and Religion Estimation

.$4.50 ''What is cryonics?''

Cryonics is the ultra-low-temperature preservation (biostasis) of terminal patients. The goal ofbiostasis and the technology of cryonics is the transport oftoday's terminal patients to a time in the future when cell and tissue repair technology will be available, and restoration to full function and health will be possible.

As human knowledge and medical technology continue to expand in scope, people considered beyond hope of restoration (by today's medical standards) will be restored to health. (This historical trend is very clear.) The coming control over living systems should allow fabrication of new organisms and sub-cell-sized devices. These molecular repair devices should be able to eliminate virtually all of today's diseases, including aging, and should allow for repair and revival of patients waiting in cryonic suspension. The challenge for cryonicists today is to devise techniques that will ensure the patients' survival.

"How do I imd out more?''

The best source of detailed introductory information about cryonics is Cryonics: Reaching For Tomorrow. Over 100 pages long, Reaching For Tomorrow presents a sweeping examination of the social, practical, and scientific arguments that support the continuing refinement of to day's imperfect cryonic suspension techniques, in pursuit of a perfected ""suspended animation" technology. This new edition features an updated and lengthened chapter on revival, as well as the appendices ""The Cryobiological Case for Cryonics" and ""Suspension Pricing and the CostofPatient Care." Order your copy for$ 7. 95, or receive it FREE when you subscribetoCryonicsmagazineforthefrrsttime. (Seethe Order Form on page 40 ofthis issue.)

For those considering Alcor Membership ... Ifyou're intrigued enough with cryonics andAlcorthatyou're considering Membership, you might wantto check out TheAlcor Phoenix,Alcor's Membership newsletter. The Phoenix is a Membership benefit, so it's free to Members and Applicants, but anyone canreceiveitfor $20/year ($25/yearif you live overseas). It's released 8 times each year, on the ''offmonths" ofthe quarterlyCryonics (February, March, May ,Jtme,August, September, November, and December). The Phoenix is shorter than Cryonics, but appears t-wice as often and is mailed First Class. Being a Membership newsletter ,The Phoenix focuses on Membership issues such as fmancing cryonics, staff and management matters, developments in Patient Care and Emergency Response, etc. These issues will impact you directly if you decide to become a Member, and may help you make a more informed decision in the meantime. ISSUf TO PRfSS: JULY 5, 1995 Cryonics is the quarterly publication of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation ( Editor: Ralph Whelan ) Volume 16:2 ·Issue #166 • 2nd Quarter, 1995 • ISSN 1054-4305 Most of the first 160 issues-September, 19 l- l- through December, 199 3-were published on a monthly basis. Contents copyright 199 5 by the Ale or Life Extension Foundation, Inc., except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Alcor Foundation or its Board of Directors or management. About the Cover The cover of this issue was designed by Ralph Whelan, using Aldus Freehand™, Aldus Pagemaker™, Corel Gallery™, and some conceptual assistance from Derek Ryan, Tanya Jones, and Steve Bridge. Alcor Suspends Andy Epstein, 29th Patient

Alcor performed a whole body sus­ pension on June 13th. Anatol ("Andy") Epstein was a 66-year-old history professor from New York City. He had been a suspension member less than one year. While none of us at Alcor had met Andy in person, we had enjoyed our telephone conversations immensely. He was a kind and literate man, with a loving, supportive family. We were aware that Andy had been battling brain cancer; but we did not know that he was currently hospital­ ized with pneumonia. Alcor received less than an hour's notice of the situa­ tion before clinical death, which was about 10:00 p.m. in New York (7:00 p.m. in Phoenix) on the 12th. This precluded a prompt field washout, since our Scottsdale team could not have arrived in New York until late the next morning, several hours after the first morning flight from New York to Phoenix. This was also too late for the back-up washout solution to be flown in from Ft. Lauderdale. However, thanks to some excep­ tional assistance from hospital person­ nel, our cooperating New York morti­ cian, and two transport-trained vol­ unteers, the suspension proceeded as well as could be expected in such a situation. The hospital staff packed the patient in ice, administered hep­ arin, sodium bicarbonate, and Maalox, and the physician on duty performed closed-chest compressions for 15 minutes to circulate the drugs. team was prepared, and cardiac sur­ mat ely 18 hours of (chilled) ischemia. The mortician quickly picked up the gery proceeded rapidly. The glycerol It is obvious that the hospital inter­ patient and, with the assistance of perfusion went very smoothly and no vention provided an immense benefit Gerry Arthus and Curtis Henderson, clots were visible during the proce­ to the patient. We are grateful to the packed the patient in water ice for dure. Cryoprotective perfusion was hospital staff, Curtis and Gerry, and shipment to Phoenix via the first completed at 4:10 p.m. and the pa­ the mortician for all of the extra work America West flight on the 13th. tient was placed into the dry ice bath they did. (America West's overnight cargo crew at approximately 6:00 p.m. We Alcor now has 29 suspension pa­ in Phoenix was again extremely help­ achieved a very high glycerol concen­ tients, 11 whole body and 18 neuro. A ful in setting up the shipment.) tration of approximately 7 molar full suspension report will be pub­ By the time the patient arrived at (measured in effluent from the brain lished in Cryom"cs in a future issue. Alcor's Scottsdale facility at 11:15 a.m. burrhole). This is excellent under any (Phoenix time), his temperature was circumstances and is extraordinary in about 4 degrees C. The suspension a no-washout situation after approxi-

