X-Message-Number: 21112 Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 08:05:10 -0500 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #21092 - #21100 And finally, a few short words about the conversation between Ray Kurzweil and Eric Drexler in the 4th Quarter 2002 issue of CRYONICS, which I just received: Kurzweil begins his piece here with an apparent assumption that nanotechnology would be used to repair VITRIFIED patients. The purpose of vitrification is to make repair of patients much easier and not require us to first develop suitable nanomachines. Second, in calculating the probable number of bits in a brain, and the minimal number accessible by various computer compression methods, both Kurzweil and Drexler seem to assume that our brains work in bits and bytes, just like computers. That's highly unlikely. I do not know how much volume we'd really need to store the information in a person's brain, but until we have a much better understanding of how our memories work in the first place such calculations look silly. Best wishes and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21112