various chemicals 328 00:18:57,402 --> 00:18:59,563 in high-enough concentrations of chemical 329 00:18:59,638 --> 00:19:02,106 and then cool it down to low temperatures, 330 00:19:02,174 --> 00:19:05,234 the system will never freeze no matter how low you go. 331 00:19:05,310 --> 00:19:06,709 Freeman: To test whether 332 00:19:06,778 --> 00:19:11,010 vitrification actually preserves the function of whole organs, 333 00:19:11,083 --> 00:19:15,144 Greg's team vitrified a rabbit kidney. 334 00:19:15,220 --> 00:19:18,485 Fahy: This is the kidney profusion lab. 335 00:19:18,557 --> 00:19:20,650 What John is doing in the background 336 00:19:20,726 --> 00:19:23,786 is delivering... through the vascular system of the kidney 337 00:19:23,862 --> 00:19:26,160 so the kidney becomes unfreezable. 338 00:19:26,231 --> 00:19:29,325 The kidney is sitting in a special chamber. 339 00:19:29,401 --> 00:19:30,800 The chamber is temperature-conditioned 340 00:19:30,869 --> 00:19:32,166 to minimize toxicity. 341 00:19:32,237 --> 00:19:34,000 And at the end of the process, 342 00:19:34,072 --> 00:19:36,097 the kidney's taken out and is transplanted. 343 00:19:36,175 --> 00:19:38,700 Freeman: This kidney, 344 00:19:38,777 --> 00:19:43,805 even though it has been stored at minus-22 degrees Celsius, 345 00:19:43,882 --> 00:19:46,612 works just as well as a normal kidney. 346 00:19:46,685 --> 00:19:47,777 It's proof 347 00:19:47,853 --> 00:19:51,254 that Greg's vitrification technique actually works 348 00:19:51,323 --> 00:19:52,654 and might be the key 349 00:19:52,724 --> 00:19:57,787 to preserving human organs far into the future. 350 00:19:57,863 --> 00:20:01,663 So if you cool to below that glass-transition temperature, 351 00:20:01,733 --> 00:20:04,429 our calculations indicate you can store a system 352 00:20:04,503 --> 00:20:06,198 for tens of thousands of years. 353 00:20:06,271 --> 00:20:10,731 Freeman: Imagine being able to put your body on ice 354 00:20:10,809 --> 00:20:15,542 and then being revived 10,000 years from now. 355 00:20:15,614 --> 00:20:18,048 You could wake up and find yourself 356 00:20:18,116 --> 00:20:22,883 in an age when science has made immortality possible. 357 00:20:22,955 --> 00:20:25,253 Greg Fahy may be just a few years 358 00:20:25,324 --> 00:20:29,852 from giving a few select people a shot at eternal life. 359 00:20:29,928 --> 00:20:31,691 But that can only happen 360 00:20:31,763 --> 00:20:34,960 if cryopreservation works on an entire human body, 361 00:20:35,033 --> 00:20:38,332 not just simple organs like the kidney or the bladder, 362 00:20:38,403 --> 00:20:44,000 but on the most complex organ of all - the brain. 363 00:20:44,076 --> 00:20:46,544 Fahy: This is the brain-slice vitrification lab. 364 00:20:46,612 --> 00:20:49,547 The setup shows a hippocampal slice - 365 00:20:49,615 --> 00:20:52,982 the part of the brain that's associated with learning and memory - 366 00:20:53,051 --> 00:20:55,884 in a little dish, essentially. 367 00:20:55,954 --> 00:20:58,889 On the right side, we have a stimulating electrode coming in, 368 00:20:58,957 --> 00:21:00,185 piercing the slice. 369 00:21:00,259 --> 00:21:03,228 On the left side, we have a recording electrode. 370 00:21:04,663 --> 00:21:08,360 Freeman: This brain slice has been vitrified. 371 00:21:08,433 --> 00:21:10,333 If it's still functional, 372 00:21:10,402 --> 00:21:13,803 when a pulse of electricity is fired into it, 373 00:21:13,872 --> 00:21:15,999 it should fire a signal back. 374 00:21:16,074 --> 00:21:19,771 To Greg and his team's surprise, it does. 375 00:21:19,845 --> 00:21:24,544 Electrical activity actually sparks up in this brain tissue. 376 00:21:24,616 --> 00:21:26,277 And the electrical response 377 00:21:26,351 --> 00:21:31,618 is every bit as strong as it was in its original state - 378 00:21:31,690 --> 00:21:35,456 the recovery of the brain slice complete. 379 00:21:35,527 --> 00:21:38,690 Preserving a slice of the brain 380 00:21:38,764 --> 00:21:43,463 is a crucial first step toward preserving the whole thing. 381 00:21:43,535 --> 00:21:47,995 It's an ambitious project that Greg is already working on. 382 00:21:48,073 --> 00:21:52,635 We have found that it's fairly easy to vitrify the brain, 383 00:21:52,711 --> 00:21:56,442 that all of the structure seems to be preserved. 