X-Message-Number: 1384 Date: 02 Dec 92 04:31:24 EST From: Paul Wakfer <> Subject: CRYONICS: Reply to a point of #1383 (Hal Finney) In the middle of all the junk, it was refreshing to see someone as concerned about freezing damage as I am. I leave others more knowledgeable to address his concerns on those issues. I only wish to make one positive and encouraging point about our present best transport capability. > In an ideal >suspension, the cryonics team is able to begin work immediately once >the patient's heart has stopped (and death pronounced by a cooperative >physician). In this situation the patient is subjected to no more >than a few minutes of warm ischemia. In my mind there is little doubt >that if the patient could be miraculously preserved in exactly this >state, that future medicine could revive them. >But, we can't do that. Instead, we have to freeze them in liquid >nitrogen. We can even revive them now Hal! If they are slow dying terminal cases who have given instruction for no extra-ordinary measures to be used to keep them alive, and if we get them onto the MALSS quickly enough, they probably are currently arriving at Alcor in revivable condition. (Right now, research is being conducted within the cyonics community, which will make revivability possible even after longer periods of warm ischemia and longer trips to the place of suspension). The problem is that such revival would be pointless since no-one in current medicine can repair the body failures which caused the terminal prognosis. Thus we must suspend them to wait for a time when they can not only be revived but also cured of their ailments. For old patients this means the multifaceted problems of, and reasons for, aging must also have been solved. For many who are being suspended (certainly aids patients), it may well be that within a few years, then-current medicine will be able to completely cure them. Unfortunately, in the process of freezing them (the least damaging way to preserve them of which we currently know), so much damage is done that it will be far longer (if ever) than the time when a cure is found for the ailment which necessitated their suspension, before they can be revived and cured. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1384