X-Message-Number: 3669
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 20:13:21 -0500
From: 
Subject: SCI. CRYONICS Bogner

Stephen Bogner (#3657) offers some comments and suggests a plan or map for
furthering or even triggering mass acceptance of cryonics.  First a couple of
comments in response, then a few tentative specifics:

The extent to which religious and similar mind-sets work against cryonics may
be  rather limited. After all, very few people are consistent in their
beliefs, and more often than not accomodate opposing beliefs without even
noticing it. A physician to whom I tried to sell cryonics once said, in
dismissal, "I think God hed, 11 Jan 1995 20:13:21 -0500
From: 
Subject: SCI. CRYONICS Bogner

Stephen Bogner (#3657) offers some comments and suggests a plan or map for
furthering or even triggering mass acceptance of cryonics.  First a couple of
comments in response, then a few tentative specifics:

The extent to which religious and similar mind-sets work against cryonics may
be  rather limited.  will also lose
their force as our credibility and numbers improve, and as accessibility and
affordability increase.

As far as maps and plans go, I for one would welcome Mr. Bogner's sketch for
this. I am always skeptical about the value of elaborate plans and specific
time tables; more often than not, it seems to me, it is more efficient just
for each to work on what he does best, flying by the seat of his pants.
 (Spend your time on the work, not on the plans for the work.) My wife is
horrified by this habit, and loves planning, and sometimes she has rescued me
from my messes. No doubt the truly efficient way depends a good deal on the
complexity of the proposed job and the number of people and the amount of
money involved, as well as the time horizon. 

We can't easily predict how much psychological effect will be produced by
"progress" in cryonics, short of actual revival of a thawed adult mammal.
After all, 30 years ago or more some of us thought the progress in
cryobiology was already impressive if not persuasive. But we will work for
progress in any case, and perhaps we could divert a little of our energy
toward trying to maximize the psychological impact of this progress.

The Cryonics Institute and the Immortalist Society will probably arrange with
the Ukrainian scientists, Drs. Pichugin and Zhegunov, and perhaps others, to
extend the sheep head work, which already appears to have verified the
effectiveness of  our methods in avoidance of cracking. One of these
extensions may be viability assays or biochemistry/physiology studies on
particular tissues of the brains, similar to the many works cited by Dr. Fahy
in studying post mortem human and other mammalian brains, which showed many
biomarkers not much degraded even by very adverse conditions and very rough
freezing.

Studies of this sort should serve not only to improve the perception of
progress, but perhaps also to suggest specific improvements. Already, for
example, we have suggestions by Douglas Skrecky and others that our apparent
success in avoiding cracking may relate to slowness of cooling and rewarming
near specific critical temperatures, and not over-all slowness. Yvan
Bozzonetti has suggested that very slow cooling and rewarming, while
beneficial in preventing cracking, may be harmful with respect to
microtubules. Mr. Bozzonetti has a chemical suggestion to improve this;
perhaps an increase in speed of temperature change--outside the critical
range--might make a difference. 

In any event, we probe and try, and think and probe and try again. All this
activity will hopefully produce specific improvements, and should also (even
when the specific improvements fail to emerge) produce a more favorable
perception.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society

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