X-Message-Number: 20751
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 22:02:20 -0500
From: 
Subject: Re: CryoNet #20721 - Cloning

James Swayze wrote:
>Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2002 02:46:50 -0800
>
>I think now with hindsight that had I known that the Raelians were
>involved in trying to clone a human where their stated goal is to
>achieve immortality via brain transplant, and without detailed
>explanation given that I am yet aware of--such as creating anencephalic
>bodies rather than killing a human being for its body, I might not have
>written my letter to Reeves

Apart from whatever "religious" implications there might be with the 
Raelians, their separate organization involved in cloning presents 
interesting issues.  As I understand it, James is a "whole body" signup 
with CI (who do not do "neuro" or "head only"), so this message does not 
directly apply to him.  Alcor, on the other hand, as I understand it, does 
both whole body and head only, and specializes in the latter via the new 
vitrification process.

Presumably, if only the head is cryopreserved, some way must be provided in 
the future for some type of new body to be attached.  (Perhaps some machine 
and/or "wireless" function would suffice, but I think that is probably not 
what many Alcor signups have in mind in choosing "neuro".)  So, how is a 
new body to be produced, apart from some type of cloning process using the 
tissues and DNA from the frozen patient?  And why wouldn't a "neuro" signup 
look favorably towards research being done on cloning a body sans brain for 
the purposes of a transplant?

It seems a real stretch to envision a body simply being grown from a 
revived head.  Growing a hand or a foot from an existing body, maybe.  But 
a whole body from a head?  But that's the only alternative I can think of 
to transplanting the brain into a cloned body (or perhaps transplanting the 
entire head to a cloned body sans head).

Carry on, folks.

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