At what moment are you dead? - Randall Hayes

Prevodilac: Stefan Zrnović Lektor: Mile Živković

For as far back as we can trace our existence,

Otkad možemo da pratimo svoje postojanje,

humans have been fascinated with death and resurrection.

ljudska bića su fascinirana smrću i vaskrsenjem.

Nearly every religion in the world has some interpretation of them,

Skoro svaka religija na svetu ima neku njihovu interpretaciju

and from our earliest myths

i od najranijih mitova

to the latest cinematic blockbusters, the dead keep coming back.

do poslednjih filmskih blokbastera, smrt nastavlja da se vraća.

But is resurrection really possible?

Ali da li je vaskrsenje zaista moguće?

And what is the actual difference between a living creature and a dead body, anyway?

Šta je zapravo uopšte razlika između živog bića i mrtvog tela?

To understand what death is, we need to understand what life is.

Da bismo shvatili šta je smrt, treba da shvatimo šta je život.

One ancient theory was an idea called vitalism,

Stara terorija je bila ideja pod imenom vitalizam,

which claimed that living things were unique

koji kaže da su žive stvari bile jedinstvene

because they were filled with a special substance, or energy,

jer su bile ispunjene posebnim supstancama ili energijom,

that was the essence of life.

koja je bila suština života.

Whether it was called qi,

Bilo da se zvala ki,

lifeblood,

krv,

or humors,

ili humori,

the belief in such an essence was common throughout the world,

verovanje u tu suštinu je bilo zajedničko za ceo svet,

and still persists in the stories of creatures

i još uvek opstaje u pričama bića

who can somehow drain life from others,

koja mogu nekako da isisaju život iz drugih,

or some form of magical sources that can replenish it.

ili neku vrstu magičnih izvora koji mogu da ga dopune.

Vitalism began to fade in the Western world

Vitalizam je počeo da bledi u zapadnom svetu

following the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century.

prateći Naučnu revoluciju u 17. veku.

René Descartes advanced the notion

Rene Dekart je razvio pojam

that the human body was essentially no different from any other machine,

gde ljudsko telo suštinski nije drugačije od bilo koje druge mašine

brought to life by a divinely created soul located in the brain's pineal gland.

koju je oživela božanska duša smeštena u moždanoj epifizi.

And in 1907, Dr. Duncan McDougall even claimed that the soul had mass,

1907. godine, doktor Dankan Mekdugal je čak izjavio da duše imaju masu,

weighing patients immediately before and after death in an attempt to prove it.

mereći pacijente momentalno pre i posle smrti, u pokušaju da to dokaže.

Though his experiments were discredited, much like the rest of vitalism,

Iako su njegovi eksperimeni bili odbačeni, poput ostataka vitalizma,

traces of his theory still come up in popular culture.

ostaci njegove teorije se i dalje javljaju u popularnoj kulturi.

But where do all these discredited theories leave us?

Ali sa čime nas ostavljaju sve ove opovrgnute teorije?

What we now know is that life is not contained

Ono što sada znamo je da se život ne sastoji

in some magical substance or spark,

od neke magične supstance ili iskre,

but within the ongoing biological processes themselves.

već od samih bioloških procesa koji traju.

And to understand these processes,

Da bismo shvatili ove procese,

we need to zoom down to the level of our individual cells.

treba da se zadubimo do nivoa naših pojedinačnih ćelija.

Inside each of these cells,

Unutar svake od ovih ćelija,

chemical reactions are constantly occurring,

hemijske reakcije javljaju se konstantno

powered by the glucose and oxygen that our bodies convert

a napaja ih glukoza i kiseonik koje naša tela pretvaraju

into the energy-carrying molecule known as ATP.

u ATP, molekul koji nosi energiju.

Cells use this energy for everything from repair

Ćelije koriste ovu energiju za sve od oporavka

to growth

preko rasta

to reproduction.

do reprodukcije.

Not only does it take a lot of energy to make the necessary molecules,

Ne samo da je potrebno dosta energije da bi se stvorili neophodni molekuli,

but it takes even more to get them where they need to be.

već i samo njihovo smeštanje tamo gde treba da budu traje još duže.

The universal phenomenon of entropy

Sveprisutna pojava entropije

means that molecules will tend towards diffusing randomly,

znači da će molekuli nasumično težiti prema difuziji,

moving from areas of high concentration to low concentration,

krećući se od oblasti visoke ka niskoj koncentraciji,

or even breaking apart into smaller molecules and atoms.

ili čak razbijajući se na manje molekule i atome.