384 00:21:56,515 --> 00:21:58,540 But I have to say that so far, 385 00:21:58,617 --> 00:22:01,211 our techniques are not up to the level 386 00:22:01,286 --> 00:22:04,687 that we would like for that kind of speculative idea. 387 00:22:04,756 --> 00:22:07,316 But I couldn't say that you couldn't make up 388 00:22:07,392 --> 00:22:09,553 for whatever deficiencies 389 00:22:09,628 --> 00:22:12,426 that we have in our preservation technique today 390 00:22:12,497 --> 00:22:15,091 using some unknown future technology. 391 00:22:15,167 --> 00:22:17,727 I can't rule that out as a possibility. 392 00:22:21,373 --> 00:22:27,334 One day, centuries after we say goodbye to our loved ones, 393 00:22:27,412 --> 00:22:30,711 our frozen bodies could be reanimated, 394 00:22:30,782 --> 00:22:33,751 and we'll walk the Earth again. 395 00:22:33,819 --> 00:22:36,879 But there could be a better route to immortality, 396 00:22:36,955 --> 00:22:38,547 one that would change 397 00:22:38,623 --> 00:22:42,252 the very nature of what it means to be human. 398 00:22:45,197 --> 00:22:47,961 Imagine if no one ever died. 399 00:22:48,033 --> 00:22:50,228 Where would we all live? 400 00:22:50,302 --> 00:22:54,534 Our planet is already crowded enough. 401 00:22:54,606 --> 00:22:56,631 But maybe there is a way to live forever 402 00:22:56,708 --> 00:23:00,405 without all this excess baggage. 403 00:23:00,479 --> 00:23:04,006 Poets say the essence of us is here, 404 00:23:04,082 --> 00:23:09,315 but I know what really makes me me is all up here. 405 00:23:09,388 --> 00:23:12,687 So if I want to endure for eternity, 406 00:23:12,758 --> 00:23:16,194 perhaps that's all I need to hang on to. 407 00:23:16,261 --> 00:23:20,527 What if we could find a way to upload our brains, 408 00:23:20,599 --> 00:23:24,126 to digitize the very essence of ourselves? 409 00:23:24,202 --> 00:23:28,764 Our minds could go on living long after our flesh has died. 410 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:30,307 But to make that happen, 411 00:23:30,375 --> 00:23:33,242 we need to understand the brain's architecture 412 00:23:33,311 --> 00:23:37,338 and figure out what truly makes us who we are. 413 00:23:39,584 --> 00:23:44,681 Olaf Sporns is a neuroscientist at Indiana University. 414 00:23:44,756 --> 00:23:49,750 He is attempting to unscramble the brain's tangled web. 415 00:23:49,828 --> 00:23:51,386 Sporns: The brain is like a big city. 416 00:23:51,463 --> 00:23:54,330 Cities are examples of complex systems - 417 00:23:54,399 --> 00:23:56,663 thousands of inhabitants and their social interactions, 418 00:23:56,735 --> 00:23:57,827 their flow of materials. 419 00:23:57,903 --> 00:24:01,134 The brain is like that - millions of neurons, 420 00:24:01,206 --> 00:24:03,606 interactions between these neurons. 421 00:24:03,675 --> 00:24:06,906 In a sense, your brain is like a city of the mind. 422 00:24:06,978 --> 00:24:08,969 Freeman: The human brain 423 00:24:09,047 --> 00:24:12,505 is one of the most complex systems in the Universe. 424 00:24:12,584 --> 00:24:16,748 If you stretched out all of its electrical wiring, 425 00:24:16,822 --> 00:24:20,189 it would extend from the Earth to the Moon. 426 00:24:20,258 --> 00:24:23,694 Figuring out how we get from cells and wires 427 00:24:23,762 --> 00:24:26,196 to thoughts and memories 428 00:24:26,264 --> 00:24:30,701 is one of the greatest challenges known to science. 429 00:24:30,769 --> 00:24:32,999 Even though we've been studying the human brain, 430 00:24:33,071 --> 00:24:34,902 really, for decades, perhaps centuries, 431 00:24:34,973 --> 00:24:37,567 we still don't have a complete map of how it's connected. 432 00:24:37,642 --> 00:24:40,611 Freeman: But Olaf is taking on this challenge. 433 00:24:40,679 --> 00:24:45,412 His goal is to chart every single neuron and synapse 434 00:24:45,484 --> 00:24:49,648 and create a complete map of the brain, called the connectome. 435 00:24:49,721 --> 00:24:51,916 Sporns: It's a comprehensive set of connections 436 00:24:51,990 --> 00:24:53,855 that will allow us for the first time 437 00:24:53,925 --> 00:24:55,256 to understand in more detail 438 00:24:55,327 --> 00:24:57,591 how brain regions are connected to each other. 439 00:24:57,662 --> 00:25:00,130 Freeman: Olaf is creating the connectome 440 00:25:00,198 --> 00:25:04,225 using a leading-edge technique called diffusion imaging. 441 00:25:04,302 --> 00:25:07,066 It reveals the brain's long-distance connections 442 00:25:07,138 --> 00:25:10,266 by tracking water molecules along the neural highways. 