Posted 17 January 2007 - 07:02 PM
I favor the neuros procedure.
The idea that our bodies and brains could be repaired their freezing and toxicity damage etc. by way of nanotechnology is of course conceivable, plausibility not something we're in a just position to speculate on just yet I'd wager, but the ultimate question of course is if it is desirable (assuming you are one with an interest to preserve and restore your optimum youth and health, rather than simply die hah). Unlikely it is that, once the means is achieved to do so, the world will smiles and cheer while everyone who was going to die is apparently miraculously revived. Huzzah! And shortly thereafter the overpopulation and the talk about science's blasphemy against the alleged "natural" order of life, how dare we take food from the rest of the world etc. Remember this isn't just about if it can be done but if it will be allowed following the craze that will inevitably ensue once the 90% of the world who believe we're crazy widen their eyes in astonishment, and as we are prone to react to any supposed impossible and influencial force react instinctively with fear. Long story short, such people will not be safe; and you thought the stem cell debate was bad! Moreover, as a biological system we would still inherit all our traditional problems, though if nanotechnology were sophisticated enough to revive us it should also have evolved to the point many of our ailments are gone. Still, the human body is frail (insert knife here) and statistically speaking - especially if life is as dangerous as it is today, not to mention the fundamentalists that will be after our heads, if you'll excuse the pun - the longer you live, the greater your chances of encountering disaster. Hell, people get run over by trucks every day. Wouldn't you just hate to wake up after a 100 year cryosleep only to realize your head is being crushed by some massive semi? Pain for you. If I was going to scare anyone anyway and didn't want to be so vulnerable I'd rather opt for mind uploading. Now, whatever option you chose, by the way, the reason the neuros option is advantageous is that applying cryogenic temperatures to a smaller volume of mass means a correspondingly quicker time required to get you there, which is good since you'll suffer less ischemia (cell death, in this case neural, by lack of oxygen-supply to active cells). The issue might seem mute to someone who believes nanotechnology can hypothetically bring you back from extreme degrees of damage but remember that for the same reason of that we just don't know what kind of technology or techniques will be available who knows when it's not wise to take anything but the safest option, and for that reason I think it's better to be sure the process of cryonics goes as quickly as possible; the head is a lot smaller than the body as a whole. On that note, those signing up for the indeed cheaper Cryonics Institute should keep in mind that not only do they only offer whole body, they neither offer the option of perfusing vitrification solution through the bloodstream, as is only offered (and at its state of the art to boot) at Alcor of Scottsdale, Arizona (alcor.org). For those who don't know, neurovitrification is where the bloodstream within the brain is perfused with what's called a vitrification solution, which rather than letting the brain freeze causes it instead to become vitreous ice when deep-cooled, brought down to cryogenic temperatures. Vitreous ice acts like a solid in one sense because it is closely packed together, meaning your brain is just as still as if it were frozen, except it has the awesome advantage of preventing ice-crystal formation, which is what otherwise sprouts from the water surrounding cells to penetrate them, greatly damaging them. If you're not using a vitrification solution, you are undergoing tremendous structural damage to your brain, and neural structure is important. The only down-side is that it causes toxification that is lethal once we're rewarmed. It could probably be repaired with nanotechnology, but the benefit of almost perfectly preventing crystalization means structure is preserved, and since the the vitrification solution is local solely to the bloodstream, the chemical integrity of the surrounding brain tissue itself is unharmed, merely warped inward slightly by the compacting effect of cooling while under the solution's influence. If your brain is sufficiently well preserved, as it is so much more so by the neuros cryopreservation and neuropreservation procedure offered at Alcor (for $180,000 but payable by most good life insurance policies), you can be assured as best now possible that your mind will remain more or less in chronostatic template. The main trouble I see currently is that we are unreasonably prone to disaster while in the cryopreserved state. Turn off the power or run out of liquid nitrogen and the brain will warm up and turn to goo, as has already happened. It may seem like a long stretch now, but power failures and financial disaster aside - especially if a revival technique succeeds - I can imagine the government stating the practice or revival immoral and thus preservation illegitimate, and dangerous, enough that it be mandated what few institutions there are like CI and Alcor be terminated post haste, regardless of their voluntary funding status, all bodies and heads gooified on rationalization that the people are already dead to begin with, and should stay that way. Alas, that we are fated known by some as dark apostles of necromancy! Solar rays will be only hardly less sympathetic to the integrity of our dear brains.
