X-Message-Number: 20557
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 11:21:14 -0800 (PST)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: has Roy Walford signed up for cryonics yet?
extropians-digest Thursday, December 5 2002 Volume 07 : Number 333
- -----Original Message-----
From: Francesca Skelton [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, July 14, 2002 5:41 PM
To:
Subject: [CR] Dr. Walford responds about his condition
Dear Francesca,
There has been so much posted recently about my "condition" and about my
"attitude" (the Peg Macintyre article etc.) that perhaps I'd better respond,
through you. (1) My "condition". The specialist at Baylor said that the only
persons he had seen who have a gait disturbance like mine had had carbon
monoxide exposure. Now there was no CO exposure inside Biosphere, but CO
toxicity is in fact a type of hypoxia, and there was a period of peculiar
(normobaric, as opposed to high altitude) hypoxia inside Biosphere (See my
article recently published: Walford, R.L: Biosphere 2 as voyage of
discovery: the serendipity from inside. BioScience. 52:259-263, 2002. ).
I've always been very susceptible to high altitudes in that I was always the
first to feel bad on a mountain trip. Some months ago one of the other
Biospherians had an MRI to rule out a pituitary tumor. It was ruled out but
the radiologist noted in passing some changes in the brain stem which he
said were consistent with CO exposure. This Biospherian has no gait or
other neurological problems, but I was the most affected clinically
(shortness of breath, sleep problems etc,) and this person the next most
affected by the hypoxia. There also developed a level of nitrous oxide about
80x normal, and this is now thought to be neurotoxic. It is also true the CR
was very severe in Biosphere 2 (see photo of me in June issue of J.
Gerontol.). Also, the physical (as well as psychological) stress was very
severe --- not only more but FAR more and continuous than anything I have
ever experienced, and I've done a lot of stressful things. I was also, at 67
on entry, 27 years older than the next oldest crew member, yet in the nature
of things had to do an equal share of the work. My neurological problems
started during the last 6 or so months inside. Putting all the above
together is why I judge my neurodegenerative problems are related to the
Biosphere 2 experience. But there is no way of really knowing. Also, it's
such a special case that I don't think my condition means anything as far
as the CR group is concerned. Certainly nobody on the list,
or any place else I know of, is likely to have comparable exposure. (2)
"Attitude". Professional science writer-journalists usually get it right,
but journalists who are not primarily science writers (like Macintyre) often
not only get it wrong but come on with a preconceived agenda that they try
to, as it were, "read into you." They don't outright lie, but for example a
Favorite trick is to ask "Don't you think it's possible that .....?" and
then they'll add what they want to hear. If you answer, "Well, yes, it's
possible" then you may find in the article, for example, "Dr. Walford says
it's possible that .... ", and then will come something I may not really
agree with, but "it's possible", so they have not actually misquoted me but
have shifted the emphasis. Dean and others of the group should bear this in
mind as they represent CR. It can really trip one up. So by the same token,
the group should not read my "attitude" towards anything at all into what is
written by non-science professional journalists. The only thing right about
her article is that I don't wish to be a "guru" (as opposed, for example, to
Sears, Atkins etc), and that's why I don't post, and don't like to answer
questions. I am too much of an "authority figure" and the group does best
without such a one, in my view. Also, because of my "condition", it's
difficult both to keep up with the literature on CR and do the documentary
about Biosphere 2 that I'm working on, so I really don't want to be involved
in a lot of questions. I am going in another direction with what
strength I still have.
Best regards,
Roy Walford
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