X-Message-Number: 9037
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 09:21:12 -0800
From: "Joseph J. Strout" <>
Subject: Re: cloning vs. (?!?) cryonics

In Message #9036, Marty Nemko <> wrote:

>Does signing up for cryonic suspension make any more or less sense now
>that it appears that human cloning will soon be possible?  For
>example,in 10-20 years, it may be possible to attach a new, young cloned
>body to my head.  If so, I'll be able to get vastly extended lifespan
>without having to be frozen waiting for some other medical advance.  The
>latter, of course, brings all sorts of other problems: freezing damage,
>uncertainty of reanimation, possible loss of memory, etc.   Your
>thoughts will be appreciated.

I think cloning has very little impact on the rationale for signing up for
cryonic suspension, except that it strengthens a bit the argument that
neurosuspension patients may be just as viable as whole-body.

First of all, you don't know that you'll be alive in 10-20 years; you could
get hit by a bus this afternoon.  If that happens, and you haven't made
cryonics arrangements, then no future developments are going to help you at
all.

Second of all, it will *not* be possible to attach a new body to your head
in 10-20 years.  If we're lucky, we may be able to repair minor damage to
the spinal cord by then, but doing a whole-body transplant is a very
different matter.  I'm not saying "never", but I will confidently predict
"not in 20 years".  50-100, perhaps.

Thirdly, even if we could graft a young body onto your aged head, you would
not get the vastly extended lifespan you hope for.  Your head would still
be old and getting older, and that's what matters.  A young lower body
might reduce the chance of heart attack, but it won't reduce the chance of
senile dementia, brain tumors, etc.  It would probably not affect maximum
lifespan at all.

Finally, your last point, about the possible problems with cryonics, is
irrelevant.  Signing up for cryonics does not cause damage, memory loss,
etc.  This is known with certainty.  Actually being suspended, now *that*
is an unknown -- but if medical breakthroughs in the future prevent you
from dying in the first place, you will never be suspended (despite your
precautions), and it won't matter what damage suspension might cause.

If you had posed this question in response to possible reversal of aging,
it would have been more interesting -- surely you're following the work
with telomerase?  But even then, the last point would still apply.  I'm 26,
and I now consider it reasonably possible that I will live to 150, by which
time uploading may be developed, and I'll never need cryonics.  But I'm
still making my arrangements now.

Cheers,
-- Joe

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
|    Joseph J. Strout           Department of Neuroscience, UCSD   |
|               http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/  |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'
        [ Help stop spam: http://www.imc.org/ube-sol.html ]

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9037