X-Message-Number: 13402
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 19:06:33 -0800
From: bankston <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #13399 - #13401
References: <>


I continue to receive and read many of the CryoNet updates and would like to add

a few things. I work in an acquired brain injury program in San Diego that works
every day with over 100 individuals surviving stroke, anoxia, tramatic brain
injuries, the surgeons byproducts of tumor removals, etc. I can attest to one
undeniable fact, boys and girls; when areas of the brain are damaged, corelated
functioning for that particular formation results in flat ass loss. As in
forever. Neuronal pathways blocked by scar tissue or sufficiently absent cell

groupings do not transmit impulse no way no how. Unless there is a plan afoot to
regrow the exact, to the freaking cell, structures damaged by age, trauma,
disease or freezing, nobody will regain the intact personality everyone seems

bent on imortalizing. Even minor trauma strips away so much of what we are, I 
can
not even imagine the results of freezing/thawing the human brain. But, being
among the marchers to the grave, I gotta like your spirit. As soon as a cloning
or a cultivating/implanting of cells becomes a viable method of recreating
original structures, I'll be first in line. Keep up the good work.

CryoNet wrote:

> CryoNet - Sat 18 Mar 2000
>
>     #13399: Re: CryoNet #13395 - #13398 [Azby2000]
>     #13400: Re: CryoNet #13395 - #13398 [George Smith]
>     #13401: CryoNet #13395 - #13398 [Thomas Donaldson]
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message #13399
> From: 
> Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 18:28:02 EST
> Subject: Re: CryoNet #13395 - #13398
>
> Is there an internet site where I could go to learn more about the Anti-aging
> Pill (article #13397)? Thank you!
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message #13400
> From: "George Smith" <>
> References: <>
> Subject: Re: CryoNet #13395 - #13398
> Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 16:25:18 -0800
>
> In Message #13395, Thomas Donaldson wrote in part:
>
> > ...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
>
> Then again, it may prove to not really be necessary for our purposes in
> cryonics.  It could be that simply restoring the normal physical structure
> will do the job even if we still do not truly understand "how personal
> memory works".
>
> For example, today some coma patients recover with little or no memory
> impairment.  Again, some amnesia victims recover some or all of their
> personal memories.  In both cases we have no idea why this happens.  They
> "heal" and recover their memories.
>
> When it becomes possible to restore the structure of someone's body and
> brain to life, we may discover that there is no meaningful memory loss.
> (And by "meaningful" I simply mean a degree of loss which is generally
> acceptable by most people.  I forget many things but I don't mind because I
> remember enough to operate effectively in society).
>
> Frankly, I truly hope that Thomas Donaldson is precisely right and we end up
> having a complete and detailed understanding of the mechanisms of memory.
> What a boon that would be all by itself!  I am merely suggesting that it may
> not turn out to be necessary when we begin reviving suspensions.
>
> George Smith
> www.cryonics.org
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message #13401
> Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 01:26:19 -0500
> From: Thomas Donaldson <>
> Subject: CryoNet #13395 - #13398
>
> To Henry Hirsch:
>
> I am interested in your pills but naturally require more evidence
> than your bare statement that they work. Please send this evidence
> to me (Thomas Donaldson, PO Box 208, O'Connor ACT 2602, AUSTRALIA).
>
> And if you are joking, then I fail to understand the joke. There
> are many people who have made the claims you make; the important
> issue is whether or not it is true. And yes, someday someone may
> well come up with treatments as simple as the one you describe.
> I believe that many would respond this way.
>
>                         Best and long long life,
>
>                         Thomas Donaldson
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> End of CryoNet Digest
> *********************

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=13402