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 3 by Stephen W. Bridge

Frozen Souls: Can a Religious Person Choose Cryonics?

uWhy on Goil's Green Earth would someone want to he frozen aniJ come hack later?n

~7 guess I am of the miniJ that Death if natural aniJ something I ' lookforwariJ to hecause of my ! helief in GoiJ aniJ an afterlife. n

~now iJoes GoiJ fit into cryonics? Or iJoes He?n one time. In eseare college I de­ orne of cided that reli­ the ques­ gions were untrue tions that a friend and I became an asked me last year; but atheist. However, I am they are not new. I have not anti-religious and I been asked variations on have discussed religious be­ these questions many times in liefs with many different people. my 18 years in cryonics. They may For a different point of view, ask for be the same questions you get from your a copy of Alcor's pamphlet, Cryonics friends and family; oryou mayhavethese into a deep and tangled swamp by tack­ and Christianity. questions yourself. One is always ad­ lingthis subject at all; but it is too impor­ Some cryonicists and many inter­ monished to avoid the topics of religion tant to ignore. viewers assume that only an atheist can and politics at a party; people just feel Afurthercaution:Iamnotreligious become a cryonicist, that religion and too strongly about them. I recognize myself. I was raised as a Christian and cryonics are totally incompatible. This that this is true, and I may be wading even had aspirations to be a minister at is completely untrue. The reasons that

4 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 one person chooses cryonics may be very death) when we suspend patients. appear to be dead, and fifty years ago different from another person's rea­ It is a basic tenet of cryonics that any physician would have labeled them sons. what criteria we use to label people as that way and would have made no at­ Some people have gone so far as to "dead" at one point in history are not tempt to revive them. Yet now they can say that the success ofcryonics will mean the same criteria we use for that label at survive such conditions. The record is the destruction of religion. I think such a later point. A simple example is the 66 minutes underwater by a 3-year-old, a viewpoint is nonsense. Changes in modern ability to revive humans from with full recovery, no apparent brain some religions, yes; just as many reli­ several minutes of no circulation or damage. The cl:iild had no electrical gious groups have adapted in various breathing-a condition that was rou- activity for an additional two hours after ways to knowledge of being pulled out of the solar system, ~~s the river. Did the birth control, trans­ cryonics matures an'J seern.J "soul" go somewhere plant technology, nwre likely to work nwre tra'Jitionally and come back? Did and in vitro fertiliza­ 7 God want the child to tion. Certainly more religious people h:ave alf-o 'Jeci'Je'J they survive? ofAlcor' s suspension Robert Ettinger, members are atheists want the expan'Je'J possibilities for life in in his original book than are religious. about cryonics, The Often these non-reli­ the future that cryonic suspension will Prospect ifImmortal­ gious people have ity, pointed out that stepped away from he ahle to offer. n "no one seems to the mainstream in make an issue" of many areas oflife and are willing to look tinely labeled as permanently dead in where the children's souls went while at and adopt new ideas more quickly the early part of this century. From that they appeared to be dead. They were than others. However, as cryonics ma­ point ofview, manythousands ofpeople just happy to have their children alive. tures and seems more likely to work, have been "revived from the dead." Ettinger then goes onto point out: more traditionally religious people have Ifwe use the word "death" to mean Why, then, should anyone be also decided they want the expanded a permanent cessation of function, it is concerned about the souls ifthe fro­ possibilities for life in the future that currently impossible to specifY the exact zen? The mere length ifthe hiatus cryonic suspension will be able to offer. instant when a patient crosses that line. can hardly be critical; in God's i The first and most important point Every year researchers make great view, 300years is only the blink o1 to make is that in most ways cryonics has strides in their abilities to resuscitate an eyelash, and presents no mor seemingly "dead" individuals, and we nothing to do with religion at all, any difficulty than 2 112 hours. more than do penicillin or heart trans­ are a long way from reaching the limits Except quantitatively, then, plants. Cryonics is a technology to help of this technology. For example, how the problem is not new, and the re­ keep people alive. The entire history of can we knowwhat to label someone who ligious communities have already medicine is about helping people live is in a coma? One patient may have a made their decision. They have longer and healthier, and most religions nearly destroyed brain but have a heart­ implicitly recognized that resusci­ (with rare exceptions, such as Christian beat, while another may appear brain tation, even ifheroic measures are Science and some small "faith healing" dead for months and suddenly wake up employed, is just a means ifpro­ Christian sects) have embraced and ad­ with all his memories. Each case may longing life, and that the apparent vanced medical knowledge. Some of appear the same even to experienced death was spurious. the finest hospitals in the world are neurologists, yet the outcome is quite owned and managed by Catholics, Jews, different. Another kind of medical rescue now Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, and People often ask where the "soul" possible is a "suspended animation" other religious organizations. goes when a person dies and is frozen. If brain surgery for aneurysms . A medical Cryonics is NOT about bringing the we wish to revive that person in the fu­ team lowers the patient's body tempera­ dead back to life. We are not talking ture, will the soul still be there? I sug­ ture to about 50 ° F, shunts the blood out about performing miracles. The entire gest that these people need to ask that of the patient's brain, and performs point of cryonics is that physicians of question about the people who are al­ bloodless surgery on the brain for about today often pronounce patients dead at ready being revived from "death-like" 50-60 minutes. There are no brain waves a point when doctors of the next century experiences. Excellent examples are the during this time. The team then warms would consider them alive and would many children who have been revived the individual back up and restarts the cure them. At some point real death from cold water drownings after thirty cerebral blood flow. The patient sur­ occurs; but we think we may actually be minutes underwater-no respiration, vives with his memory and personality preserving life (rather than reversing no circulation, no brain waves. They (and presumably his "soul") intact.

