X-Message-Number: 10059 Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 08:33:35 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #10052 - #10058 Hi everyone! To Paul Wakfer: It seems to me that you are arguing against Bob Ettinger mainly because he has a somewhat different notion of what is "scientific" than you do. I do not know where any standard definition (which doesn't just have us running about in circles, as with a dictionary) of the word "scientific" may be found. Forgetting the issue of words, as someone who has read a lot of science (including science which may someday relate closely to revival from suspensions -- or whatever you choose to call them -- ) I think it would be hard to argue that we now have no evidence at all for the proposition that cryonics will work. Now. Sure, we can argue about how much weight to put on that evidence, how good it is, etc etc, but it still exists. I will add also that I don't think calculating probabilities is very meaningful here, but that is a separate question (no, I don't go along with everything Bob said or says). Finally I must point out that (if we take the notion literally, rather than trying to limit it to some future technology which may never fully arrive) nanotechnology not only exists now but is in current use. We see it whenever biochemists design and construct new enzymes to perform a job in environments which formerly could not be used, or in the quite common use of viruses to modify the genetics of lab animals. And it will come to human beings, too. I've been reporting on its advances in PERIASTRON for several years now --- perhaps that has not been realized by many because I confine myself to actual working technology rather than theory. To Brett Corlett: scientists studying aging have examined the phenomenon you describe in some depth. In many ways such children do show the classic signs of aging, but not in all. The notion that aging comes somehow from our genes is almost obvious; the real problem is to work out exactly how. The problem is that most people do not suffer from the genetic problem of these children, so some other genes are involved. In other animals such as C. elegans ge changes have been found which double lifespan. So far as I know, no one yet has found similar genes in human beings, but there are people who are searching. Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10059