X-Message-Number: 6680
From: 
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1996 13:31:44 -0700
Subject: SCI.CRYONICS  Why all this Prometheus criticism

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In  #6674  On  Sat, 03 Aug 96  Brian Shock <> Wrote:
                    


                >The moonshot program required only money and dedication --
                
                >no major scientific breakthroughs. Can we say the same for
                                >Prometheus?                  


I don't know, you don't know, nobody knows. The reason nobody knows is that 
nobody has tried, at least not in any serious way. Consider the possibilities:
                   
1)  Reversible brain preservation is possible within existing Science. For     

    all we know it could turn out to be easy, I rather doubt that is the case
        but I can't rule it out because the question has not been explored.    

    Prometheus would direct over 100 times the resources than was ever put on
        this problem before, although still less than the research money a   
    cosmetics company spends to develop a new lipstick.
                     
2)  A Scientific breakthrough is needed. It's true that breakthroughs are    
    unpredictable, you never know where, when, or even if, one will come  

    along, one thing you can be certain of however, they don't just fall out
        of the sky and if you insist on siting on your hands your chances of    
    finding a Scientific breakthrough are zero.
    
3) Reversible brain preservation is impossible without Nanotechnology 
   because only that technology can repair the damage. Few things are certain 
   in life and yes, it's possible that Prometheus could turn out to be a  
   failure. Is that a valid reason for not taking an interest in the project? 
   Your jet fighter is in flames and heading straight down, do you ignore the 
   eject switch and just ride the jet down till you go splatt because there 
   is a possibility that your parachute will malfunction and not open? 
   Even if perfect, that is reversible, preservation is not possible I think 
   there is little doubt we could find ways to reduce the damage current 
   methods cause, and the less responsibility we must place on future 
   technology to bring us back the happier I am.


When The Prometheus Project was announced I expected that religious 
fundamentalists wouldn't like it, but the nit picking and downright hostility  
it has produced among members of this list has amazed me. Perhaps you don't  
think Prometheus is perfect, perhaps there is some little aspect of the 
project you dislike, but do you honestly expect a better research project to
come along in the immediate future, especially if you manage to kill off this 
one. If you don't want to invest your own money in this then don't, but why 
you would want to discourage others from doing so with words like "farcical" 
and "blindly" is a total mystery to me. If the project is successful you will 
benefit too, even if you had no part in it.
           

                                             John K Clark     


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