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 5 One cryonics laboratory, building out what our human limits are. From Heaven when he dies. They believe the on what Alcor did several years ago, can this pointofview, if cryonics works, God Bible tells us that when you are dead, now take a dog, begin cooling it, replace meant it to and meant us to explore it. If you are completely DEAD-until the all the blood in its body with an organ it doesn't work, then God didn't mean it Resurrection, which means the revival preservation solution, cool it to about 3- to. As with heart transplants and other and reconstitution of the physical body, 4 degrees above freezing, and hold it at medical advances, God doesn't tell us in including the soul. Therefore, you may that temperature for nearly six hours. advance. Humans have to explore for as well stay alive as long as you can; when At that time the dog can be warmed and themselves. God is ready for the resurrection, it his blood reintroduced, and he survives. One of the interesting things about won't matter ifyou're alive or dead-or He still answers to his name and he religious arguments is that almost every­ frozen. knows the same commands as before. one has their own opinions based on There are several reasons to believe We assume that surgeons will apply simi­ what they were taught; but many extend that the Catholic Church in the next lar techniques to many human opera­ those opinions to saying they know what century will actually view cryonics with tions in the next decade. God's plan or purpose is. I don't believe favor. As far back as the late 1960s, a What this proves as much as any­ anyone can know that. Anyone who did Catholic priest was photographed bless­ thing is that we don't know much about would by definition BE God. All we can ing a capsule at the Cryonics Society of life and death. It seems apparent that do is our best and try to help each other. New York. On at least two occasions in physicians of the late 21st Century will I choose to do so right now by helping the 1980's, television interviewers define the point of death much differ­ people stay alive-or at least by giving added Catholic ethicists to cryonics pro­ ently than most people do today. A doc­ them as much of a chance as possible. grams to provide "the other side"; and tor from the future traveling back to Because of this sort of reasoning, the ethicists decided that they saw no today would no doubt be saddened by Alcor and other cryonics groups have conflict with Church teachings. the hundreds ofthou­ At some point in sands of patients we the late '80s, the case call dead when he of some frozen fertil­ could see they would ized embryos in Aus­ be repairable with tralia brought an of­ future knowledge. If ficial Vatican reac­ this is true, then we tion (I don't recall if should consider them this was an official "alive" now, and ar­ statement of the range to get them to Pope, though). Fer­ that doctor in the fu­ tility researchers had ture. already proven that Cryonics should human embryos be viewed as an exten­ couldbefrozeninliq­ sion ofclinical medicine, not a new kind sometimes attracted suspension mem­ uid nitrogen, thawed, transplanted, of dead-body storage. The entire pur­ bers who are religious. This has given us brought to full term, and produce nor­ pose of this technology is to save lives. the chance to ask them about their be­ mal, healthy children (the first in 1984, From that point of view, religious be­ liefs and often to speak with their reli­ now many thousands worldwide). The liefs are irrelevant as far as cryonics is gious leaders about cryonics. (I will Church's position was that these fertil­ concerned. Cryonics success would not point out that no religious group has­ ized embryos had souls, were humans, prove or disprove Christianity, anymore as far as I know-stated an o/.ficial posi­ and destruction of them was murder. than heart transplants or other life-sav- tion on cryonic suspension. The follow­ This seemed to imply that liquid nitro­ mg. treatments d o. I ing ideas are from individual members gen on its own was not inimical to "soul Assuming there is a God and assum­ and religious leaders.) storage." ing that God created humans, then God For example, the members of one Several years ago, I had a conversa­ also created our brains. He (or She) conservative Christian family believe tion with a prospective member who also created our curiosity and the desire that God wants them to stay alive as long had spoken to his priest about cryonics to explore the limits of our existence. as possible to spread the Word. Choos­ and had gotten an interesting answer. I God apparently allowed us to develop ingcryonicsforthemmeansdoingGod's have since asked atleast one other Catho­ CPR, antibiotics, heart transplants, work. lic priest about this and was told that the brain aneurysm surgery, and other medi­ Orthodox Jews, Seventh Day answer had theological merit. cal advances. It appears that if this is Adventists, and some other religious Today, if a Catholic is in a hospital God's creation, it is our duty to con­ groups believe that the Bible says noth­ withanillnessforwhichlife-savingtreat­ tinue to explore that creation and find ing about a person's soul floating up to ment is available, some theologians

