X-Message-Number: 3216
From:   (a6221gan)
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
Subject: Biostasis technique viability
Date: 6 Oct 1994 03:57:18 -0500
Message-ID: <>

Not long ago Brian Wowk joined in a discussion about biostasis and wrote:

>You ask about achieving "damage-free" entry into biostasis.  This is a
>bit of an oxymoron because human beings (as currently designed) with
>stopped metabolism are inherently damaged, and have no way of
>spontaneously regaining function.  I assume you are really asking when
>will we have a technique that we are certain is reversible with future
>technology.

No. I am really asking when will we have a technique that can put a human 
being into biostasis without causing damage. 

For example, a computer goes into "cyberstasis" if the power fails. Modern 
computers shutdown the hardware without damage and save the current state of 
the system into nonvolatile RAM in the last few milliseconds as the power 
dies away. At this point the computer is dead and not very useful, although 
a lot quieter :) 

The computer is now dependent on someone to discover a way to resupply 
power to it. Fortunately the computer had a technique for damage-free entry 
into cyberstasis, unlike older machines that wrecked their disks and lost 
their memories. Like a human being with stopped metabolism, the computer has 
no way of "spontaneously regaining function", is it therefore "inherently 
damaged" ?

>The answer is that we really won't know for *certain* until we can
>actually revive the person.

Ditto cyberstasis. There is nothing quite like a *real* test when power is 
finally restored.

>In fact, we are probably less than 5 years and a million dollars or so away
>from achieving full functional recovery of *entire brains* from -130'C
>using vitrification only.

Incredible! That should be enough for a Nobel prize.

>Damage mechanisms in any of the above procedures are multi-dimensional
>and cannot be characterized by a single number.

How many dimensions do you use? Has anyone quantified resulting damage?

Ian Taylor
Ignore the header, my email address is: 

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