X-Message-Number: 2050 From: Ralph Merkle <> Subject: Talk: THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE AND CRYONICS Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1993 18:40:51 PST PARC Forum Thursday, April 8, 1993 PARC Auditorium, 4:00 P.M. THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE AND CRYONICS Ralph Merkle Computer Science Laboratory Xerox PARC Most sicknesses and diseases are caused by damage at the cellular and molecular level, yet today's surgical tools are, on that scale, large and coarse. The smallest scalpel wielded by the finest surgeon is a large blunt instrument that rips through a crowd of cells leaving them maimed and dead. Only their amazing ability to regroup, bury their dead, and heal over the injury makes modern surgery possible. Future medicine will take advantage of future manufacturing technology and use surgical tools that are molecular in both size and precision. We will be able to cure the fundamental causes of illness rather than simply treat the symptoms, letting us live longer and healthier lives. How can medical technologies that won't be developed for many decades benefit us today? Tissue stored at 140 Kelvins or below can survive for literally centuries. If future medical technology can cure freezing injury, then the terminally ill patient of today can be cured by the medical technology of the future -- and so survive to see a new era in the history of humanity. ----------------------- This Forum is OPEN to the public. All are invited. For more information contact Babur Hadimioglu at (415) 812-4257 () Refreshments will be served at 3:45 P.M. for Forum Attendees only. Requests for videotapes *Xerox Employees Only* should be sent to Susie Mulhern (Mulhern:PARC:Xerox). The PARC Auditorium is located at 3333 Coyote Hill Rd. in Palo Alto. We are in the Stanford Research Park, between Page Mill Road (west of Foothill Expressway) and Hillview Avenue. The easiest way here is to get onto Page Mill Road, then turn onto Coyote Hill Road. As you drive up Coyote Hill past the horse pastures, PARC is the building on the left after you crest the hill. Park in the large lot, and enter the auditorium at the upper level of the building. (The auditorium entrance is located down the stairs and to the left of the main doors.) Next Forum: Thursday, April 15, 4pm, Gary Starkweather, Apple Computer, Desktop Color Management Technology Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2050