X-Message-Number: 12581 From: "George Smith" <> References: <> Subject: Re: High Density Info Brain Storage Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 13:11:14 -0700 Eugene Leitl in Message #12573 described these fascinating findings on this subject (THANK YOU, SIR!) and wrote: "I guess I don't have to explain anybody what this means in regards to the impact of the freezing damage -- a yet another high watermark in the trend that nature's gadgets are cleverer than we thought has been reached. It thus appears simply not prudent to adhere to the more optimistic scenarios ("manipulation at molecular scale can repair any type of damage"). Let's assume a worst-case, and see how much structural damage we can eliminate by enhanced methods, (i.e. vitrification). We obviously need a reliable, quantitative, observer-independant metric to quantify the quality and quantity of the damage. This relates to both measurement (optical, EM, cryo-AFM) and interpretational (interpretation checklists, video DSP software) domains." My suggestion is first the word REDUNDANCY. The remarkable evidence from stroke recoveries wherein destroyed portion of brain function (including memories!) are sometimes "recovered" over time, indicates the possibility that information may not only be (shall I suggest, holographically?) distributed thorughout at least the brain (perhaps the entire body) but could require just such "dense" accessing at any one site. In other words, the fact that we have evidence that information is densely stored AND that it seems to at least sometimes be redundantly distributed throughout the brain (and body?) is a very good reason to be MORE optimistic, not less. We already know that freezing damage is NOT universal to all cells. Perhaps we will only need a relatively tiny portion of brain (or other tissue?) to access most if not all of "stored" information in regard to accessing memories. My suggestion? Carry out a definite longterm study by cryonically preserving as many people as possible so that later, we can determine if this is true. George Smith http://www.cryonics.org Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12581