X-Message-Number: 10589
From: "den Otter" <>
Subject: Lose that head!
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 11:55:08 +0100

> 
> Message #10583
> From: "Gordon Shippey" <>

> Friends,
> 
> Apologies if this has been asked many times before, but as a neurosuspension

patient, I've got some serious concerns about recovering > from being 
decapitated.  I'm not worried that there are important parts of my

personality housed below the neckline.  After all, Christopher > Reeve is still 
Christopher Reeve.  Rather, I'm wondering whether there are

fundamental difficulties that might prevent even an advanced > technology from 
splicing a revived and repaired neurosuspension patient onto some

semblance of his old body.  This question and these concerns > are prompted by 
Gerald Edelman's book "Bright Air, Brilliant Fire", which suggests

that even clones can have major structural differences > due to random 
fluctuations during their development.

Personally I see no problem since our bodies would have to be 
"upgraded" anyway to comply with general future standards
(most people living today would look rather misshapen compared
to the no doubt genetically perfect supermen (or cyborgs, uploads)
of the future). At the very least we'd get the optimal version of
our current bodies, but possibly something much better. Who
would even *want* to stick to his old outfit? Not me, anyway.
Of course, if you happen to be perfectly content with your
current body, you can film & photograph it from all angles,
perhaps have it scanned into a computer etc., and have that
data stored (some cryonics organizations do that, I belief)
together with a note that says that you don't want to be revived 
before science can restore your body *exactly* as it was.

This head-body business reminds me of another idea: neuro
suspensions are not only cheaper (save for CI's services), but 
arguably also better for brain preservation since the organs of 
the human body have different perfusion optimums, and a neuro 
allows you to fully focus on the head since the rest of the body is
discarded anyway. Now it would seem logical to have the best
of both worlds and perfuse the body and the head separately.
I've never heard of it before, but perhaps it is already a standard
procedure? A severed head could also be cooled much faster
due to its smaller surface area. Basically you chop it off with
a sharp guillotine-like device, plug tubes into the arteries, put
the head into a can filled with a circulating cooling solution while 
perfusing it with cooling substances at the same time. Simultaniously,
(or somewhat later, since it's lower priority) the body is cooled and 
perfused. Later, after the dry ice treatment etc., they can be stored 
separately or together, whatever is more practical. 

Incidentally, this procedure would also simplify the first (and 
crucial) phases of a suspension, making it easier for 
relatively untrained local groups or morticians to perform.
Chop, plug & perfuse (like Snap, Crackle and Pop). Of
course, it would be advisable to keep some flasks of Vodka
and a couple of buckets handy, due to the rather explicit 
nature of the "operation".

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