443 00:25:10,342 --> 00:25:13,971 And what emerges is a detailed map 444 00:25:14,045 --> 00:25:17,412 of the central core of brain-cell connections. 445 00:25:17,482 --> 00:25:22,510 Olaf thinks this is the area where our personality resides. 446 00:25:22,587 --> 00:25:24,714 Sporns: As we've been discovering recently, 447 00:25:24,789 --> 00:25:27,223 some brain regions are more connected than others. 448 00:25:27,292 --> 00:25:29,226 Some are more essential, perhaps, 449 00:25:29,294 --> 00:25:31,194 for the functioning of the brain as a whole. 450 00:25:31,263 --> 00:25:34,494 Those regions, we call hubs. 451 00:25:34,566 --> 00:25:36,193 Freeman: If the brain is like a city... 452 00:25:37,369 --> 00:25:39,564 ...hubs are like major intersections 453 00:25:39,638 --> 00:25:42,266 where a constant flow of traffic passes through, 454 00:25:42,340 --> 00:25:44,740 getting people from one place to another. 455 00:25:46,211 --> 00:25:48,907 These intersections are so essential - 456 00:25:48,980 --> 00:25:53,349 if they become disrupted in any way, the whole city shuts down. 457 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:59,186 By their nature, hubs are focal points of information traffic. 458 00:25:59,257 --> 00:26:01,623 Information converges on these regions, 459 00:26:01,693 --> 00:26:04,218 and it is that ebb and flow of information 460 00:26:04,296 --> 00:26:06,764 and the magnitude of the information flow 461 00:26:06,831 --> 00:26:08,662 that really sets these hubs apart 462 00:26:08,733 --> 00:26:10,496 from other regions of the brain. 463 00:26:10,569 --> 00:26:12,560 Freeman: Olaf is getting closer 464 00:26:12,637 --> 00:26:15,572 to figuring out where consciousness resides. 465 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:18,473 Searching for the origins of consciousness 466 00:26:18,543 --> 00:26:21,171 is the holy grail of neuroscience. 467 00:26:21,246 --> 00:26:25,012 Only when this mystery is solved can we replicate the human brain 468 00:26:25,083 --> 00:26:27,813 and take consciousness from a person 469 00:26:27,886 --> 00:26:33,085 and transfer it to a machine as a way to live for eternity. 470 00:26:33,158 --> 00:26:37,288 And Olaf believes he has discovered a hub 471 00:26:37,362 --> 00:26:42,356 that might solve this mystery - the medial parietal cortex. 472 00:26:42,434 --> 00:26:46,063 It's located between the brain's two hemispheres. 473 00:26:46,137 --> 00:26:51,575 Olaf suspects it might house the essence of who we are. 474 00:26:51,643 --> 00:26:54,737 Sporns: A lot of wires from the brain converge on that region. 475 00:26:54,813 --> 00:26:56,405 There are many lines of evidence 476 00:26:56,481 --> 00:26:58,574 that point to that part of the brain 477 00:26:58,650 --> 00:27:00,777 being really central and really important - 478 00:27:00,852 --> 00:27:03,377 perhaps even for awareness and consciousness. 479 00:27:05,056 --> 00:27:06,250 Freeman: Olaf believes 480 00:27:06,324 --> 00:27:10,192 he may have solved the secrets of consciousness, 481 00:27:10,261 --> 00:27:14,322 but there is much more work to be done before he can be sure. 482 00:27:14,399 --> 00:27:17,027 Sporns: I think we're getting closer to answering this 483 00:27:17,102 --> 00:27:17,693 question. 484 00:27:17,769 --> 00:27:21,102 And as we identify which parts of the brain are critical 485 00:27:21,172 --> 00:27:24,107 in bringing about that particular functionality, 486 00:27:24,175 --> 00:27:26,473 that gets us closer to answering the question, 487 00:27:26,544 --> 00:27:27,806 "What is consciousness?" 488 00:27:27,879 --> 00:27:30,507 And also "Where are the critical components of the brain 489 00:27:30,582 --> 00:27:32,072 that contribute to it?" 490 00:27:33,351 --> 00:27:35,911 Freeman: Neuroscience has taken enormous steps 491 00:27:35,987 --> 00:27:37,352 towards mapping the brain 492 00:27:37,422 --> 00:27:39,720 and solving the riddle of consciousness. 493 00:27:39,791 --> 00:27:42,385 But will we ever be able to capture 494 00:27:42,460 --> 00:27:45,793 the trillions of synapses, billions of neurons, 495 00:27:45,864 --> 00:27:50,028 and download ourselves onto a machine? 496 00:27:50,101 --> 00:27:52,934 Just imagine all the things that happen in the real world - 497 00:27:53,004 --> 00:27:54,869 the conversation we are having now, 498 00:27:54,939 --> 00:27:57,066 me producing speech sounds and gestures, 499 00:27:57,142 --> 00:28:00,111 our brain's interacting in this embodied manner. 