X-Message-Number: 14078
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 08:26:54 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: a VERY short summary of memory

Hi Gurvinder!

I don't read every Cryonet as soon as it comes out, and maybe I missed
your request. If you want to find out more in detail, either buy my
commented bibliography on memory and our brains from Alcor, or subscribe
to PERIASTRON for a few issues ($3.00 US per issue; contact me separately
on Cserve () if you want to discuss this latter
possibility in more detail.

Basically I'd say that just how our memory works is very important for
cryonics now, and will continue to be important even when we can 
vitrify brains rather than use our current freezing methods. The reason
it will continue to be important is simple: NOT EVERYONE will get the
best possible suspension for some time into the future --- I'd actually
argue that best possible suspensions literally for everyone is 
impossible. And that means that we'll need everything we can find out
about how memory works to revive such people. PERIASTRON has been discussing
that possibility for some time now. Yes, it looks like work to allow
vitrification will come true, and I have started to report on it, too ---
citing the papers involved. (For at least 10 years there simply wasn't
much of worth to cryonicists in cryobiological research).

To summarize how memories work, VERY briefly, it now looks as it they
are stored in the fine-level connectivity of our neurons. In that way
(broadly) we work like neural nets in computing, but no computer
uses neural nets which resemble how our brains work at all: the connections
between neurons apparently grow and change constantly, and have other
features no one has tried to imitate even in neural net computing,
such as the importance of different forms of transmission (inhibitory
versus excitatory, using different chemicals). Moreover, we have at
least 3 distinct kinds of memory and probably more.

		Best wishes and long long life,
		  and I hope this was helpful, if you wanted it,

				Thomas Donaldson

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14078