X-Message-Number: 1032
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 92 19:36:54 PDT
From:  (Daniel Green)
Subject: Re: Ice crystal damage

For Cryonet.  Editing/cross-posting ok.

I've been reading the cryonics mail list for some weeks now.
I have a question that I've been watching for some mention of
but it seems that no one else is concerned.  This makes me suspect
that it is a dumb question but I can't see why. It is simply this:
Why the assumption that freezing is the best way to preserve the
person/information?  What's wrong with formaldehyde or some other
such substance/technique?  If I were to have myself preserved,
it would be with the hope of preserving my information and not my
body (for future scanning) so I'd not be concerned with poisoning
my tissues.  It seems that such a solution would be far safer and
cheaper than freezing which takes constant care.

- Daniel Green


[ Daniel, If I recall correctly, one of the early issues of Periastron
  concerned a proposal by Ben Best to combine chemical fixation with
  permafrost interment as an alternative to liquid nitrogen preservation.
  Unfortunately, a lot more research needs to be done to show that this
  approach has any promise.  (Long-term stability of low-level structure
  is a major issue.)  You may also want to see Hugh Hixon's article
  "How Cold Is Cold Enough?" (message #0015). - KQB ]

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