X-Message-Number: 6528
From: Brian Wowk <>
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 00:22:37 -0500
Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Means and Ends

Steve Bridge writes on CryoNet:
 
>1.  Many people on CryoNet (and some of our members who write us) seem 
>confident that somebody out there *knows* what lines of research will work 
>and that money is the only barrier to the success of cryonics.  
 
	What will work is not the issue.  What *needs to be done* (to
find out what will work) is the issue.  The present scale and skill level
of cryonics research is woefully inadequate.  More than any particular
research approach, it is the scale and skill problems that Prometheus 
will address.  The scale of the research will exceed the combined operating
budgets of all cryonics organizations, and the research will be performed  
by organ cryopreservation and neuroscience experts.
 
 
>That assumption is purely wrong.  Money is only the FIRST barrier to 
>overcome so we can find out what the other barriers are.  Yes, there are 
>some interesting directions for research; yes, the vitrification research 
>of Greg Fahy is one of those directions.  But there are many possible 
>pitfalls; and it is possible that the Prometheus managers will chose a 
>dead-end research path with a giant money sink-hole by its side.  
 
	Unless funds are outright absconded with, I don't think this        
view is tenable.  The Prometheus proposal is to increase cryonics
research funding 100 times beyond current levels, putting a team of 
professional cryobiologists and neuroscientists to work full time
on the problem of brain cryopreservation.  To say that NOTHING will
come from this (if that's what Steve is saying) is unthinkable.
 
	Even if "perfect" preservation is not achieved in ten years,
there will be ENORMOUS advances in our understanding of central
nervous system cryobiology, the effects of freezing on memory, and
how to minimize cryoinjury to the brain.  Since regular publication in  
peer reviewed journals is (in my understanding) a key objective of
Prometheus, much of this information will be available to all cryonics
organizations in the public domain.  In short, Prometheus is sure 
to advance cryonics technology far beyond what it is today irrespective
of when or how the final goal is achieved.  
 
***************************************************************************
Brian Wowk          CryoCare Foundation               1-800-TOP-CARE
President           Human Cryopreservation Services   
   http://www.cryocare.org/cryocare/

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