6 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 would argue that for the Catholic to American South told black slaves that my condition is so poor that all other rifuse that treatment would be willful their conditions were the "natural, God­ options are closed to me, I want to be death-suicide. God chooses when you given" state of things. Further, they said placed into cryonic suspension so that I die, not you, and God has given you a that Mrican people were naturally infe­ can continue my existence. way to survive through medicine. By rior and destined by God to be slaves of The question should be, "Why do extending that argument, if cryonics the superior descendants ofEuropeans. you want to live indefinitely?" The an­ could be shown to work-to save lives­ In fact, slave owners made a great deal swer is both easy and complex: Because then choosing not to undergo cryonic of noise about how slaves were happier I like being alive, in this form and in this suspension when current medicine can­ being slaves, about how slavery made identity. Because life is good and infi­ not save you could also be considered them better people, even brought them nitely varied. There is much more to willful death. closer to God. This was the equivalent learn and experience and explore ofthis A firm answer to this question can­ of giving seminars in how to be a happy universe (this "creation," if you prefer) not be give yet, because cryonics is still than we can do in thousands of years. experimental. Perhaps these people in Living includes thinking and studying cryonic suspension should be consid­ Alcor Life Extension Foundation and learning, maybe in other parts of ered alive or perhaps they should be Non-Discrimination Policy the galaxy, comparing my observations considered dead. We won't know for a TheAicor Life Extension Foun­ with beings much different from my­ very long time. But if they are really datioD believes that every person self. Perhaps people who can live a very dead, then God has already taken care has a right to choose and arrange longtime will spend a lot ofit examining of their soul and it doesn't matter. A for his or her own cryonic suspen­ and defining the meaning of human ex­ person can lose nothing spiritually by sion and to enjoy its possible ben­ istence, the nature of the universe, the trying cryonic suspension. God does efits of greatly extended lifespan. relevance of religion, and the existence not punish people for trying to stay alive. To this end, the Alcor Life Extension of God. Are religions elaborate lies or. -... Neither priest could find anything Foundation does not discriminate tricks we have played on ourselves to inherently wrong with cryonics as a po­ against any person on the basis of remain sane in the face of death? Or tential life-extending technology. race, religion, color, creed, age, does one of those hundreds of sets of Back to those questions at the be­ marital status, national origin, an­ beliefs that people swear are "true" ac­ ginning of the article: One of the most cestry, sex, sexual orientation or tually reflect the reality of our existence often heard comments about cryonics, preference, medical condition, or before and after the event we call death? from religious and non-religious people handicap. If today we are dying and do not alike, is that "death is natural." There However, nothing in this state­ choose cryonic suspension-and if it are at least two ways to reply to that. You ment prevents Alcor from avoiding turns out that this existence is all there may recall Katherine Hepburn saying any situation that genuinely threat­ is-then we lose the bet and no more to Humphrey Bogart in The African ens the health or safety of Alcor choices are possible. Ifwe choose to be Queen, "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we employees, volunteers, patients in suspended and can be revived again, we were put on this world to overcome." It suspension, or the public, or from can continue to look for the answers. requiring reasonable medical evalu­ is our "nature" to overcome what is Death and "going beyond"-if such a ations in some instances where a "naturaL" "Natural" is running around thing can happen-will always be op­ genuine threat to health or safety naked in the woods eating roots and tions. may be suspected to exist, or where grubs. Our human nature (whether It is my personal belief that all hu­ the legal status of an individual with given by God or evolved) has led us to regard to mental competency may man religions most likely have evolved build homes, make tools and clothing, be in question. from our primitive fears of death and of and invent air-conditioning, surgery, li­ the power of nature. I suspect there is a braries, bifocals and hearing aids, space in our brains that requires reli­ Cadillacs, digital watches, and gourmet slave instead of showing them how to be gion to fill it. It may be natural or it may restaurants to make our lives easier, FREE. be trained, but the near universality of longer, and more interesting. Likewise today, why give ourselves the religious impulse seems to suggest Another approach is to point out seminars in how to be happy that we will that humans have an evolved need for that rape and murder and war are also soon die? Let's learn how to be free of religion, which they will fill by learning "natural." Does that mean we should death instead. or by invention. not try to prevent them? Does that mean "Why on God's Green Earth would Cryonics itself is only a technology, that God wants us to rape, kill, and someone want to be frozen and come not a religion. However, I will admit bomb? Or are these actions things we back later?" that for me cryonics is part of a philo­ must learn to overcome? Ifso, then why That's the easy one. I don't particu­ sophical approach (which includes not learn to overcome dying? larlywant to be frozen and come back­ In the 1800s, many whites in the I want not to die in the first place. But if Concluded on page :u ...