500 00:28:00,178 --> 00:28:02,476 That could not happen in a computer, 501 00:28:02,547 --> 00:28:03,605 and yet, it is somehow 502 00:28:03,682 --> 00:28:05,616 the essence of what life is all about. 503 00:28:05,684 --> 00:28:07,015 So I'm skeptical about that. 504 00:28:08,820 --> 00:28:13,052 Freeman: The brain might be far too complex to immortalize, 505 00:28:13,124 --> 00:28:17,754 but maybe there's a simpler path to eternal life - 506 00:28:17,829 --> 00:28:19,228 not for you... 507 00:28:19,297 --> 00:28:24,234 but for immortal beings that we create from scratch. 508 00:28:27,605 --> 00:28:28,765 Life on this planet 509 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,968 has had 4 billion years to evolve. 510 00:28:32,043 --> 00:28:36,412 We are the latest in a long line of species. 511 00:28:36,481 --> 00:28:38,813 We hope we can last. 512 00:28:38,883 --> 00:28:43,980 But our quest for immortality could end in disaster 513 00:28:44,055 --> 00:28:49,288 because the first eternal beings may not be human. 514 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:54,593 And they might just make us extinct. 515 00:28:57,602 --> 00:29:01,800 Complex life began from a few simple laws. 516 00:29:01,873 --> 00:29:06,503 The same might be true for artificial life. 517 00:29:06,578 --> 00:29:09,604 If humans discover those laws, there is a chance 518 00:29:09,681 --> 00:29:13,549 we could create living things that live forever. 519 00:29:13,618 --> 00:29:18,555 Oxford physicist Vlatko Vedral is trying to understand 520 00:29:18,623 --> 00:29:22,059 how intelligence might emerge from a system 521 00:29:22,127 --> 00:29:25,790 that operates on just a few basic ground rules. 522 00:29:25,864 --> 00:29:27,923 Vedral: So, this is chess. 523 00:29:27,999 --> 00:29:29,728 It's a very complex game, 524 00:29:29,801 --> 00:29:33,760 and yet it's governed by a few very simple rules. 525 00:29:33,838 --> 00:29:37,399 You really have only 16 pieces on each side, 526 00:29:37,475 --> 00:29:39,875 and each piece can do one of two things. 527 00:29:39,944 --> 00:29:42,469 And you can say the same thing about life. 528 00:29:42,547 --> 00:29:44,071 Even though you are talking 529 00:29:44,149 --> 00:29:46,640 about one or two very simple rules, 530 00:29:46,718 --> 00:29:47,844 you still get this multitude 531 00:29:47,919 --> 00:29:50,615 of different possible behaviors in the Universe. 532 00:29:52,891 --> 00:29:56,827 Freeman: In 1970, a mathematician named John Conway 533 00:29:56,895 --> 00:29:58,658 ran with this idea 534 00:29:58,730 --> 00:30:01,494 and attempted to create artificial life-forms 535 00:30:01,566 --> 00:30:04,865 spontaneously using a computer program. 536 00:30:04,936 --> 00:30:07,302 He called it "The Game of Life." 537 00:30:07,372 --> 00:30:11,138 The game simulates the growth of artificial life, 538 00:30:11,209 --> 00:30:13,006 using a two-dimensional grid 539 00:30:13,077 --> 00:30:16,205 and simple cells that are either dead or alive. 540 00:30:16,281 --> 00:30:21,480 Whether the cells live or die is governed by a few basic rules. 541 00:30:21,553 --> 00:30:27,082 So, we have here in front of us a large cell block, 542 00:30:27,158 --> 00:30:30,753 and we can see this one central cell, which is on. 543 00:30:30,829 --> 00:30:36,199 And we can see that it has only one neighbor to its left. 544 00:30:36,267 --> 00:30:39,668 The cell just switches off, which means that it dies. 545 00:30:39,737 --> 00:30:41,329 And it dies of loneliness 546 00:30:41,406 --> 00:30:43,704 because it has too few neighbors. 547 00:30:43,775 --> 00:30:47,142 Well, now we've got a central cell, which is on, 548 00:30:47,212 --> 00:30:49,009 but it has five neighbors. 549 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,015 It dies because of overcrowding, overpopulation. 550 00:30:52,083 --> 00:30:53,675 It doesn't like it, either. 551 00:30:53,751 --> 00:30:58,620 In the third example, a cell with only two neighbors - 552 00:30:58,690 --> 00:31:00,590 the cell just keeps on living. 553 00:31:00,658 --> 00:31:03,559 It can even move around in this environment, 554 00:31:03,628 --> 00:31:05,027 and it can reproduce. 555 00:31:05,096 --> 00:31:08,532 So this is a good example where the population is just right 556 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,091 for the cell to keep on living. 557 00:31:11,169 --> 00:31:14,434 Freeman: Given enough time, increasingly complex patterns 558 00:31:14,505 --> 00:31:17,303 emerge from this simple set of rules. 