X-Message-Number: 1511
Date: 24 Dec 92 21:14:49 EST
From: "Steven B. Harris" <>
Subject: CRYONICS & the Feedback Problem

<continued from previous message about barbiturates>

   Our competitor cryonics organizations, by the way, have
publicly pointed out the legal risks of using barbiturates, and
do not use them.  Surprise, their suspendees look just like ours,
despite the short-cut.  That's the one big problem with cryonics,
don't you know: no feedback.

   Here's an analogy I like: suppose that a surgeon on Earth is
doing an operation on a sick person on the moon, via virtual
reality and waldos ("telepresence").  It's pretty hard, since
there is an almost 3-second time delay to worry about.  Move the
scalpel, and you don't see the result for three seconds-- very
difficult.  Now: imagine the surgeon operating on someone on
Mars.  Now the time delay is (at least) 8 minutes, so you have to
do an entire ensemble of surgical movements, then wait a while to
see the effect.  Even more difficult.  Finally, imagine you're
trying to do a remote operation on someone on a planet of the
nearest star, 4.3 light years away.  Now you have to do the
entire procedure from start to finish with no feedback at all,
and then sit back and hope you did not leave out a stroke. 
Furthermore, note that under such circumstances it's nearly
impossible for many years to tell the difference between the job
of a master surgeon and the job of a nitwit, screw-up, or
imposter, because there is no feedback from the patient to tell
you.

   Now: what do you get when you have to do this kind of remote
surgical operation on a patient that is not 4.3 light-years, but
rather *100* light-years away?  Answer: you get something a
little bit like cryonics.....


                                      Steve


   



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