X-Message-Number: 13395 Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 06:32:42 -0500 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #13390 - #13393 Hi everyone! "If nanotechnology does not work": well, some people want to restrict the word "nanotechnology" only to particular kinds of nanotechnology. If so, it's quite possible that those particular kinds will fail, even spectacularly. But if we take the meaning of "nanotechnology" to include ANY means of working with objects on a nanoscale, then we already have at least one kind (it's called biotechnology, and is advancing at a fine pace) and no doubt will develop others. Not only that, but the major problem in reversibly preserving someone is going to be that of how to recover them from their suspended remains. This means that the problem of how personal memory works becomes quite important. It may be that with good technology for vitrification we can avoid confronting this problem directly, but one way or another we will ultimately need to know how our different kinds of memories work and how our memories get "written" (in so far as they are written rather than grown) into our brains. It's that problem which some kind of nanotechnology may ultimately solve for us... but from what I know of current work with vitrification, that solution may come much later than reversible suspensions. And will such work become obsolete because of using pigs as a source for organs? No, not for our brains (and so far as I know the only serious attempt at organ preservation is conducted by --- guess who --- cryonicists!). Not only that, but it would be much better to have several means to replace organs rather than just one --- if only because not everyone will be happy to have their organs replaced by those of pigs. Moreover the pigs involved also have shorter lifespans than humans, and the longevity of a transplant is important too. (Not that there aren't several means to solve that problem). Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=13395