THE CODE OF IMMORTALITY

When I was five years old, wrapped in a blanket I pretended was a lion pelt, I banged a hockey stick on the floor and demanded that death be cancelled. Death responded by killing my hamster.
That was the beginning of a war I have been losing ever since - along with every other human being who has ever drawn breath. Yet the war itself is the most fascinating story our species has ever told. It is the story behind every religion, every philosophy, every laboratory, every love poem, and every cryonics brochure gathering dust in a billionaire's desk drawer.
The Code of Immortality is a first-person philosophical investigation into every dimension of humanity's oldest obsession: the refusal to disappear. From the cells that forgot to die to the Silicon Valley engineers who want to upload your soul to the cloud. From the ancient Egyptians who believed your heart would be weighed on a scale to the modern neuroscientists who believe your consciousness is nothing but data waiting to be backed up. From the terrifying silence of near-death experiences to the terrifying noise of a five-year-old learning that his grandmother will not live forever.
Drawing on original research in systems theory, consciousness studies, and the structural foundations of persistence - as well as the latest discoveries in genetics, nanotechnology, brain-computer interfaces, and artificial intelligence - this book maps the full territory of immortality with wit, intellectual honesty, and a deep awareness that the only honest way to discuss death is with a thumbtack on its chair.
Keywords: immortality, mortality, consciousness, death, philosophy of mind, transhumanism, meaning of life