X-Message-Number: 5114
From:  (David Stodolsky)
Subject: Re:  Government
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 95 23:28:57 +0100

Saul Kent <> writes:
>	What evidence do you have that "a great deal" of  "suspension research"
>was funded by NASA?

In the beginning, NASA was also engaged in theoretical work preparatory
to sending people to the stars, which would obviously have required suspended
animation. I helped a student get a job on one of their last funded
projects, which was at Univ. of Louisville, when I worked there around 1980. 
I think it was with a small hibernator. I don't know the actual amounts that
went into this, but the fact they were doing it at all is worth noting. 
If the funding had continued for another 15 years, we would be a lot happier 
now, I'm sure.


>	What evidence do you have that the opposition to "big government" in the
>U.S. is supported by "a general anti-scientific attitude in this country"?

It is not that opposition is supported, but that the cuts to research
are supported a general anti-scientific attitude.



>	If the government had left Bill and I alone, I believe we would have
>invested tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in life
>extension research in the past decade.

This would be a more meaningful discussion if we had some numbers.
Can reversible suspension be achieved for half a billion dollars? If so,
then this kind of talk makes sense, if you want to be generous. Otherwise,
political moves aimed at capturing government resources make more
sense. Let's keep in mind that world-wide expenditure on weapons is running
at about a trillion $ a year. In the USA, the new congress is pushing
for a 25% increase in defense (death technology) spending.

The only remotely solid numbers I have seen are from Merkle's paper
"Large Scale Analysis of Neural Structures". He suggests $6 billion
for capturing the information in a brain. Presumably, reversible suspension
would have a higher price tag.

dss


David S. Stodolsky      Euromath Center     University of Copenhagen
   Tel.: +45 38 33 03 30   Fax: +45 38 33 88 80 (C)


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