X-Message-Number: 25671 Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 06:55:23 -0500 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #25665 - #25670 HI Everyone! Some comments: First of all, to Basie (B Coetzee): That some of our memories are inaccurate has been known for years now. This problem generally occurs in cases in which we aren't confronted with the memory constantly. It's also quite rare for memories of nonpersonal facts ie. the capital of Czechoslovakia, for instance -- unless you happen to be Czech and spent a good part of your personal life there. Personal memories, however, are often inaccurate. As I have been saying, even in Cryonet, and as current work on memory has found, we all have several different kinds of memory, with each kind dependent on different brain areas. Memory for the capital of England is fairly resistant to falsity, while memory for what an acquaintance has said, especially if he/she isn't a close acquaintance, can differ considerably from what happened. So do you really want to remove ALL your memories? For that matter, I would suggest that even false memories, given that you do not believe them strongly, will ultimately turn out better than no memories at all. Consider this person who you thought was friendly. Your memory of him (her?) has many parts, some correct and others quite false. You can recognize him on the street; you know his name, and probably something of his mannerisms. If you lost memory of him/her completely, then his ability to prey on you as a complete stranger would be increased. Not so good at all. To Doug Skrecky: I have actually decided to save your messages on this Cryonet, mainly because they say interesting things about how our cells work in culture. Their bearing to our own lives remains distant (though work on the relation of telomeres to our lifespans remains very interesting). I strongly doubt that we'll increase our lifespans by only looking at the behavior of human cells, but you did, this time, summarize some interesting papers. Behavior of isolated cells DOES BEAR on lifepans, even if it hardly gives a complete picture. Best wishes and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25671