X-Message-Number: 8719
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 08:44:10 +0000
From: Kennita Watson <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #8708 - #8716
References: <>

> From: Thomas Donaldson <>
> Subject: re.latest.cryonet
> Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 01:10:56 -0800 (PST)
> 
> Hi again!
> 
> 1. Unfortunately, it's very unlikely that simply transplanting heads will do
> very much to prolong lives. The problem is that our head contains many glands
> and other parts which deal with the level of various hormones in our whole
> body. If the head becomes old, then it will force the rest of the body to be
> old also. This means that the number of people who might benefit from a
> head transplant will be small, to begin with....

> There's a lot of work on it
> going on right now, and optimism, too. A head transplant may ultimately
> help in some special cases, but in no way will give us the lifespans we
> seek.

I don't think the writer was suggesting that we could use head transplants and
forget the other stuff.  I'm certainly not.  _However_...


Some of the most likely things to kill me are, as I understand it, an auto 
accident,

heart disease, and cancer.  If one of these things renders me inoperative, I 
think
I'd prefer being transplanted to being frozen, unless the transplant does 
significant damage to my brain.  Any day I'm not frozen is a day for freezing 
technology to be improved.  Certainly any year I'm not frozen is a big win,
and if
I'm _about_ to be rendered inoperative by metastasized colon cancer or having
my 
chest crushed in an accident, I'd prefer being transplanted to doing nothing
so I
can be frozen sooner (once the procedure is confirmed, of course).

BTW -- they said they use the body's brain stem.  What part, if any, do any of
the 
neurosuspension folk think the brain stem has in identity?

Cheers,
Kennita

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