So cells must constantly keep entropy in check

Ćelije moraju stalno da drže entropiju u pripravnosti

by using energy to maintain their molecules

koristeći energiju za održavanje njihovih molekula

in the very complicated formations

u veoma komplikovanim formacijama

necessary for biological functions to occur.

neophodnim da bi se desile biološke funkcije.

The breaking down of these arrangements when the entire cell succumbs to entropy

Kada cela ćelija poklekne pred entropijom i ova postavka se razbije,

is what eventually results in death.

to za posledicu u jednom trenutku ima smrt.

This is the reason organisms can't be simply sparked back to life

Ovo je razlog zbog kojeg organizmi ne mogu da se jednostavno vrate u život

once they've already died.

kada jednom umru.

We can pump air into someone's lungs,

Možemo da pumpamo vazduh u nečija pluća,

but it won't do much good

ali to neće učiniti ništa

if the many other processes involved in the respiratory cycle

ako mnogi drugi procesi uključeni u respiratorni ciklus

are no longer functioning.

više ne funkcionišu.

Similarly, the electric shock from a defibrillator

Takođe, električni šok defibrilatorom

doesn't jump-start an inanimate heart,

ne reanimira zaustavljeno srce,

but resynchronizes the muscle cells in an abnormally beating heart

ali resinhronizuje mišiće ćelija u srcu koje nenormalno kuca

so they regain their normal rhythm.

i tako ponovo uspostavlja njegov normalni ritam.

This can prevent a person from dying, but it won't raise a dead body,

Ovo može da zaštiti osobu od umiranja, ali neće podići mrtvo telo,

or a monster sewn together from dead bodies.

ili sklopi delove mrtvog tela.

So it would seem that all our various medical miracles

Izgleda da sva naša različita medicinska čuda

can delay or prevent death but not reverse it.

mogu da odlože ili spreče smrt, ali ne da je preokrenu.

But that's not as simple as it sounds

Ali to nije toliko jednostavno koliko zvuči

because constant advancements in technology and medicine

jer su stalni napreci u tehnologiji i medicini

have resulted in diagnoses such as coma,

za posledicu imali dijagnoze poput kome,

describing potentially reversible conditions,

koje opisuju stanja koja potencijalno mogu da se preokrenu,

under which people would have previously been considered dead.

a pod kojim bi ljudi već bili smatrani mrtvima.

In the future, the point of no return may be pushed even further.

U budućnosti, tačka bez povratka može čak biti pomerena dalje.

Some animals are known to extend their lifespans

Neke životinje su poznate po tome što produžuju svoj životni vek

or survive extreme conditions

ili preživljavaju ekstremne uslove

by slowing down their biological processes

usproavajući svoje biološke procese

to the point where they are virtually paused.

do tačke gde su praktično zaustavljeni.

And research into cryonics hopes to achieve the same

Istraživači u oblasti krionike se nadaju da će postići isto

by freezing dying people and reviving them later

zamrzavajući umiruće ljude i oživljavajući ih kasnije

when newer technology is able to help them.

kada novija tehnologija bude mogla da im pomogne.

See, if the cells are frozen, there's very little molecular movement,

Ako su ćelije zamrznute, jako je malo molekularnih pokreta,

and diffusion practically stops.

i difuzija praktično staje.

Even if all of a person's cellular processes had already broken down,

Čak iako su svi ćelijski procesi osobe uveliko prekinuti,

this could still conceivably be reversed by a swarm of nanobots,

ovo bi i dalje moglo biti planski zamenjeno čoporom nanobota

moving all the molecules back to their proper positions,

koji pomeraju sve molekule nazad do njihovih tačnih pozicija,

and injecting all of the cells with ATP at the same time,

i ubrizgavaju ATP u sve ćelije u isto vreme,

presumably causing the body to simply pick up where it left off.

od čega će telo verovatno da nastavi tamo gde je stalo.

So if we think of life not as some magical spark,

Ako ne smatramo život kao magičnu iskru,

but a state of incredibly complex, self-perpetuating organization,

već kao stanje neverovato kompleksne, samoodržive organizacije,

death is just the process of increasing entropy

smrt je samo proces rasta entropije

that destroys this fragile balance.

koja uništava ovaj osetljivi balans.

And the point at which someone is completely dead

Tačka u kojoj je neko potpuno mrtav

turns out not to be a fixed constant,

izgleda nije fiksirana konstanta,

but simply a matter of how much of this entropy

već jednstavno stvar toga koliko smo trenutno u stanju

we're currently capable of reversing.

da obrnemo ovu entropiju.