X-Message-Number: 1725 Date: Mon, 8 Feb 93 23:37:55 CST From: Brian Wowk <> Subject: CRYONICS mummy Wil McCarthy: > CNN ran a segment this weekend about an Inca "mummy," a young prince who > was drugged and buried alive in a mountain tomb. According to the > interviewed scientists, the boy is not dead, though his shriveled body is > on display in a glass case! Because of the drugs, they said, the boy went > to sleep and slowly cooled until his body was frozen. The commentator even > went so far as to state that medical science might some day be able to > bring the "mummy" back to life. > If this is as farfetched as it sounds to me, one must wonder what drugs > these South American doctors have been taking! The commentator was right. With the addition of water and a few nutrients, advanced nanotechnology *could* in principle rework the molecular structure of the mummy into a living, breathing person. If enough DNA could be salvaged (and it probably could in this case) you could even get a clone of the original person. It is, however, extremely unlikely that enough brain structure would be left to recover the *identity* of the original person. That person is therefore *dead* I am sorry to say. I certainly do wish, though, that more scientists would be similarly liberal in evaluating cryonics! Say, did you get the names of any of those South American doctors? :-) --- Brian Wowk Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1725