PROJECT BACKGROUND

Project zero MIND is an attempt to research and clinically evaluate treatment protocols that halt mid life neurodegeneration.   It is partly based on the findings of the late Dr George Bartzokis (1956-2014) UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior 

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/in-memoriam:-dr-george-bartzokis-neuroscientist-who-developed-the-myelin-model-of-brain-disease

Bartzokis key finding was that the brains myelination repair processes start to break down measurably from about age 35, causing us to become slower, less flexible and more forgetful.  More importantly he noticed that the pattern of degeneration across the brain in which this occurs start in the more complex and newly evolved areas (frontal lobe first) and progress in a way that actually resembles stages of dementia.

The types of proteins and the large volume of biological material involved in myelin breakdown are also implicated in overloading the brains neuroimmune system.   This overload is likely to cause immune stress in tandem with age increasing viral load and immunosenescence (immune cell atrophy and death).  So his proposal is that this gradual breakdown (which affects us all) sets the conditions (with other more widely known conditions) for dementia to occur.

In short there is very little that is actually beneficial from this entire process. Mid life slowing is actually the first stages of the gradual neurodegeneration that most of us will succumb to if we live long enough.  Most people will accept this as “natural” and perhaps engage in more brain training/health measures if their local government or health systems provide it.   For transhumanists maintenance of the brains condition is a fundamental priority and more rigorous methods and involvement are necessary which will be outlined on our “PROJECT DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE” page. The project title itself is inspired from the book "Why you are obsolete at almost every level and live largely in fiction"

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Model-Zero-Obsolete-Largely-Fiction/dp/1497362598

Model Zero describes how the effect of the brain becoming more engrained in heuristics, inflexibility and restricted learning leads to exponential compounding whereby decades of this process result in a person being incapable and unable to deal with change.  The aim of the project is to foster collaboration within our own experimental population, using scientific methods to engage in and analyze a range of relevant mental rejuvenation activities and therapies (combination therapies).