X-Message-Number: 5622
From: 
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 10:30:02 -0500
Subject: SCI.CRYONICS neuro/Pretoria

A couple of quick comments on recent "neuro vs. full" posts:

1.Cryonics Institute p.r. includes nothing evasive or shifty concerning
neuro. We simply observe that we don't offer it because our minimum price for
full body is already lower than that for neuro elsewhere, and we prefer to
avoid a p.r. negative.

2. We don't offer neuro ourselves, but under certain agreements with other
organizations we can accept neuros for storage. (None so far.)

3. Mr. Smyth seems to think it would be easier/cheaper to regenerate a new
body from a neuro than to repair an old body. I strongly disagree with that.
After all, even in the worst cases of senescence and disease and other
damage,  most of what you need is still there and most of it requires
relatively minor changes to be good as new. It is really stretching things to
imagine that a full replacement would be easier/quicker. Think of it from the
viewpoint of a nano repair tech.

4. I have mentioned this before, but nobody has noticed. If/when we achieve
reversible-on-demand suspension, then (assuming it comes soon or at any rate
before full regeneration technology) nobody will want neuro as first choice,
obviously. The trap here is for those neuro sign-ups (in fact all sign-ups)
who have funded at a minimum level. It is going to be very sticky if we have
perfect suspension available but not affordable for existing or potential
members. (Of course, if perfect methods are available, perfect neuro would
still be infinitely better than nothing.)

5. Reversible-on-demand may be much closer than we had recently thought.
According to some of the reports, Dr. Michelle Visser in Pretoria says her
methods allow "most organs" to be recovered functional from liquid nitrogen
temperature, except the liver. Brain was not mentioned, and of course we must
await the publication in CRYOBIOLOGY before we know anything about the
methods and costs. And we may still have proprietary interests or patents
involved. But the pot may be coming to a boil (I guess that's the wrong
metaphor for cryonics)..

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute   


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