X-Message-Number: 33198
References: <>
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 18:24:13 -0800 (PST)
From: 2Arcturus <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #33183 - #33187

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>>>The entire cryonics community -- IN MY VIEW -- should declare
pre-mortem suspension the optimal practice, designate it the standard
of care, and campaign vigorously for the legal right to choose same.
Best, Jeff Davis

I agree with the sentiment, although I am not sure what the unintended 

consequences might be of compaigning vigorously for any new legal right, esp of
this sort. It would prob best be done carefully rather than forcefully.

In addition, in light of all the talk about the dangers of post-mortem delays 
and the continuing problems with vitrification -
I would like to chime in with my yearly wish that more attention would be paid 
to alternatives to cryonics that might be relevant - e.g., fixation, with or 
without cryopreservation (without = + solid polymer embedding), and brain 

scanning. With sufficiently high-resolution nondestructive brain scanning, a lot
of problems associated with cryonics might be resolved - e.g., the problems 

associated with waiting to an unpredictable moment of death, or waiting until a

neurogenerative disease or condition (e.g., normal aging of the brain) runs its
full course, or battling the biophysics of freezing the incompatible diversity 
of human tissue/cell types and the endless problems with adequate perfusion, 

etc. etc. It would be truly ironic if it were eventually found out that it would
require the most advanced nanotechnology to *freeze* the human body in such a 
way as to make the freezing directly reversible by any reasonable means.

But for those who are a little anxious about the comparison of brain cells to 
soap bubbles, I would like to note that under the right circumstances, brain 
tissue can be remarkably durable, e.g., 7000 years on the bottom of a Florida 
lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windover_Archaeological_Site). We just need 
to understand how.


  
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