559 00:31:17,375 --> 00:31:21,709 Some even take on the appearance of living organisms. 560 00:31:21,779 --> 00:31:26,273 Vedral: John Conway tried to make the same point regarding life - 561 00:31:26,351 --> 00:31:28,649 that it looks very complicated to us. 562 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:30,950 And, indeed, it looks like a miracle 563 00:31:31,022 --> 00:31:32,683 that there is life around us, 564 00:31:32,757 --> 00:31:34,952 but, in fact, he constructed a game 565 00:31:35,026 --> 00:31:38,860 which consists of two or three, again, very simple rules, 566 00:31:38,930 --> 00:31:42,093 and it gives rise to some very complicated patterns. 567 00:31:42,166 --> 00:31:45,101 Freeman: How complex do these patterns need to be 568 00:31:45,169 --> 00:31:50,129 before they become something alive, intelligent, or immortal? 569 00:31:50,208 --> 00:31:53,939 Vlatko thinks the human brain is a good yardstick 570 00:31:54,012 --> 00:31:57,175 and has calculated its processing power. 571 00:31:57,248 --> 00:32:00,308 Vedral: The brain is currently still much more powerful 572 00:32:00,385 --> 00:32:01,943 than the existing computers. 573 00:32:02,020 --> 00:32:05,251 So the existing computers can do something like, you know, 574 00:32:05,323 --> 00:32:07,621 10 to the power of 12 beats per second, 575 00:32:07,692 --> 00:32:10,058 whereas our brain is still probably something 576 00:32:10,128 --> 00:32:12,460 like a million times faster than that. 577 00:32:12,530 --> 00:32:14,589 So you need 1 million laptops 578 00:32:14,666 --> 00:32:17,829 to simulate just a single human brain. 579 00:32:17,902 --> 00:32:21,167 Freeman: Today's computers are nowhere near powerful enough 580 00:32:21,239 --> 00:32:22,866 to house artificial intelligent life. 581 00:32:22,941 --> 00:32:25,466 Vlatko believes the answer might be to use 582 00:32:25,543 --> 00:32:27,636 a completely different type of computer - 583 00:32:27,712 --> 00:32:30,180 the quantum computer. 584 00:32:30,248 --> 00:32:31,738 Quantum computer 585 00:32:31,816 --> 00:32:35,445 is basically the future technology of computation. 586 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,978 It's a computer that's so fast, in principle, 587 00:32:39,057 --> 00:32:42,493 that no current computer can compete with it. 588 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:44,960 Freeman: In place of transistors, 589 00:32:45,029 --> 00:32:48,294 quantum devices compute with individual atoms. 590 00:32:48,366 --> 00:32:51,699 And instead of sorting piles of ones and zeroes 591 00:32:51,769 --> 00:32:53,600 to give yes-and-no answers, 592 00:32:53,671 --> 00:32:55,662 the atoms in quantum computers 593 00:32:55,740 --> 00:32:59,005 can be ones, zeroes, and everything in between, 594 00:32:59,077 --> 00:33:03,207 existing as a computational maybe. 595 00:33:03,281 --> 00:33:05,681 The quantum computer really utilizes 596 00:33:05,750 --> 00:33:08,776 the quantum effect known as the super position, 597 00:33:08,853 --> 00:33:10,013 which means being 598 00:33:10,088 --> 00:33:12,818 in many different states at the same time. 599 00:33:12,890 --> 00:33:17,691 Freeman: This ability to handle a multiplicity of states 600 00:33:17,762 --> 00:33:19,696 allows quantum computers 601 00:33:19,764 --> 00:33:22,392 to juggle many overlapping problems at once, 602 00:33:22,467 --> 00:33:25,300 just the way our brains do. 603 00:33:26,637 --> 00:33:30,073 The analogy would be if I played a chord for you... 604 00:33:32,844 --> 00:33:34,277 ...then you would get 605 00:33:34,345 --> 00:33:37,872 many different modes played at the same time, 606 00:33:37,949 --> 00:33:39,439 which would really correspond 607 00:33:39,517 --> 00:33:42,486 to many states being out there simultaneously 608 00:33:42,553 --> 00:33:43,850 all in one location 609 00:33:43,921 --> 00:33:45,980 and the full power of quantum computation, 610 00:33:46,057 --> 00:33:48,150 which is actually unlimited, in some sense, 611 00:33:48,226 --> 00:33:49,352 if you start to store 612 00:33:49,427 --> 00:33:51,588 all the values in between the zero and the one. 613 00:33:51,662 --> 00:33:56,759 So then you really reach a stage where you can encode much more 614 00:33:56,834 --> 00:34:00,326 and the capacity really has no limits in that sense. 