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September-October 2012 • Volume 33:5 Register for Alcor’s 40th Anniversary Conference Page 17 Symposium on Cryonics and Brain- Threatening Disorders Page 8 Book Review: Connectome: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are Page 12 ISSN 1054-4305 $9.95 Improve Your Odds of a Good Cryopreservation You have your cryonics funding and contracts in place but have you considered other steps you can take to prevent problems down the road? _ Keep Alcor up-to-date about personal and medical changes. _ Update your Alcor paperwork to reflect your current wishes. _ Execute a cryonics-friendly Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. _ Wear your bracelet and talk to your friends and family about your desire to be cryopreserved. _ Ask your relatives to sign Affidavits stating that they will not interfere with your cryopreservation. _ Attend local cryonics meetings or start a local group yourself. _ Contribute to Alcor’s operations and research. Contact Alcor (1-877-462-5267) and let us know how we can assist you. Take a look at the Your source for news about: ALCOR BLOG • Cryonics technology • Cryopreservation cases • Television programs about cryonics http://www.alcor.org/blog/ • Speaking events and meetings • Employment opportunities Alcor Life Connect with Alcor members and supporters on our Extension official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/alcor.life.extension. Foundation foundation is on Become a fan and encourage interested friends, family members, and colleagues to support us too. CONTENTS 5 Quod incepimus lume 33:5 r 2012 • Vo tobe conficiemus er-Oc Septemb Quod incepimus s 40th cor’ ce r Al en conficiemus(Latin: ‘What r fo nfer y Co Registersar we have begun we shall Annive finish’) is a new column by Page 17 Cryonics magazine editor ium Sympos nics Cryo Aschwin de Wolf that aims on ain- d Br g COVER STORY: PAGE 17 an tenin Threa s to further the cause of rder Diso Page 8 : Alcor 40th Anniversary Conference human cryopreservation by view k Re Boo ome: s ct ain’ Alcor is celebrating its 40th Anniversary Conne e Br debunking misconceptions w th Ho Makes ring at this conference! This issue of Wi o We Are and offering fresh per- Us Wh Cryonics magazine features the Page 12 spectives. The first column complete program, information about discusses why perfect cryo- the talks and speakers, and registration ISSN 1054-4305 information. Do not miss this once in preservation is not necessary a lifetime event. Topics of discussion for successful resuscitation $9.95 include advances in cryopreservation, of cryonics patients. strategies to defeat aging, brain scanning, financial planning for the 12 Book Review: future, and medical monitoring devices Connectome: How the for cryonicists. Existing Alcor members Brain’s Wiring Makes Us and Alcor Associate members pay a Who We Are reduced conference registration fee. Sebastian Seung’s recent 6 CEO Update book, Connectome: How the Alcor President Max More writes about the upcoming Alcor Brain’s Wiring Makes Us conference, new research at Alcor aimed at validating “field Who We Are, presents a vitrification” for overseas members, a recent last minute case, perspective on the brain and and ongoing improvements at Alcor. identity that will resonate with advocates of cryonics. 8 Symposium on Cryonics and Brain-Threatening Disorders We are publishing two On Saturday, July 7, 2012, around 30 people attended reviews of this important the first ever symposium on dementia and cryonics in book which reflect different Portland, Oregon. Ben Best, who attended the event and perspectives on the aim of was one of the presenters, provides a detailed account of cryonics (medical treatment the symposium about this important but discomforting topic. versus the conquest of Also present was Alcor CEO Max More who spoke about death). the concept of the “extended mind” and its implications for 24 Membership Statistics personal survival and neurodegenerative diseases. www.alcor.org Cryonics/September–October 2012 3 2012 Annual Giving Program lcor provides a wide array of services for you the member, and the general Editorial Board public. We inform and educate, we protect and preserve, and we strive to remain Saul Kent A at the forefront of cryonics technology. Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D. Since its founding, Alcor has relied on member support to maintain its mission Brian Wowk, Ph.D. and attract new members. Your support, regardless of size, can provide a better future for all cryonicists. Please act now. Editor Aschwin de Wolf Suggested Giving Levels Art Director $20 Friend Jill Grasse $60 Junior Supporter Contributing Writers $120 Sustaining Supporter Ben Best Aschwin de Wolf $500 Advocate Supporter Max More, Ph.D. R. Michael Perry $1,000 Leading Supporter Shannon Vyff _____________________________ $2,500 Visionary Supporter Copyright 2012 $5,000 Silver Supporter by Alcor Life Extension Foundation All rights reserved. $10,000 Gold Supporter Reproduction, in whole or part, $25,000 Titanium Supporter without permission is prohibited. $50,000 Vanguard Supporter Cryonics magazine is published bi-monthly. We encourage every member to donate. Even if you can only afford $5 right now, you will make a significant contribution to Alcor’s future. To subscribe to the printed edition: Donations may be made via the Donations button on the Alcor website or by call 480.905.1906 x101or visit the contacting Alcor’s Financial Director, Bonnie Magee, at [email protected]. Your magazine website: donation may be made as a lump sum or divided into easy monthly payments. http://www.alcor.org/magazine/ _____________________________ Address correspondence to: Cryonics Magazine 7895 East Acoma Drive, Suite 110 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 The James Bedford Society Phone: 480.905.1906 Toll free: 877.462.5267 ifts have played a fundamental role in the cryonics Fax: 480.922.9027 movement since its earliest days. Dr. James Bedford, a man whose extraordinary vision led him to become the Letters to the Editor welcome: G first person to be cryopreserved, and the first to make a bequest [email protected] to a cryonics organization, exemplified the determination of the early pioneers of cryonics. We invite you to follow in his footsteps, Advertising inquiries: and join the James Bedford Society. 480.905.1906 x113 The James Bedford Society recognizes those who make a [email protected] bequest of any size to the Alcor Life Extension ISSN: 1054-4305 Foundation. If you have already provided a gift for Alcor in your estate, please send a copy of your relevant documents to Alcor’s Member Visit us on the web at www.alcor.org Communications Director, Lisa Shock. If you’d like to learn more about setting up a bequest, send an email Alcor News Blog to [email protected] or call 877-462-5267 x115 to discuss your gift. http://www.alcor.org/blog/ 4 Cryonics/September–October 2012 www.alcor.org Quod incepimus conficiemus PRESERVING AND INFERRING By Aschwin de Wolf common complaint against admit that this is a valid observation but it we understand this today, this may be a cryonics is that existing is not necessarily a fatal argument against question of many hours, if not days. A cryopreservation technologies cryonics, provided the damage has not This robustness of identity-critical may not be good enough to preserve reached the point of complete destruction information in the brain may seem the ultrastructure of the human brain. or indecipherability. to contradict the routine observation Advocates of cryonics often object that in emergency medicine that there is a such views do not reflect actual inspection __________________ much narrower time limit for successful of the evidence of cryopreserved brains resuscitation from cardiac arrest. The but instead reflect misconceptions “Restoring normal structure or crucial difference here is that we are no about “freezing” and ice formation longer talking about the ability to infer rupturing cells. But the more fundamental function is the essence of most identity-critical information but restore misconception rests on the view that for physiological function. But function is a cryonics to work flawless preservation of medical treatments.” lot more vulnerable to metabolic and the brain is absolutely essential. __________________ biochemical changes than the wiring of the This view is not only mistaken but brain. In fact, if function were a necessary holds cryonics to higher standards than There is a difference between damage requirement to infer information a lot of those applied in conventional medicine. and obliteration. If we look at electron existing forensic and archeological science In medicine it is routine for patients to micrographs of brain tissue produced would be impossible. present themselves with conditions in at various points in time after circulatory In approaching cryonics it is important which an organ or tissue has been changed arrest (“death”) we will observe progressive to recognize the distinction between from its normal condition (or appearance) alterations of synapses, cell membranes, preserving and inferring. In this way as a result of disease or trauma. Restoring organelles etc. We describe such changes we can better assess the prospects normal structure or function is the essence with a mental (or actual) map of how they for resuscitating patients who were of most medical treatments. normally look like in mind. At this level cryopreserved under nonideal conditions One might object that in the case of the fact that the brain is a highly individual and/or with older technologies. cryonics we are concerned with the brain, organ is no longer relevant because we which distinguishes itself from other organs know the universal biochemical language Photo: Cryo-Care Equipment that encodes highly individual information. in which this identity is written. At this Corporation on Indian School Road in If a portion of the brain is erased we point the real question becomes at which Phoenix, AZ.
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