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 7 ,

ne of the signs that liger in an old~pisodeof TIJ.e8impsons con Man anewconceptisbe­ in which the townsfolk are cont~plat­ (which is coming a normal ing how to rescue a boywho has fallen more about part of society is that it ap­ into a well. Ascientiststepsfo:rWard and uploadi!lg pears as background for all suggests that they simply fill t}le well minds into a kinds of television shows with liquid nitrogen "so he can be. res­ con1puter and books. Formanyyears cued by future generations.") anyway} just about the only time cry­ Blakei§!a onics was seen in the media was as "some­ Chiller writer who thing really weird and creepy" or as an A few novels have taken the concept took the time excuse to have zombies without souls seriously in the past few years. Tops to under­ wandering around eating really bad ac­ amongthem was Sterling Blake's thriller stand cryon­ tors. Chiller (Bantam hardcover, 1993; Ban­ ics and to visit tam ph 1994). It is an exciting, well­ cryonics labs. Television written suspense novel wherein a killer He was even The trend toward cryonics acceptabil­ is stalking the leaders of a cryonics orga­ nice enough to putAlcor' s phone number ity on television, at least, began in 1989 nization. Now, as the leader of a cryon­ and address in the acknowledgements. with L.A. Law's excellent fictional rep­ ics organization, this makes me a tad This courtesy hasgottenAlcorquiteanum­ resentation of the Thomas Donaldson nervous. But atleast the cryonicists were ber of information requests and at least situation (where an individual with a the good guys, and with the possibility two members. brain tumor asked the court for permis­ of suspension at hand, murdered good We have heard that Chiller is likely sion to be suspended before legal death). guys can sometimes get a second chance. to be out of print soon (unless a film is Since then, cryonic suspension has been Chiller's plot is properly convoluted made), so we have ordered extra copies in the plot line of Wise Guy, Golden with many surprises, and the characters of the paperback. See the ad elsewhere Girls, Mad About You, Sea Quest, The X are totally believable-especially if you in this issue to find out how you can Files, V.R.5, and even an offhand men­ know a cryonicist or two yourself. order a copy for yourself. tio!l in Chicago Hope. Of course. there This is probably the best cryonics was ~so the episodeofPicketFences last novel that .has been written, ahead of Solis year which was completely about cryon­ Heinlein'sThe Door intoSummer, Pohl's Another recent novel which has already ics. (Not·.to·rn.ention a hilarious one- Age ij'thePusS!Jfoot, and Platt's .The Sili- resUlted in several requests for cryoni£s ceivable angle in every corner wi~'~ix fiction novel by feet of space. '<' (Baen Books If you don't mind the violence6>i~:~ aper back 1995) all a lot of adrenaline-pumping ftl;n:. part of its plot. Folsom is also a screenwriter, and .the wounded movie possibilities are obvious. Stilt:J couldn'thelpgrimacingatthebasicplo1: flaw: if the Nazis have so many billi0~€1 of dollars availabfe to them, with a sp~, seemingly in every hotel, police stati and bathroom in Europe, why didn~~.·~ they think to buy a mortuary to cremate" those headless bodies?