615 00:34:00,405 --> 00:34:01,804 Freeman: There might be a time 616 00:34:01,873 --> 00:34:05,206 when humans forego their own dream of immortality 617 00:34:05,276 --> 00:34:08,973 and create eternal artificial life. 618 00:34:09,047 --> 00:34:10,844 And if they do, 619 00:34:10,915 --> 00:34:13,884 how would artificial and biological life get along? 620 00:34:13,951 --> 00:34:17,011 Some people think that very soon 621 00:34:17,088 --> 00:34:20,524 computers will be smarter than us and they'll put us in zoos. 622 00:34:20,591 --> 00:34:24,186 They'll put us behind bars and throw peanuts at us 623 00:34:24,262 --> 00:34:26,321 and make us dance behind bars 624 00:34:26,397 --> 00:34:30,060 just like we make bears dance in zoos today. 625 00:34:30,134 --> 00:34:32,261 But at the present time, 626 00:34:32,336 --> 00:34:35,567 none of these technologies are ready for prime time. 627 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:39,098 We simply don't have an operating quantum computer. 628 00:34:39,177 --> 00:34:43,944 The world's record for a quantum computer calculation is - 629 00:34:44,015 --> 00:34:45,073 ta-da - 630 00:34:45,149 --> 00:34:48,607 3 times 5 is 15. 631 00:34:48,686 --> 00:34:51,553 We sometimes forget that computers and robots, 632 00:34:51,622 --> 00:34:55,683 no matter how advanced they are, are adding machines. 633 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:56,886 But that doesn't mean 634 00:34:56,961 --> 00:35:00,294 they have creativity, imagination, initiative. 635 00:35:00,364 --> 00:35:02,662 It doesn't mean they understand human values. 636 00:35:02,733 --> 00:35:05,793 It doesn't mean that they can make leaps of logic like we can. 637 00:35:05,870 --> 00:35:08,430 In other words, we have a long ways to go 638 00:35:08,506 --> 00:35:10,736 before we can begin to approximate 639 00:35:10,808 --> 00:35:14,369 the real thinking process that takes place in a human being. 640 00:35:14,445 --> 00:35:18,745 Freeman: We're safe from becoming slaves to quantum intelligence... 641 00:35:18,816 --> 00:35:20,283 for the time being. 642 00:35:20,351 --> 00:35:24,515 But this physicist envisions a different fate for mankind, 643 00:35:24,589 --> 00:35:28,958 one where the lines between artificial and biological life 644 00:35:29,026 --> 00:35:30,220 will blur 645 00:35:30,294 --> 00:35:33,786 and immortality will become reality, 646 00:35:33,865 --> 00:35:35,662 not just for the living... 647 00:35:35,733 --> 00:35:39,169 but also for the dead. 648 00:35:43,441 --> 00:35:45,341 We're taught to think of science and religion 649 00:35:45,409 --> 00:35:47,001 as separate truths. 650 00:35:47,078 --> 00:35:50,241 Albert Einstein didn't believe that. 651 00:35:50,314 --> 00:35:55,411 He said, "Science without religion is lame. 652 00:35:55,486 --> 00:35:58,683 Religion without science is blind." 653 00:35:58,756 --> 00:36:01,987 The secret to achieving immortality 654 00:36:02,059 --> 00:36:05,961 could require the fusion of humanity and God 655 00:36:06,030 --> 00:36:09,522 into an everlasting cosmic computer. 656 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:13,536 Few people think further into the future than Frank Tipler, 657 00:36:13,604 --> 00:36:15,128 a mathematical physicist 658 00:36:15,206 --> 00:36:18,175 at Tulane University in New Orleans. 659 00:36:18,242 --> 00:36:21,643 Frank predicts that, at some point in our evolution, 660 00:36:21,712 --> 00:36:24,340 something truly remarkable will happen. 661 00:36:24,415 --> 00:36:30,615 Humanity, the Universe, and God will unite - 662 00:36:30,688 --> 00:36:35,022 a moment he calls the omega point. 663 00:36:35,092 --> 00:36:39,791 Tipler: The omega point is the very end of the Universe. 664 00:36:39,864 --> 00:36:43,857 In the process, mankind, or, more precisely, our descendants, 665 00:36:43,935 --> 00:36:46,165 will expand out from this planet 666 00:36:46,237 --> 00:36:50,867 and ultimately engulf the entire Universe. 667 00:36:50,942 --> 00:36:55,140 As our descendants are moving into this final state, 668 00:36:55,213 --> 00:36:59,411 their knowledge and their power and their computer capacity 669 00:36:59,483 --> 00:37:03,078 is increasing without limit. 670 00:37:03,154 --> 00:37:04,485 The laws of physics 671 00:37:04,555 --> 00:37:07,524 allow a process that will convert matter - 672 00:37:07,592 --> 00:37:13,394 stones of this graveyard, for instance - into pure energy. 