DNA Stewardship: How the Technologies Converged to Make Perennial Humanity Possible
An Overview for the Uninitiated
The Big Idea in One Sentence
For the first time in history, the individual human genome can be preserved intact for centuries — and the technologies needed to regenerate a living person from that genome are converging faster than most people realize.
This is DNA stewardship: the deliberate preservation and management of your own genetic material as a renewable resource. It is the foundation of what Jones calls Perennial Humanity — the transition of our species from one bound by a single lifetime to one capable of sequential lifetimes, like a perennial plant that goes dormant in winter and blooms again each spring.
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Part 1: What Has Actually Changed
The Primate Barrier Is Broken
The single most important recent event in reproductive biology went largely unnoticed by the general public. In 2018, Chinese researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully cloned two macaque monkeys — Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua — using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), the same technique that produced Dolly the sheep in 1996.
Why does this matter? Because macaques are primates. They are our closest evolutionary relatives to be cloned. For decades, skeptics said primate cloning was impossible — that something about primate embryonic development made it fundamentally different from other mammals. Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua proved them wrong.
The implication is stark: there is no known biological barrier to human cloning. The question is not whether it can be done, but when society decides it should be.
AI Just Multiplied Success Rates
In the years since the macaque breakthrough, artificial intelligence has been integrated into embryology with dramatic results. AI systems can now:
Analyze embryo viability with far greater accuracy than human embryologists
Optimize growth conditions in real time
Predict and prevent developmental errors
Increase successful implantation and birth rates by as much as 10x over traditional methods
This is not speculative. AI-guided reproductive medicine is already in clinical use for IVF. The leap from IVF optimization to AI-gestated regeneration is technical, not conceptual.
Cryopreservation Has Gone from Exotic to Routine
Cryopreservation — the storage of biological material at ultra-low temperatures — has been standard medical practice for decades. Fertility clinics freeze eggs, sperm, and embryos daily. Seed banks preserve biodiversity for centuries. What has changed is the quality and longevity of preservation:
Vitrification techniques (flash-freezing into a glass-like state) now preserve cellular and genetic integrity with minimal degradation
Stainless steel micro-capsules with triple-seal systems can store purified DNA at room temperature for hundreds of years — no liquid nitrogen required for long-term storage
Labs like Securigene (Vancouver) have refined these techniques to the point where an individual can preserve their complete, purified genome for under $500
The cost curve is following the same trajectory as genome sequencing, which dropped from $3 billion to under $1,000 in two decades.
Ectogenesis: Artificial Wombs Are No Longer Science Fiction
External gestation — growing a fetus outside a human body — has moved from theory to experimental reality. In 2017, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia sustained premature lamb fetuses in a “Biobag” artificial womb for four weeks. Since then, progress has continued steadily toward:
Longer gestation periods in artificial environments
Better nutrient and oxygen exchange systems
Integration with AI monitoring of fetal development
No one has gestated a human from embryo to birth in an artificial womb. But the engineering pathway is visible, and multiple research groups worldwide are working on it.
iPSC Technology: Reprogramming Adult Cells
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), discovered by Shinya Yamanaka in 2006 (Nobel Prize 2012), allow adult somatic cells to be reprogrammed back into a state where they can become any cell type. This:
Bypasses the ethical objections to embryonic stem cells
Means any cell in your body contains the blueprint for rebuilding all of you
Provides a complementary pathway to SCNT for regeneration
Blockchain Enables Trust Without Central Authority
The Humanist Union Society proposes using blockchain smart contracts to govern DNA stewardship. Why blockchain?
Chain of custody: Every capsule is laser-engraved and logged, creating an immutable record from deposit to potential future retrieval
Smart contracts: Automated agreements can govern regeneration instructions, childhood support funding, and succession — executing exactly as written, without human intermediary
Decentralized governance: No single corporation or government controls access to member DNA records
Centennial timescale: Blockchain records persist as long as the network exists — far longer than any corporate filing system
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Part 2: The Four Concepts
1. DNA Stewardship
The foundational act: each individual takes responsibility for preserving their own genome. Not as ancestry data. Not as a medical sample. As a living franchise — the biological basis for a future self.
DNA stewardship means:
Awareness that your genome is now a renewable resource
Preservation through advanced cryopreservation or room-temperature capsule storage
Agency — you, not institutions, control whether and how your genome persists
2. Waypoints
A Waypoint is the physical vessel for DNA stewardship. It consists of:
A surgical-grade stainless steel capsule with a triple-seal system
An inner borosilicate glass ampoule containing purified, fortified DNA
Laser-engraved identification linked to a blockchain registry
Designed for centuries of stability at room temperature
The Waypoint is not just a storage device. It is a declaration: I intend to continue.
Participants also fund arrangements for their eventual Childhood 2 — the support structure for a regenerated individual’s early years, governed by smart contracts.
