information-theoretic death

noun

The point at which a person's unique memories and individual personality traits are no longer present in a form that could be read or inferred by future technologies; the complete loss of the information that defines an individual.

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Meanings

nouninformation-theoretic death (usually uncountable, plural information-theoretic deaths)

plural information-theoretic deaths

  1. uncountableusuallyThe point at which a person's unique memories and individual personality traits are no longer present in a form that could be read or inferred by future technologies; the complete loss of the information that defines an individual.

    Information-theoretic death occurs several hours following clinical death. Dying is a process, and in the ideal case cryonics intervention procedures begin immediately after the heart stops beating and prior to brain death.

    2021, Calvin Mercer, Tracy J. Trothen, Religion and the Technological Future: An Introduction to Biohacking, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 147

Origin

From information theory + -ic + death, based on clinical death. Coined by American cryptographer and cryonicist Ralph Merkle.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

information-theoretic death. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/information-theoretic%20death

MLA

“information-theoretic death.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/information-theoretic%20death. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “information-theoretic death,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/information-theoretic%20death.

Source: information-theoretic death on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.