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From: "(Roy R. Beatty) Keane, Inc. [BEATTYR] 302-774-0335 B-10217" 
<BEATTYR%JLCL01%>
Subject: CRYONICS -- Glassification, Uploading
To: ho4cad!kqb%
X-VMS-To: @BWINE:[BEATTYR.MAIL]CRYO,BEATTYR
Status: R

Re: Glassification of Whole-Body Patients

Dear Dr. Cryo,

   If vitrification/glassification is possible at -135C (or whatever) at 
   perfusion levels not toxic to brain cells, could the rest of the body 
   be perfused and "glassed" in a cryonic pressure "kiln" and preserved 
   as well?  That is, does glassification make whole-body preservation 
   more sensible?  Non-toxic whole-body preservation might mean that a 
   patient could be revived before the advent of molecular assemblers.
   Does glassification re-open the neuro-preservation debate?

             Roy

   [ At the Oct. 30 Life Against Death conference Mike Darwin pointed out
   that improved suspension technology could make whole-body preservation
   much preferable to neuro.  Currently all forms of suspension introduce
   so much damage that the technology required to fix that damage should be
   able to clone easily a new body for the head.  When suspension improves
   so that it causes only a little damage, then whole-body suspension would
   likely become preferable.  If glassification (vitrification) becomes
   successful for whole bodies in the near future, then the answer to your
   questions probably becomes "Yes". - Kevin Q. Brown ]


Re: Uploading Blow-Out

Pete,

>> Joe Blow is essentially incurious and hostile to change. ...
>> Uploading might just make a marketable alternative to death, but it 
>> won't appeal to Joe Blow if he has even the slimmest chance at a 
>> decent meat life.

I suspect that Mr. Blow, being a product of our culture, is just as 
interested in new gadgetry as you or I.  Take lawn-mowing: a mower
which cuts, bags, fertilizes and can operate without human assistance
could successfully be marketed, at least in this country.  Of course,
no-grow nano-grass, converting sunlight to electricity and storing it,
would also find its devotees.

Similarly, if Grandma Blow was having trouble with arthritis, senile
dementia, incontinence, etc., one of her children, Joseph or Amanda,
would likely advocate her receiving Age-X free-radical cleanser, or
whatever.  Doctors fearful of malpractice suits would make such things
a part of routine care, whether the technology is "meat" based or not.

>> However I don't believe that an increase in their functionality,
>> through nano-engineering or other technologies, will make uploaded 
>> existance any more palatable to Joe Blow; more likely scare the 
>> bejeesus out of him.

Putting one's life in anyone else's hands is scary, no matter what 
technology you're using.  If I were about to be uploaded, I'd want
to read the latest article on it in Consumer Reports, if it hasn't
gone totally socialist by then.

>> There are still plenty of folks out there with a real distaste for 
>> recreative sex, and plenty of legislators among them. So what chance 
>> does recreative death have? 

There are a few differences which makes recreational death more
acceptible.  

o  Repression of recreational sex is part of the historical oppression 
   of the young by the old.  Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll are debated 
   in Senate hearings even today--ask Frank Zappa.  Social Security has 
   turned out to be welfare for the old, taken from the young.  Recreat-
   ional death is something the old may have a greater stake in, and so 
   the self-interestof the old may make recreational death as popular as 
   Lawrence Welk.

o  There is significant support for euthanasia today.

o  The recreational death "meme" has a survival advantage over the fear
   of it--at least when the technology arrives.  What is to prevent you 
   from creating multiple copies of yourself?  Those that upload may
   soon become the majority.  

o  And, presumeably, the first uploaded mind will be an enormously 
   capable person and better able to defend his or her way of "life" than
   most others.

I enjoyed your femto-reviews.  I'm always hunting for a good read.

    Roy

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