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Human Body Version 2.0
with artificial respirocytes that would enable us to hold our
breath for four hours or do a top-speed sprint for 15 minutes
without taking a breath. Like most of our biological systems,
our red blood cells perform their oxygenating function very
inefficiently, and Freitas has redesigned them for optimal
performance. He has worked out many of the physical and
chemical requirements in impressive detail.
It will be interesting to see how this development is dealt with
in athletic contests. Presumably, the use of respirocytes and
similar systems will be prohibited from Olympic contests, but
then we will have the specter of teenagers in junior high school
gymnasiums routinely outperforming Olympic athletes.
Freitas envisions micron-size artificial platelets that could
achieve hemostasis (bleeding control) up to 1,000 times faster
than biological platelets. Freitas describes nanorobotic micro-
bivores (white blood cell replacements) that will download
software to destroy specific infections hundreds of times faster
than antibiotics, and that will be effective against all bacte-
rial, viral and fungal infections, with no limitations of drug
resistance.
HAVE A HEART, OR NOT
The next organ on my hit list is the heart. Its a remarkable
machine, but it has a number of severe problems. It is subject
to a myriad of failure modes, and represents a fundamental
weakness in our potential longevity. The heart usually breaks
down long before the rest of the body, and often very prema-
turely.
Although artificial hearts are beginning to work, a more effec-
tive approach will be to get rid of the heart altogether. Among
Freitas designs are nanorobotic blood cell replacements that
provide their own mobility. If the blood system moves with