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". Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10589