X-Message-Number: 26778
Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 14:43:06 -0400
From: Randolfe Wicker <>
Subject: Re: Your body younger than you think.

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The New York Times article explaining how virtually every part of our body 
regenerates itself during our lifetimes--with the exception of our brain--raises
an interesting issue for cryonicists.


If our brain cells really don't replace themselves and simply slowly 
deteriorate, it would be easy to imagine medicine enabling the physical body to 
live on while the mind slowly dies.


While we might be able to generate new brain cells using stem cell therapies, 
would those new cells absorb the memories and the personality existing in our 
aging original cells?


This raises those old questions about personal identity and "self".  Since many 
of us see ourselves evolving and changing as we age over the decades, would a 
greatly expanded life-span mean that the "self/person" that we are today 
eventually simply evolve out of existence?

Randolfe H. Wicker
Founder, Clone Rights United Front www.clonerights.com 
Spokesperson, Reproductive Cloning Network, www.reproductivecloning.net 
Correspondent, , StemClone Digest, www.StemCloneDigest.com 
Advisor, The Immortality Institute, www.imminst.org 
201-656-3280 (Mornings)


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