X-Message-Number: 16459
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 10:00:23 -0700
From: Max More <>
Subject: Alzheimer's and memory loss

>That is clearly NOT the assumption. It is certain, that
>Alzheimer's and brain tumours destroy memory. While we all
>believe, that it will eventually become possible to repair any
>part of the body (this assertion is fudamental to cryonics),
>destroyed memory will be lost.

You say it is "certain" that Alzheimer's destroys memory. Is that really 
true? I'd appreciate hearing from someone who really knows the current 
science in this area. I'm suspicious of the above claim because (a) people 
with Alzheimer's seem to sometimes recall things and sometimes not; (b) 
memory is not a single process. It may be that the ability to *retrieve* 
memories is damaged by Alzheimer's, but perhaps the memories are still 
there and retrieval abilities could be repaired. This point goes along with 
the first point -- even normal people sometimes have difficulty accessing a 
memory even though they know it's there, and it often pops into mind later on.

Max

_______________________________________________________
Max More, Ph.D.
Futurist, Speaker, Consultant.
 or 
http://www.maxmore.com
________________________________________________________________
President, Extropy Institute. http://www.extropy.org
Chair, 06.15.01, Extro-5: Shaping Things to Come, 
http://www.extropy.org/ex5/index.htm
________________________________________________________________
Senior Content Architect, ManyWorlds Inc.: http://www.manyworlds.com
"The Premier Business Strategy Source"

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