3. The Humanist Union Society (HU)
The organizational framework. Registered as a non-profit society in British Columbia, Canada, the HU functions like a member-owned club:
No external ownership — no corporate shareholders, no government control
Governed by members through blockchain-based smart contracts
Dedicated solely to DNA stewardship and member continuity
Contracts with world-class cryopreservation labs for member services
Committed to research only until social consensus on regeneration is reached
The HU’s declaration is explicit: “There are no plans nor projects underway to attempt human regeneration before social consensus is reached.”
4. Perennial Man — The Model
The philosophical and biological framework:
Current human reproduction is sexual: two genomes combine, creating a new, unique individual. The parents’ exact genomes are not preserved.
Perennial reproduction is asexual: a single genome is regenerated identically. The individual’s genotype persists across lifetimes.
Four life cycles: The model contemplates sequential lifetimes — L1 (your current life), L2 (first regeneration), L3, and beyond — each beginning from your preserved Waypoint DNA.
AI partnership: Regenerated individuals would be supported by artificial intelligence (AGI/ASI) that bridges the gap between life cycles — preserving memories, personality context, and helping the new individual integrate into whatever era they emerge in.
The analogy to perennial plants is precise, not poetic. A dandelion (Taraxacum) goes dormant in winter and regrows from its root system in spring — genetically identical, season after season. Jones argues that humanity now has the technical basis to do the same across lifetimes.
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Part 3: Why Now — The Convergence
No single technology makes Perennial Humanity possible. What has changed is their convergence:
Technology Status Role in Perennial Humanity
SCNT (Cloning) Proven in primates Core regeneration pathway
iPSC Reprogramming Nobel Prize-winning science Alternative/complementary regeneration
Cryopreservation Routine medical practice DNA storage for centuries
AI in Embryology Clinical deployment Quality control, optimization
Ectogenesis Experimental (animal models) External gestation pathway
Blockchain Mature technology Governance, custody, smart contracts
Room-temp DNA capsules Available today (~$500) Affordable individual access
Each technology alone is insufficient. Together, they form a complete infrastructure:
Preserve your genome (cryopreservation / capsules)
Govern the process (blockchain / smart contracts / HU Society)
Regenerate when ready (SCNT or iPSC + AI + ectogenesis)
Integrate the new individual (AI bridging between life cycles)
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Part 4: The Ethical Stance
Jones and the HU Society take a deliberately cautious position:
Research only — no attempt at human regeneration until broad social, legal, and ethical consensus exists
Individual agency — DNA stewardship is a personal choice, not imposed
Equity concern — the risk that regeneration becomes a privilege of the wealthy is acknowledged as a central challenge
Identity questions — the philosophical status of a regenerated individual (same person? new person?) is held as genuinely open
No financial interest — Jones states he receives no commission or benefit from whether individuals choose to steward their DNA
The Society’s position is that the time to build the ethical framework is now, before the technology matures — not after.
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Part 5: What This Means for an Investor
For a reader evaluating DNA stewardship as a concept with investment implications:
The Market
Every living human is a potential participant. Unlike longevity medicine (which aims to extend a single life), DNA stewardship creates a recurring biological subscription model — the genome is preserved for multiple potential life cycles.
The Asset
A Waypoint capsule and its blockchain registration constitute a new kind of asset: genetic IP with chain of custody. The capsule is physical; the registry is digital; the smart contracts are automated. This is infrastructure for a market that does not yet exist but addresses the most universal human concern: mortality.
The Timeline
Jones is explicit: this is not a near-term product. It is a long-horizon infrastructure play — building the preservation, governance, and community layer now, so that when regeneration technologies mature (AI gestation, ectogenesis, primate-to-human cloning transfer), the framework is ready.
The Moat
First mover in framing DNA stewardship as a consumer act
Non-profit governance that resists corporate acquisition
Blockchain registry that becomes more valuable as more members join
Securigene partnership for world-class preservation technology
Published intellectual property — the Perennial Man framework, the Four Life Cycles model
The Risk
Regulatory uncertainty (human cloning is prohibited in most jurisdictions)
Timeline uncertainty (decades, not years)
Social acceptance uncertainty (the deepest cultural taboo)
Technology transfer gap (primate cloning to human regeneration)
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Sources & Further Reading
Perennial Man eBook: Amazon
Humanism Substack (Our Species Credo): humanism.substack.com
Perennial Man Substack: perennialman.substack.com
Humanist Union Society: humanistunion.com
Waypoint.Club: waypoint.club
Securigene Capsules: securigene.com/dna-banking/post-mortem-dna-banking-capsule
Zhong Zhong & Hua Hua (primate cloning): Cell, January 2018
Yamanaka iPSC discovery: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2012
CHOP Biobag (ectogenesis): Nature Communications, 2019
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Document prepared April 2026. Based on content from humanistunion.com, humanism.substack.com, perennialman.substack.com, and waypoint.club.