Weekly Dose of Optimism #174
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Organ transplantation
14 min read
The article discusses Science Corporation's Vessel division and organ perfusion technology. Understanding the history, challenges, and current state of organ transplantation provides essential context for appreciating why keeping organs viable longer is revolutionary.
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Ship of Theseus
16 min read
The article directly references this philosophical paradox when discussing swappable organs and immortality. This ancient thought experiment about identity and replacement parts is deeply relevant to the transhumanist themes in the article.
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Terahertz radiation
12 min read
The article discusses Lawrence Livermore's breakthrough in 3D-printing optical materials for terahertz frequencies. Understanding this 'terahertz gap' in the electromagnetic spectrum and its potential applications in 6G and sensing provides valuable scientific context.
Hey friends đź‘‹ ,
Happy Friday! This is our last Dose before the holidays, and our penultimate Dose of 2025. It’s been a pretty unbelievable year, the kind of year that makes you want to live forever.
In which case, we have some good news for you.
And one more thing… X embeds are BACK on Substack! You can’t imagine the restraint it took not to litter this Dose with them.
Let’s get to it.
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(1) Science Corporation Announces Vessel
It really takes you from this world of conventional medicine and many of its very difficult problems to potentially a world of swappable parts.
The “swappable parts” that Science CEO Max Hodak (a Duke grad) is referring to in that quote above are human organs. Swappable human organs.
Science Corporation, the brain-computer interface company Hodak founded after leaving Neuralink, which he co-founded, just announced Vessel, a new division focused on organ perfusion.
The basic idea of organ perfusion is that instead of putting a donated kidney on ice and racing the clock (you’ve got maybe 24-36 hours before it’s no longer viable), you keep it alive outside the body, blood flowing, metabolically active, potentially for days or weeks.
Current perfusion systems exist but they’re expensive (TransMedics’ organ care system runs around $250,000 for the machine plus $40,000 to $80,000 per use) and require specialized staff. If organs have to travel far distances, they’re transported by the company’s fleet of
...This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.