673 00:37:13,464 --> 00:37:16,160 That will be the ultimate energy source, 674 00:37:16,234 --> 00:37:19,726 which our descendants will use and gain control of it. 675 00:37:19,804 --> 00:37:22,830 Freeman: At the omega point, Frank argues, 676 00:37:22,907 --> 00:37:26,968 our descendants will be capable of doing anything. 677 00:37:27,044 --> 00:37:31,606 And with infinite power, they will create a cosmic computer 678 00:37:31,682 --> 00:37:33,513 and reconstruct in a simulation 679 00:37:33,584 --> 00:37:35,745 everything that has ever happened 680 00:37:35,820 --> 00:37:37,981 in the history of the Universe. 681 00:37:38,055 --> 00:37:41,821 Now, from the point of view of the beings in the far future, 682 00:37:41,892 --> 00:37:45,851 we will be their alternate ancestor as rational beings 683 00:37:45,930 --> 00:37:49,889 so they will be interested in what we were, what we were like. 684 00:37:49,967 --> 00:37:53,368 As a consequence, every man, woman, and child 685 00:37:53,437 --> 00:37:55,564 will be brought back into existence. 686 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:58,768 It will be just like you are brought back with your body 687 00:37:58,843 --> 00:38:02,745 into a reconstructed Earth just like we now live on. 688 00:38:02,813 --> 00:38:06,180 It will be different in one crucial respect. 689 00:38:06,250 --> 00:38:07,615 We will be resurrected, 690 00:38:07,685 --> 00:38:10,620 but we will never have to go through death again. 691 00:38:10,688 --> 00:38:13,213 Freeman: Frank claims the laws of physics 692 00:38:13,291 --> 00:38:16,522 not only permit this type of immortality - 693 00:38:16,594 --> 00:38:19,290 they actually require it to happen. 694 00:38:19,363 --> 00:38:21,888 Tipler: Second Law of Thermodynamics says 695 00:38:21,966 --> 00:38:26,630 the complexity of the Universe at the most fundamental level 696 00:38:26,704 --> 00:38:28,899 is increasing without limit. 697 00:38:28,973 --> 00:38:30,804 I conclude 698 00:38:30,875 --> 00:38:33,742 that the validity of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, 699 00:38:33,811 --> 00:38:36,336 throughout all of time, 700 00:38:36,414 --> 00:38:38,746 actually requires life 701 00:38:38,816 --> 00:38:43,185 to come into existence to gain control of the Universe. 702 00:38:43,254 --> 00:38:46,883 Freeman: Whether immortality comes in billions of years 703 00:38:46,957 --> 00:38:49,391 or whether it comes this century, 704 00:38:49,460 --> 00:38:53,897 the conquest of death will transform our civilization - 705 00:38:53,964 --> 00:38:58,560 the way we live, the way we work, the way we love. 706 00:38:58,636 --> 00:39:01,867 Maybe the question is not "Can we live forever?" 707 00:39:01,939 --> 00:39:04,169 But "Should we?" 708 00:39:07,878 --> 00:39:09,402 Alexander Rose 709 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,847 is the executive director of the Long Now Foundation, 710 00:39:12,917 --> 00:39:15,715 an organization whose main focus 711 00:39:15,786 --> 00:39:19,813 is the building of an unusual timepiece. 712 00:39:19,890 --> 00:39:24,293 It's called the Clock of the Long Now, 713 00:39:24,362 --> 00:39:29,390 and it's designed to tick for 10,000 years. 714 00:39:29,467 --> 00:39:32,368 Rose: We built the 10,000-year clock 715 00:39:32,436 --> 00:39:35,462 to give people a different perspective 716 00:39:35,539 --> 00:39:37,370 of the really long term. 717 00:39:37,441 --> 00:39:39,773 If you believe that medical science or other things 718 00:39:39,844 --> 00:39:41,675 are going to increase human longevity, 719 00:39:41,746 --> 00:39:44,715 then the way that you would approach the world 720 00:39:44,782 --> 00:39:46,477 would be very, very differently - 721 00:39:46,550 --> 00:39:49,348 just the same way that if we're designing a 10,000-year clock 722 00:39:49,420 --> 00:39:52,548 instead of a clock that just has to last for 10 years, 723 00:39:52,623 --> 00:39:55,615 we have approached this design problem very differently. 724 00:39:55,693 --> 00:39:58,753 And we have to be responsible over those next 10,000 years 725 00:39:58,829 --> 00:39:59,796 for our clock. 726 00:39:59,864 --> 00:40:01,957 Freeman: 10,000 years in the past, 727 00:40:02,032 --> 00:40:05,058 we were still living in the stone age. 728 00:40:05,136 --> 00:40:07,161 Flash forward the same period, 729 00:40:07,238 --> 00:40:09,798 and our civilization and technology 730 00:40:09,874 --> 00:40:12,604 will be unrecognizable. 731 00:40:12,676 --> 00:40:15,008 We realize in designing a 10,000-year clock 732 00:40:15,079 --> 00:40:18,879 that the most durable design is likely the simplest. 