X-Message-Number: 5770
From:  (David L Evens)
Newsgroups: uk.legal,sci.cryonics,sci.life-extension
Subject: Re: Death (was Donaldson MR and Miss Hindley)
Date: 19 Feb 1996 17:02:21 GMT
Message-ID: <4gaaet$>

References: <> <>

Marshall Rice () wrote:
: In article <>
:             "John de Rivaz" writes:

: > We would be interested in your evidence for the suggestion that revivals 
: > will never be possible. (Or if you have no evidence to hand, the basis for 
: > this belief that you hold.)

: How about the nature and extent of intercellular disruption occasioned
: by (a) anoxia immediately prior to death (b) autolysis (c) the freezing 
: process (d) long-term lysing of DNA by background radiation?

(d) is irrelevant, unless you want to talk about storage for more than a 
thousand years (best estimates put revival at not more than a few hundred 
years, if it gets done at all).

(c) has been dealt with experimentally, and brain tissue appears to 
tolerate freezing and thawing better than almost any other tissue.

(b) isn't that great of a problem, as cells go through autolysis when 
they cease receiving signals telling them not to, which occurs only in 
isolated cells.

(a) is dealt with by having the suspension team start up as soon as legal 
death is declared.

: In the case of the brain, in particular, however sophisticated the
: thawing techniques which may be applied in future, all that will be defrosted
: is a porridge of disrupted cells. The damage will already have been done.

: Future technology may well be able to re-create a viable brain from the mush,

: but the organisation resposible for memory and being will have been destroyed.
: The impossibility (yes) of recovering (effectively duplicating) that 
: organisation can be demonstrated mathematically, but is obvious to anyone 
: with any knowledge of neurophysiology.

How fortunate that you have no such knowledge, as it has been 
demonstrated that brain tissue is amoung the MOST tolerant of freezing 
and rewarming under normal cryonics protocols.  Experiments have been 
conducted on cat brains that indicate that not only does the structure of 
the brain survive, but that the neurons actually SURVIVE the process and 
can be made to function again.

 ---------------------------+------------------------------------------------
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