X-Message-Number: 17449
Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 22:02:29 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Plastination and Other Chemo Alternatives

Several recent postings have dealt with plastination, which might be a 
lower-cost alternative to cryonics. Other such options involve some form of 
chemical preservation of the brain, and some form of ambient temperature 
storage, whether above or below freezing (water ice temperature). One 
possibility, for instance, would be chemo plus burial in permafrost.

I have to say, in apparent contradiction to what some have expressed, that 
I think these are *good* ideas to investigate and consider, and regret that 
more effort has not been spent in this direction. All you really need is 
the brain in some inferable form to bring back the person, if a reasonable 
nanotechnology can be developed. So a good chemopreservation should be 
adequate, and would obviate certain problems with cryonics, such as the 
requirement for continuous, high-cost maintenance.

Of course, we don't know well enough how good any of our chemical methods 
may be for such a purpose. But there are uncertainties with cryonics too, 
and no proof that *all* presently available chemo techniques must fail, or 
even that all are inferior to cryopreservation, when it comes to saving 
what is important. Research should both improve the techniques, whether 
chemo or cryo, and provide more evidence of efficacy. This is not to deny 
that there could be difficult decisions and tradeoffs. Research funds are 
scarce, especially when it comes to a bid for immortality, whatever your 
preferred methods. But I would like to see *some* serious research devoted 
to alternatives to low-temperature storage, again with the goal of reanimation.

As for the problem some keep bringing up that "our friends of the future" 
may not be that friendly, and may have no interest in bringing us back to 
life, I feel strongly that the opposite will be the case, at least for 
*some* persons of the future. It should not take very many to carry out the 
task, assuming some reasonable level of automation, which should also 
reduce costs. If I am around then myself, I will be one such person, and I 
intend to make a concerted effort to see that people who chose preservation 
wanting to return will get their wish. Meanwhile I will try to influence 
others to adopt this thinking. The Society for Venturism 
(www.venturist.org) is an organization devoted to this very ideal--if you 
are interested, contact us.

Mike Perry
Director, Society for Venturism

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