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

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