98
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