733 00:40:18,949 --> 00:40:23,113 Freeman: The Clock of the Long Now will be all mechanical. 734 00:40:23,187 --> 00:40:26,213 Power in the clock will come from the force of gravity. 735 00:40:26,290 --> 00:40:31,284 A weight-driven system will turn a threaded bar. 736 00:40:31,362 --> 00:40:33,193 And the clock will keep time 737 00:40:33,264 --> 00:40:35,994 in both the short term, with the pendulum, 738 00:40:36,066 --> 00:40:38,728 and in the long term, through a solar synchronizer. 739 00:40:38,803 --> 00:40:43,240 This device may or may not last for 10 millennia, 740 00:40:43,307 --> 00:40:46,834 but that's not really Alexander's point. 741 00:40:46,911 --> 00:40:50,244 He wants to make us imagine what we will be like 742 00:40:50,314 --> 00:40:53,579 10,000 years from now. 743 00:40:53,651 --> 00:40:55,676 Rose: As soon as you see that 10,000-year clock 744 00:40:55,753 --> 00:40:58,221 and you visit it, the conversations that you have 745 00:40:58,289 --> 00:41:00,120 around whether or not humans will be there, 746 00:41:00,191 --> 00:41:02,591 the shapes of the hands of the people that might wind it - 747 00:41:02,660 --> 00:41:04,252 "Are they gonna be the same as ours?" 748 00:41:04,328 --> 00:41:05,556 "Are they gonna be different?" 749 00:41:05,629 --> 00:41:08,359 Those kind of conversations immediately allow you 750 00:41:08,432 --> 00:41:11,230 to take responsibility for that kind of time span, 751 00:41:11,302 --> 00:41:13,429 and that's the hope with this clock. 752 00:41:13,504 --> 00:41:18,567 Freeman: 10,000 years from now, human beings may be immortal. 753 00:41:18,642 --> 00:41:20,007 Even if they're not, 754 00:41:20,077 --> 00:41:23,672 their life-spans will surely be vastly longer than ours. 755 00:41:23,747 --> 00:41:26,910 But it won't be just our bodies that will change. 756 00:41:26,984 --> 00:41:31,444 What it means to be human will be different. 757 00:41:31,522 --> 00:41:33,990 If you think about all the human values, 758 00:41:34,058 --> 00:41:35,491 quite a lot of them come 759 00:41:35,559 --> 00:41:38,392 from the fact that we know that life is finite. 760 00:41:38,462 --> 00:41:42,398 If you think, "How do I feel towards that person?" 761 00:41:42,466 --> 00:41:43,899 The fact that you know 762 00:41:43,968 --> 00:41:46,903 that the person is not gonna be there one day 763 00:41:46,971 --> 00:41:50,463 probably makes your emotions far stronger in some sense 764 00:41:50,541 --> 00:41:52,406 than other ways they would be. 765 00:41:52,476 --> 00:41:55,570 So this could all change, and maybe some of these things 766 00:41:55,646 --> 00:41:58,479 would even disappear from the human race 767 00:41:58,549 --> 00:42:00,881 if we simply knew we could live forever. 768 00:42:00,951 --> 00:42:03,852 Rose: What happens to marriage and relationships 769 00:42:03,921 --> 00:42:06,719 if our life-spans grow to 1,000 years or more? 770 00:42:06,790 --> 00:42:08,052 Right now, 771 00:42:08,125 --> 00:42:10,753 half of us get divorced just in our short lifetimes. 772 00:42:10,828 --> 00:42:12,762 But if we lived for 1,000 years, 773 00:42:12,830 --> 00:42:16,061 who knows how many times you might get married? 774 00:42:16,133 --> 00:42:18,624 I don't think that I would be able to live forever. 775 00:42:18,702 --> 00:42:20,567 I think my wife would kill me first. 776 00:42:20,638 --> 00:42:21,969 Freeman: Whether we like it or not, 777 00:42:22,039 --> 00:42:24,906 more and more scientists believe we will one day live 778 00:42:24,975 --> 00:42:29,173 in a world without age, disease, and death... 779 00:42:29,246 --> 00:42:33,307 that we'll revel in the joys and wonders of endless life 780 00:42:33,384 --> 00:42:37,320 and that we'll just have to learn to cope 781 00:42:37,388 --> 00:42:43,156 with the consequences of living forever. 782 00:42:43,227 --> 00:42:48,893 Mythology says that the gods envy our mortality. 783 00:42:48,966 --> 00:42:50,524 Our mortality 784 00:42:50,601 --> 00:42:54,469 is what makes life precious and something to be savored. 785 00:42:54,538 --> 00:42:57,564 Driven by the pressure of time to achieve greatness, 786 00:42:57,641 --> 00:43:01,805 it may be our mortality that gives us our humanity. 787 00:43:01,879 --> 00:43:04,211 But as long as we are mortal, 788 00:43:04,281 --> 00:43:08,183 we'll never stop dreaming of life everlasting. 789 00:43:08,252 --> 00:43:12,382 That, too, is what makes us human.