X-Message-Number: 9797 Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 05:26:31 -0700 From: Paul Wakfer <> Subject: Re: CryoNet #9792 - Heckling References: <> > Message #9792 > Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 21:22:41 -0700 (PDT) > From: John K Clark <> > Subject: Heckling > Dr. Merkle gave good reasons for thinking that Nanotechnology would be able > to extract enough information from a skillfully frozen brain to preserve > memory and identity. John, I normally have great respect for your intelligent, your logic, and your incisive writing, but this sentence makes no sense to me at all. The crucial point which Thomas and I have tried to make again and again is that WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT STRUCTURES OF THE BRAIN CONTAIN OUR MEMORIES AND IDENTITY. Therefore, if there is even one *iota* of distributed irreversible damage (ie. truely lost brain information), it makes no sense at all to say that nanotechnology, of whatever level, can retrieve and reconstruct our memories and identity, since for all we know that one particular bit of distributed irreversible damage is obliterating the exact areas of the brain which contains those very things which we must preserve in order for our *self* to survive. This is why, without having read Ralph Merkle's post, I totally agree with Thomas that it is *irrelevant* to the crucial question at hand. In fact, that is why I did not bother to read it. It is much more useful to spent my scarce time on efforts to develop ways to *prove* that memories and identity can return after cryopreservation by actually having them do so. -- Paul -- Voice/Fax: 909-481-9620 Page: 800-805-2870 The Institute for Neural Cryobiology - http://neurocryo.org Perfected cryopreservation of Central Nervous System tissue for neuroscience research and medical repair of brain diseases Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9797