X-Message-Number: 24390
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 10:48:35 -0700
Subject: Re: IS THEIR LIFE AFTER MENTAL DEATH?
From: Kennita Watson <>

On Wednesday, Jul 14, 2004, at 02:00 US/Pacific, CryoNet wrote:
> From: Randolfe Wicker <>
> ...
> My mother has Alzheimer's and is "in perfect health' except for this 
> fact....She doesn't know me, doesn't know her name, has to be 
> diapered, fed manually, etc.  Is she really alive????  I don't think 
> so.
>
> So, should one preserve a body with a dead mind through cryonics?
>
Alzheimer's involves "amyloid plaques".  To me that sounds
like gum in an engine.  Does that kill the neurons or just
render them incommunicado?  If the latter, it seems that
if we learn to dissolve the plaques we could get the person
back.  Just like if we learn to dissolve the scars that
destroyed myelin leaves in my brain, axons can grow back
through the area now blocked by the scars and I can regain
some of my lost function.

Also, even if they die, is there any information left about
where they were before they died?  Maybe some of the
connections could be recreated/emulated and reactivated.

Hopefully,
Kennita

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