X-Message-Number: 7107
From:  (Randy)
Subject: Discovery Channel Cryonics Show
Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 04:51:45 GMT

Finally got a chance to see the Discovery Channel cryonics show. Liked
it a lot. Very exciting to see the faces of some of the people whose
posts I have read over the last year.

Parts of the show I found moving, others maddening. The best parts,
IMO, were the segments with Muhlestein's family, Joe Cannon, the
segment about Stan Penska's life and motivations, and the bit that
showed pictures and gave short bios of people who were already frozen.

The human interest parts, in other words. 

Cryonics is a philosophy, and as such, the rationale behind it does
not often come across very well on TV. A person can explain the logic
of cryonics with brilliance and clarity, but those words are dense
with meaning and often necessarily more than a few sentences. Unless
the viewer records the show and listens to it over and over, the logic
tends to fly right by. That's why I thought the most effective
statements were the short, direct--yet emotionally eloquent--
statements given by Joe Cannon and the Muhlestein family. 

As for the 2 cryobiologists, Storey and Taylor, their attitudes were
typical of many. Storey reeled off a couple of glib denouncements,
such as, "all they do is pour liquid nitrogen over them. It'll never
work as is." That one's gotta rank right up there with the "hamburger
back into cow" remark for glib ignorance.  I just wanted to interrupt
the interview and tell him, "Hey, they use cryoprotectants, and
they're trying to find better ones!". I think he ultimately came off
as largely ignorant of cryonics, and perhaps even a bit smug.

The cryobiologist Taylor seemed more open-minded, but admitted that he
found cryonicists' desire to live forever "bizarre," and his
expression made clear that he found it a bit distasteful. Again, this
is a common, visceral attitude that I can only ascribe to some sort of
death taboo or perhaps a manifestation of an almost instinctual
"macho, who's-afraid-of-death" attitude necessary for people to have
in order for them to sacrifice themselves for the tribe, race, etc.

The real power of TV made itself felt with the use of the animated
graphics to show the formation of ice crystals and the damage they
would inflict on hapless brain cells during the process of freezing.
It was a powerful segment. I confess that for a minute or two I felt
my confidence and hope waver. The picture of the ice crystals
puncturing and shredding the cell....

It reminded me of the very first time I saw a TV feature on cryonics
(and the first time I realized the potential of cryonics) some 10
years ago. After the cryonics facility had been shown and the
cryonicists were interviewed, the cryobiologists were allowed to
speak. This cryobilogist spoke of how  freezing water caused the cells
to "extrude" cellular matter,  thus  destroying them. Up to that point
in the show, I was fascinated and felt a rising glimmer of hope, but
it died with the word "extrude." I forgot about cryonics for 10 years
until I read Platt's Omni articles.

Thankfully, the pro-cryonics side got the last word in the animated
graphics debate. The segment showing nanobots repairing damaged cells 
had to be a fairly effective rebuttal of both the earlier cell damage
segment and of the cryobiologists' negative comments. It was very
satisfying to see those nanocritters go to work.


Randy Smith


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