X-Message-Number: 3668
From:  (Anders Sandberg)
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
Subject: Re: Cloning and Neurosuspension
Date: 11 Jan 1995 13:32:57 GMT
Message-ID: <>
References: <> <>

Michael Price,  wrote:
>"Thomas Donaldson" writes:
>> Yes, there are still some values here. Since your spinal cord
>> won't come with your brain, you may find that you must relearn some
>> things. If (for instance) you are a ballet dancer, you may revive in
>> a body which has never gone through any dance training at all. (I mean
>> this seriously --- ballet is a highly respected art form). Clearly you
>> will have to do a lot of practice to get back your old skills.
>
>Not clearly at all.  Aren't complex motor skills like driving, dancing,
>walking etc stored in the cerebellum, which is preserved in
>neurosuspensions?

According to what I know about neurophysiology, a lot is stored in the
spinal cord. Apparently parts of complex motor skills are stored in 
several places (like sensory integration in the parietal cortex, error
correction in the cerebellum etc), and actual movement patterns are 
stored in the spinal cord. When a motor action is started, its regulated
and "programmed" by the higher areas, but the actual sequence of signals
is generated by a pattern generator in the spinal cord, suitably modulated.
In fact, the spinal cord can execute quite complex programs by itself.

This is a problem for neurosuspension. While a lot of patterns probably
are quite preprogrammed (like walking or crawling), they have individual
variations and may be linked in many ways to the brain. Not to mention
new motor patterns, which do not exist in other spinal cords. Personally
I would prefer to have the spinal cord suspended with the brain, in order
to make sure the right conections are made (would it be easier to suspend
the entire skull and spine than suspending only the brain?). 


--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg			 	  	     Towards Ascension!
   http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y


-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg			 	  	     Towards Ascension!
   http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y





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