X-Message-Number: 9900 Date: Sun, 14 Jun 98 00:10:15 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Re: CryoNet #9892 Martin Olah wrote, > I am curious how > cryonics is handled by the skeptic community, if anyone knows. > There is a discussion of cryonics on pp.85-6 of *Why People Believe Weird Things* by Michael Shermer, who is publisher of *Skeptic* magazine, host of the Skeptics Lecture Series at Caltech, etc. Three problems he lists are: "1. We do not know whether anyone frozen to date or anyone who will be frozen in the foreseeable future will ever be successfully revived." "2. The freezing technology appears to do considerable damage to brain cells, though the exact nature and extent of such damage have yet to be determined since on one has been revived to put it to the test." "3. The entire science of cryonics presently depends on future technological developments." Basically, Shermer wants more evidence cryonics will work before taking it seriously (not a position I share, but understandable). Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9900