X-Message-Number: 799
Date: Mon, 4 May 92 11:25:48 PDT
From: uunet!parallax!eric (Eric Messick)
Subject: Re: cryonics: #796 -- Brain Scan Question

> David S. Stodolsky writes:
> For instance, there has been discussion of the frozen brain being

> pulverized, but the position of each fragment carefully recorded for later 
use.

My personal scenario goes something like this:

The patient's head remains stored at liquid nitrogen temprature.  It
is placed inside a scanner that contains a thin sheet of nano-machines
which slowly passes through the frozen head.  Each machine has an arm
protruding from both sides of the sheet.  On the leading edge, the arm
is capable of removing and identifying individual atoms, molecules, or
subsets of molecules.  These it passes through the sheet, where they
are reassembled by the other arm.  Information about the type,
position, orientation, and bonding of the molecules is transmitted to
the edges of the sheet, and recorded.  The reassembled head serves as
the ultimate backup, but may not be required if there is sufficient
confidence in the process.

At this point, computer analysis reverses the freezing damage, and
produces a neural map of the original brain.  (We wave our hands
violently at this point, as this is certainly not an easy problem.)  A
brain simulator is initialized with this neural map, and a reasonable
neuro-chemical environment.  The simulator is started inside a virtual
reality representing a present-day hospital room, giving the patient a
chance to recover in familiar surroundings.  The patient is then
informed of the available choices in bodies/uploads, etc, and can then
be transfered into the latest in body fashion.

-- eric messick

  uunet!parallax!eric

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