Well you could suggest the first motion picture was caught on cell film, which has a shelf life. The only way to preserve it would be to move it to another film type, then perhaps VHS, then further still to DVD or some future technology.
With each iteration there might be loss, or with each iteration there might be the need for some renovation.
All in all for something to continue that obviously has a shelf life it means to have the ability to convert from one form to another, with an attempt to keep within the conversion as much of what originally was existant.
I suppose I'm saying the human body will die, but we can live on if we just accept a media change.