X-Message-Number: 28234
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:17:11 -0600
From: "Anthony ." <>
Subject: Stem-cell vs. Nanotech (re: 2020)

In Message #28227 Jordan sparks wrote about the future tech we're all
hoping will revive us from cryopreservation:
"We will have to fix the body one atom at a time.  It will require
very mature nanotechnology."

Jordan Sparks comments about stem-cell research vs. nanotech (re: 2020
entry) prompted me post the below.

"Aside from reproductive cloning, stem-cell research is generally
useful for the purposes of longevity and is used in a variety of
medical practices, including the healing of spinal-injuries and
paralysis, burns, eye-problems, heart defects, and cancer treatments.
But because these stem-cell replacements are from donors rather than a
germinal DNA clones, complications like cancer or rejection can occur.

"A realistic technique for therapeutic cloning would be to harvest
totipotent stem-cells from blastocysts for patients with various
diseases and injuries. Unlike the riskier business of matching foreign
stem-cells with a patient's tissues, these stem-cells would exactly
match a patient's DNA because they  would  come  from  the patient
(autotransplantation).  If grown to replace injured or diseased
organs, tissues or bone, the cloned replacements should be accepted by
the patient's immune system without the serious complications and
continued medications that usually accompany organ transplantation,
skin-grafting, and other forms of replacement surgery.

"Progress in this area of science could mean that eventually any part
of the body will be  replaceable,  making  prosthetics  obsolete  and
allowing people to recover from many diseases and injuries. This
continual renewal of areas of the body should postpone aging and death
- perhaps indefinitely."

This above is simply an extension of Jordan's own ideas, expressed by
him thusly:

"We simply need a way to repair the cells in our bodies when they
malfunction." http://www.jordansparks.com/cryo.htm

I see nothing here about building the body back atom by atom, though
J.S. does refer to cells which I believe could be "rejuvinated"
through the stem-cell method outlined above.

Anthony

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