Music information is Solis by A. A. .ru'"'u'·""~ Finally, there is the compact disk that (Harper Collins hard cover, 1994; we missed telling you about last year. Harper Prism ph. 1994.) This science Karen Hart, a Southern California fiction novel is about Charlie Outis­ singer, has recorded a jazzy album called "Mr. Charlie"-whose brain was frozen Me in a Box. The title song cheer­ in the early 21st century and thawed one asks for the listener to "Put me in a thousand years later. Unfortunately, ex­ put me in a deep freeze. Put me in frozen brains have become property in 'till my blood stops." Yes, that's most places by then, so Mr.Charlie be­ She goes on to sing, comes the "brains" of a robot factory on up when things warm up an asteroid. Being an isolated brain is nanotechnology: wake me up when we're fairly boring; so Mr. Charlie sends out a molecule bymflltP.r.'ut. · · to whomever will listen. Who published by Little, s letters and conversations an android and one of the appears to be more a fascinated by cryonics '"P' ;!;J•C1Lt;u.J.~.uuta."'"· They rescue him (or Drexler than a detailed her song will bring ·'·'·"·~"'·'~Hl'-M'• .•~lep.en•d'mp; on your point of nano-engineering. We'll eople outside of our aJ.J!L!clJU.crimes more year). The toll-free number is cor­ through a <:nllr1PFW'P rect; but two typos have rendered im­ the doers of evil find out possible the number for use outside the tive and the doctor are on their U.S. Just write in our correct number gunplay ensues, and dead bodies (mostly you give the book to others. with their heads) pile up at every con- by R. Michael Perry, Ph.D.

William Godwin as Pioneering Futurist

e cryonics movement has existed by the age of eight had decided to be­ for three decades-not very long come a minister. Although this may seem on the scale of history. Before hardly radical to us, we should remem­ that, however, people were not indiffer­ ber that in England Calvinism was a" dis­ ent to the issues cryonics attempts to senting" faith. Many privileges were de­ address. Most importantly this includes nied its practitioners that were open to the idea of progress, and specifically, those of the state-supported (Anglican) the progress of the human race to some­ Church. Municipal and government "The sum of the thing more than human, with mortality jobs were forbidden, for example, as and diseases put aside. In contemplat­ was attendance at major universities arguments ... here ing the means that would be used to such as Oxford and Cambridge. To the offered amounts to effect the transition from mortal to im­ latter the dissenters responded by es­ a ... presumption mortal, people most commonly looked tablishingtheir own institutions oflearn­ to a power beyond the human level. A ing, which, like HoxtonAcademywhich that the term of benevolent God would solve the diffi­ Godwin attended, acquired a reputation human life may he cultproblemforus, ran the conventional for excellence. Among their virtues was wisdom, and bring about the fulfillment to encourage free inquiry, which the prolonged; ... hy the of our ancient dreams. A minority opin­ young Godwin took to heart. His re­ immediate opera­ ion, however, focused on unassisted hu­ solve on a profession lasted long enough man efforts as the likely means for all that in his twenties he did become a tion of intellect., advances in the human condition. In candidate minister, but his views were heyond any limits the eighteenth century such thinking too radical for his congregations and became more widespread as science and thiscareercametoarockycloseby 1783. which we are ahle industrialization progressed. One of its Mter that he devoted himself to writing. to assign." chief proponents was the English politi­ In 1792 he embraced atheism, and cal philosopher and novelist William in the following year brought out the -William Godwin Godwin (1756-1836) who wrote an in­ first edition ofAn Enquiry Concerning fluential book advocating anarchy, that Politicallustice. I tis for this book, along also speculated about future advances, with a propagandizing novel (Caleb including lengthening the human Williams, or Things as they Are, 1794), lifespan. that Godwin is chiefly remembered to­ Godwin was brought up by a strict day. Politicallustice, which runs to over Calvinist father and, a precocious child, 700 pages in a modern (Penguin) edi-

