X-Message-Number: 9703
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 07:09:38 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #9694 - #9702

Hi again!

Sorry, Paul, that you don't see the advantages of remaining signed up.
Naturally I hope that you won't get into trouble. I would also like to
here just what's happening with the Prometheus Project and its 
preparatory project (Greg's work with hippocampal slices).

As for research, one side of it may actually cause a decrease in 
recruitment. Up to very recently, we had very little idea just what
damage cryonic suspension by present methods caused to patient's
brains. One thing research is going to do is tell us quite explicitly
just what that damage is. 

And some people are going to be put off by that damage, I guarantee it.
At the same time, I believe we should not hide such revelations from
anyone. 

I myself am ultimately optimistic, in that I strongly suspect that
many more people, even with present techniques (we have to talk in
percentages here, since there are hardly very many patients in 
suspension) will ultimately be revived. Basically the wild card is
that suspension of ANY kind, unlike any other medical procedure,
does not require revival at any special time. If we can't fix someone
by 2050, we can just keep them in suspension for another 50 years.
Sure, working out just how their brains were BEFORE their suspension
would be a complex job of detection, not simple at all. But then 
there is lots of time to do that detection.

Though I am optimistic, I will also point out that really long term
suspensions involve complete helplessness for centuries: lots of 
things can go WRONG, not necessarily to cryonics in general but to
YOU while suspended. (Sure, they saved most patients from the fire
but there were a few they could not reach, burned up completely...).
It's much safer to be revived after a short suspension than a long
one.

Ultimately, I don't believe we can really put any figures on the 
probability of such revival. 

			Best and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson

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