X-Message-Number: 12286 From: "George Smith" <> References: <> Subject: The "Alternative Universe" is the Future - reply to Saul Kent Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 11:32:23 -0700 In Message #12282, Saul Kent wrote: > > Reading George Smith's recent messages > is a little like hearing about life in an alternative universe. > > Mr. Smith says: "My entire point is that it is > wiser to assume that the juggernaut of modern medical > industry with its billions of dollars and crystal-clear profit > motive will succeed whether or not others, such as 21st > Century, succeed or not." > > The facts are that the potential to make big > bucks with improved or perfected methods of cryopreser- > vation *is* crystal-clear, and the "juggernaut" that Mr. Smith > refers to has done exactly nothing to date to take advantage > of these opportunities. Not one of the giant medical corpor- > ations is conducting cryopreservation research in spite of > the "profit motive" to do so. You are not reading what I am writing. My entire point is that I suspect that "cryopreservation" research AT THIS TIME is unnecessary. The 'juggernaut" I refer to is international medical technology as a whole: CAT scans, MRI. the entire transplant industry, micro-surgery techniques, fiber-optic surgery - all the reasons that medicine today is so incredibly expensive and profitable resulted from the ongoing efforts of this "juggernaut". Ongoing efforts. I am NOT simply looking at "cryopreservation", an admittedly tiny blip on the horizon of modern medical research. I AM discussing the BIG picture - and that picture has expanded radically with the Nano-computer breakthrough. I am sure 21CM will continue. But so will the really LARGE and POWERFUL giants of medical research technology. I simply doubt that new and elegant even "reversable" cryopreservation methods will be necessary once the tools which will come from nano research come on line. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to discover that straight freeze techniques (lacking ANY cryoprotectant) will succeed due to the coming new technology. Only time will tell if I am wrong about this. It is too soon to be certain. But please understand what I am writing about. The "alternate universe" you are referring to is THE FUTURE. And it is the necessary component for determining what will be ultimately shown to be true. > > Smith goes on to say: "If you don't think THEY can > do it, with billions of dollars and the world's best researchers, > what makes you think WE can do it better, with less money > and fewer scientists." And I am still saying so. The key word is "it". "It" is the successful reanimation of human cryonics patients. Not just current "cryopresevation" research which may very well prove unecessary. > > The reason I think "WE" can do it is because we > *are* doing it. <snip> You mean, you BELIEVE you are doing it. Maybe, as I suggest, you will discover you have been wasting your time, like trying to go to the moon in an airplane. Maybe not. At this juncture, you CAN'T know. This is only being honest. And even if current research efforts in cryopreservation truly succeed, this does not mean that we will NEED them as the massive broad-based medical research effort in nano now proceeds. After all, if projected nano-devices are created (and this seems now to be inevitable as a consequence of both the Nano-computer breakthrough and the money being spent internationally in this arena) we will no longer even need drugs for treating disease. With a "smart" immune system and DNA-checking going on internally, not only will aging be reversed in living human beings but disease will cease to require drug treatment. Thus all modern pharmaceutical drug research will also end up being surpassed by a superior "treatment" technology. I apologize to those who find that the blueprint of the future which is coming at us with increasing speed seems like "an alternative universe". I am sorry that the future which is coming does not necessarily fit your personal expectations. But it isn't really my fault. It is being produced by the massive efforts of research which is applying what works to make money. Fortunately it will also probably save our lives. Eventually, we will get there. Cryopreservation research today may very well prove to have been unnecessary when all is said and done. All these issues will eventually be demonstrated and the truth will be determined. But not yet. Optimism and honesty are of the greatest importance at this stage. Otherwise we will simply be shocked by that "alternate universe" which is shaping itself around us: the FUTURE. George Smith http://www.cryonics.org "The future ain't what it used to be." Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12286