10 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 sought after, and wherever liberty, truth, Population as it affects the Future Im­ justice was the theme, his name was not provement of Society, with Remarks on far off .... " / the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M This preeminence was short-lived, Condorcet, and other Writers.) however. The excesses of the French Godwin's remarkable position antici­ Revolution soon revolted many think­ pates immortalist thinking that many ing people who had looked for human still find disturbing and puts him among betterment in the abolition of old insti­ the ranks of transhumanists. tutions. More generally, there was doubt Before turning to this, though, I'll about Godwin's confident assertions say something about the means Godwin such as, "In proportion as weakness and envisaged for lengthening life. Here his ignorance shall diminish, the basis of idealism and dreaminess are given free government will also decay." Leslie reign, and his speculations, though in­ Stephens, a later critic, would write, "He teresting, must not be pressed too much must have been a quiet and amiable for detail. He is aware too that others dreamer, able to ignore all inconvenient have offered favorable opinions on the facts, whose opinions were too deeply subject, such as Condorcet and before rooted in abstract speculation to be up­ him, Francis Bacon. These "have in­ William Godwin in 1794 set by any storms raging in the region of clined to rest their hopes ... upon the concrete phenomena." Political Jus­ growing perfection of art," or what we tion, is a spirited attack on the evils of tice-and its author-fast fell into ob­ would call technology. Godwin instead government in all their forms, with the scurity; however, the world has not en­ starts with "the sublime conjecture of abolition of all government as the pro­ tirelyforgotten. Godwin's idealistic phi­ Franklin, a man habitually conversant posed remedy. Instead of coercion im­ losophy is still studied and respected with the system of the external universe, posed from without, then, enlightened today, and much ofitwillbe found agree­ that 'mind will one day become omnipo­ mankind would impose restraints from able to serious individualists, including tent over matter."' Franklin, in so re­ within, obviating both the need for and a large fraction of our own camp of cry­ marking, had in mind the use of the misuse of force against former citizens onicists. mental faculties to create labor-saving of countries, who now would form a Let's turn now to Godwin's ideas machinery and other such benefits, but common humanity, devoid of national concerning the prolongation of human Godwin imagines applying our talents or other partisan divisions. Each indi­ life, which occupy several appendix vidual could then direct unencumbered pages of Political Justice. Despite his efforts towardenlzghtenedself-interest, idealism, Godwin was under no illusions which would translate to ( 1) each show­ that, writing as he was in the 1790s, any ing sincere benevolence toward all, and bigbreakthroughsinlifeextensionwere ENQUIRY (2) a vast improvement in the overall imminent. He offered this portion, then, human condition. "as eminently a deviation into the land COH'CEl\NJNG Godwin did not advocate the use of of conjecture," and to reassure readers POLITICAL JUSTICE, violence to achieve the transformation added, "Ifit be false, it leaves the system to enlightened society, but felt that it to which it is appended, in all sound ITS INFLUENCE could be accomplished by peaceful and reason, as impregnable as ever." constructive means. In the words of an­ Why, then, did Godwin see fit to MORALS ANn HAPPINESS. archist historian James Joll, "starting add this little appendix, seeing that it from the commonplaces of eighteenth clearly was so highly speculative and WILLIAM GODWIN. century philosophical belief," the book moreover, not necessary to his philo­ "elaborated the most complete and sophical system? The reason, in large THE TJ!ll\D £DITtON COII.llECTED. worked-out statement of rational anar­ part, seems to be that Godwin was most lN TWO VOLUMES. chist belief ever attempted, a philoso­ ironically using the possibility of life V 0 L. 1. phy of anarchism carried through to its extension to counter the argument that L 0 N D 0 N: logical conclusions, however surprising attempts at generally improving the hu­ l'l\ISl'BD FOR. G, 0, AND J• l\OhiNSO!'l~ PAT.Bl\NOSTER.·J\OW. and absurd these might be." The imme­ man condition must be defeated by the 1798. diate effect of the book was to establish extra population thatwould follow. (His Godwin's reputation as among the fore­ arguments in turn would soon be an­ most sages of his time. To William swered at length by Malthus in the first Hazlitt, a contemporary, "no one was edition of his famous book, whose full Title page ofPolitical Justice, more talked of, more looked up to, more title is An Essay on the Principle of vol. 1, 1798

