{"id":307061,"date":"2023-11-17T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/the-biggest-questions-what-is-death\/"},"modified":"2023-11-17T11:23:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T16:23:05","slug":"the-biggest-questions-what-is-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/the-biggest-questions-what-is-death\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biggest Questions: What is death?","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
The Biggest Questions is a mini-series that explores how technology is helping probe some of the deepest, most mind-bending questions of our existence.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Just as birth certificates note the time we enter the world, death certificates mark the moment we exit it. This practice reflects traditional notions about life and death as binaries. We are here until, suddenly, like a light switched off, we are gone. <\/p>\n

But while this idea of death is pervasive, evidence is building that it is an outdated social construct, not really grounded in biology. Dying is in fact a process\u2014one with no clear point demarcating the threshold across which someone cannot come back.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Scientists and many doctors have already embraced this more nuanced understanding of death. As society catches up, the implications for the living could be profound. \u201cThere is potential for many people to be revived again,\u201d says Sam Parnia, director of critical care and resuscitation research at NYU Langone Health. <\/p>\n

Neuroscientists, for example, are learning that the brain can survive surprising levels of oxygen deprivation. This means the window of time that doctors have to reverse the death process could someday be extended. Other organs likewise seem to be recoverable for much longer than is reflected in current medical practice, opening up possibilities for expanding the availability of organ donations.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n