X-Message-Number: 3492 Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 00:57:47 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: CRYONICS:Fixing Cryonet Last night's CryoNet was really a perfect sample of this medium, showing everything that's right and wrong with it. Having browsed through this sample I now find myself completely persuaded by Steve Jackson: a moderator would be a great idea. One reason I am persuaded incidentally is that Steve has a lot of experience with the online community. We should always listen to people with experience. ---- Re neural connectivity being possibly predetermined by DNA: I am biologically ignorant, but there is an obvious logical point to be made, implicit in Mike Darwin's post. If we exclude random factors, ranging from cosmic rays to jostling in the womb, and we begin two new lives with an identical code sequence, logic dictates that we would end up with two identically structured people, regardless of the number of steps and the degree of complexity involved. But random external factors begin right from the moment of conception. It is quite common for twins to come out of the womb weighing significantly different amounts, because one has somehow managed to consume more of the available nutrients than the other. Such gross environmental effects must obviously affect every aspect of growth, including the formation of neural connections. ############################################################ Charles Platt, 1133 Broadway (room 1214), New York, NY 10010 Voice: 212 929 3983 Fax: 212 929 4467 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3492