X-Message-Number: 7370 Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 12:13:46 -0800 From: (Olaf Henny) Subject: Re: CryoNet #7346, Anatole Dolinoff Re: Cryonet Message 7364 From: Anatole Dolinoff <> (text deleted) >Yes, cristals dont appear always ; yes, they dont >always kill the cells ; yes, little frozen samples revive but >because they are little ; no, never a frozen human organ has >been brought back to life. I can only write them :... You could also write them, that as late as 105 years ago, they would probably have written: "Sure birds can fly, they are little, but look even at an ostrich: has anybody ever seen one fly? Now to think that anything as large as a car, made out of materials all heavier than air could freely lift above our heads? The idea is absolutely absurd, insane!" A very dangerous impediment to scientific research is IMO the obsession with scientific reputation and the fear of repercussions from and ostracism by peers. While it is completely reasonable, even vital to credibility of science, that statements of scientific fact should not be made, unless the result on which it is based is repeatable and provable. However, when this conservatism discourages ground breaking, target setting in research, it is entirely counter-productive. The fact, that scientific communities expel members, who enter in research, that the community does not approve of, as in the case of cryobiologists, who support cryonics, is outright medieval. This is worse, than Copernicus' expulsion from the church, since he was threatening, with his heliocentric world system, the prevailing dogma of the church at that time. Cryonics does no such thing to cryobiology, although religious leanings may well also play a role there. Olaf Henny *********************************************************** The education expenses of a scientist, who is not enough of a maverick to press beyond the limits of the 'possible' as defined by his professors are wasted. *********************************************************** Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7370