X-Message-Number: 724
Date: 11 Apr 92 15:16:00 EST
From: "23279, FLEISCHER, RICHARD" <>
Subject: CRYONICS: a related question

Although this is not, in the strictest sense, a Cryonics
question, it's pretty close (and I don't know where else to
ask): is anyone pursuing what one might call a "3
dimensional atomic recording" technology, that is to
say, a method of recording the location (within quantum
limits of measurement) of every atom in, for example, a
human brain?  (I have heard of science fiction accounts of
this technology, but I am interested in current state of the
art and research directions -- if there *is* research in
this, and if it is moving enough to have a discernible
direction.)

The advantages of information recording technologies over
substance preservation technologies could be many:

1) the recording could be made many times during an
   individual's life and would preserve memories that might
   otherwise be destroyed by disease long before the law makes
   that person available for cryonic preservation.

2) the recordings could protect against catastrophes (like
   an airline explosion) which would leave very little
   substance for cryonic preservation.

3) the recordings could be duplicated.  This redundancy
   could protect against a catastrophe at a single storage
   facility

4) no one would insist on performing an autopsy on a
   recording (and even if they DID insist, it would be
   non-destructive, and even if it weren't, see point 3)

5) recording technology would be - how can I put this -
   politically quieter.  No one would object to recordings
   being stored in their office building.  No one would object
   to recordings being made next door.  (OK, so those who might
   object to being near a CAT-scan or NMR machine or TV
   broadcast antenna or high voltage cable might object to
   being near this recorder for an extended period while it is
   operating.)

When do you decide that the recording technology is
reliable enough to trust it with your vital bits?  (Do you
need to reconstruct a brain, molecule by molecule, from the
recording?  No, since you would already be living in the
era we all want to reach.  Somehow, you need to prove that
all of the information you care about is in this recording.)

But enough of this.  I said I would ask 1 question and have
already asked several -- and long winded questions at that.

[ Rick, the Extropians mailing list currently has a raging debate 
  related to uploading, which is related to what you are proposing.
  (FYI: Hans Moravec, author of "Mind Children", recently got on 
  board.)  Send email to  to get on
  that mailing list.  You may also want to subscribe to the XTROPY-L
  variant running on PANIX. 
  Ralph Merkle's article "Molecular Repair of the Brain" (Cryonics, 
  Oct. 1989), describes proposed repair techniques based on knowledge 
  of the location of the molecules in the brain.  (My apologies if I 
  misrepresented it.)  That article has prompted considerable discussion 
  in Cryonics magazine over the past few years.
  As for the state-of-the-art in mapping positions of atoms & molecules
  you may want to stay tuned to the USENET sci.nanotech newsgroup.
  The technology for scanning tunnel (and related) microscopy is advancing
  rapidly, but we currently are nowhere near an ability to map a brain.
  In particular, as I understand it, it's pretty much limited to surface
  mapping.  Your (non-invasive!) 3-D scan will have to wait. - KQB ]


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=724