X-Message-Number: 3029 From: Ralph Merkle <> Subject: CRYONICS: Merkle's Definition?? Date: Sat, 27 Aug 1994 18:28:19 PDT Hi, Paul! I assume "...chief apostle to the cryonics community from the god Nanotechnology..." is meant as a compliment (though it does seem overblown....) Actually, Dave Krieger is giving the introduction and wrote the abstract. Dave is a better speaker than I am, and I'm certain the people around here have heard me speak at least once too often.... Dave just has the talent for this kind of thing. So come on around to the introduction, folks! Not only will you hear a great speaker, you'll also have a chance to meet a bunch of great people! And you're welcome to come to the potluck at 6:00 and the Alcor North meeting at 4:00 as well. Good food, good talk, good people, can't beat it! If we're going to try and extract meaning from every word in the sentence >Cryonic suspension is the technique of freezing the body of a >legally-deceased person for storage until medical technology advances >sufficiently to repair and revive them. (which I don't think is actually the most profitable way to spend an afternoon, but leaving that aside for the moment) then the phrase "...until medical technology advances sufficiently to repair and revive them..." doesn't specify how long this advance might take, leaving open the possibility that it might take an indefinitely extended period of time. The phrase "repair and revive" is also open to interpretation, and might well include the possibility of being revived with some degree of amnesia (ranging from slight to extensive). Of course, if you want to find out the *real* interpretation of this phrase you'll have to come to Dave's talk and *ask* him. And if you'd like to read what *I* say about cryonics, you might want to get a copy of "The Molecular Repair of the Brain" from Alcor, published in two parts in the January and April 1994 editions of Cryonics magazine. We'll have copies at the meeting (another reason to come!). That's Sunday, September 11 at 7:00 pm, 1134 Pimento Ave, Sunnyvale CA. Call 408-730-5224 if you get lost. Don't miss it! Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3029