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 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8719