2nd Quarter, 1995 ' Cryonics 11 to our own minds and bodies. (Franklin, lier, in which Godwin imagines a future several utility, and they will not feel in­ in other writings, also showed he antici­ societywith lives indefinitelyprolonged. different to that utility. They will be ea­ pated the ending of aging, however; see (He resists the term "immortality" on ger to enquire into the good that already my column in Cryonics, Jan. '91 p.11.) ground that its meaning is unclear, but exists, the means by which it was pro­ The modern reader may be struck by effectively his future is a world of im­ duced, and the greater good that is yet in the thought that actually we too-our mortals.) In this utopian vision popula­ store. They will never want motives for bodies and minds-are a kind of tech­ tion will reach its proper limits and then exertion; for that benefit which a man nology, which should be amenable to remain constant, while all enjoy an ideal thoroughly understands and earnestly modification much as human technol­ and mutually beneficent existence. loves he cannot refrain from ogy is now changed and improved. So "The men therefore whom we are endeavouring to promote." Godwin's position may not be so much supposing to exist, when the earth shall A passage like this, ofcourse, is sure at variance as he thought with hopes refuse itself to a more extended popula­ to provoke the criticism of being an un­ resting "upon the growing perfection of tion, will probably cease to propagate. realistic daydream, especially among op­ art." The whole will be a people of men, and ponents ofthe idea oflife extension. But At any rate, his starting point for not of children. Generation will not suc­ I submit that, with one small change of lengthening life is a healthy mental atti­ ceed generation, nor truth have, in a terminology, it accords with what many tude and happy disposition, which are certain degree, to recommence her ca- of us immortalists have imagined for an known to help ward off sickness and attainable and desirable future. That promote physical well-being. Atti­ is, we must replace "men" with tude is important in the aging pro­ "more-than-humans" or some such cess too; a significant factor in grow­ phrasing. Godwinisnottalkinghere ing old, Godwin urges, is "the cares about the species homo sapiens that rise out of our mistaken institu­ which arguably could no more sus­ tions" whose abolition, then, would tain an ideal, anarchic society than a put us on the road to extra lifespan. crew of monkeys could operate a More generally he imagines an "in­ cruise vessel. He is instead referring tellectual" branch of medicine, to what our species will hopefully which "has been infinitely too much develop into, when advancing un­ neglected." When this is appropri­ derstanding makes possible the ately developed, prodigious feats of elimination of death and other im­ control and improvement of physi­ pediments to a rewarding existence. ological processes should follow. What life will become then, we can "The sum of the arguments which scarcely imagine, except that some have been here offered amounts to a of the possibilities ought to be won­ species ofpresumption that the term derful indeed. This, I think, is a very ofhuman life may be prolonged, and good reason to be in cryonics. that by the immediate operation of Mary Godwin Shelley, author o/ The third and definitive, final intellect, beyond any limits which Frankenstein, in 1841 edition ofPoliticallusticeappeared we are able to assign." in 17 9 8. Godwin's later life was less Godwin is vague throughout on reer every thirty years. Other improve­ eventful, in terms of lasting influence, details of a more conventional nature, ments may be expected to keep pace but a few particulars are ofinterest from medical or biological, that would extend with those ofhealth and longevity. There an immortalist standpoint. His political the lifespan. However there is no doubt will be no war, no crimes, no adminis­ radicalism, so thoroughly articulated in that he foresaw the indefinite prolonga­ tration of justice, as it is called, and no his famous book, he eventually largely tion oflife through a rational, non-mys­ government. Beside this, there will be repudiated. He continued, however, to tical process. He saw it too as profoundly neither disease, anguish, melancholy, defend with vigor his views on the im­ beneficial. "A habit," Godwin tells us, nor resentment. Every man will seek, provement and extension of human life "peculiarly favorable to corporeal with ineffable ardour, the good of all. against the likes ofMalthus. From athe­ vigour is cheerfulness," and, "The sur­ Mind will be active and eager, yet never ism he was finally led back to religion­ est source of cheerfulness is benevo­ disappointed. Men will see the progres­ in the form of pantheism. And his lence." This provides a vitallinkbetween sive advancement of virtue and good, daugher Mary, nurtured in part on his the lengthening of life and the role a and feel that, if things occasionally hap­ well-voiced opinions, produced the first person is to play in future society, in pen contrary to their hopes, the miscar­ science fiction classic, Frankenstein; which the advantage of the individual riage itself was a necessary part of that or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). works to the good of all. Finally, there is progress. They will know that they are the remarkable passage I alluded to ear- members of the chain, that each has his Concluded on page 21 . ..

12 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 "0!1·csmr;i mtcscl f't'01illl 'Broceellring;;r q~'z'h·~ 'fll!i?;~·i rl!\sia·o~~t~·· VZn~·zizzae fi!oz?fk~Tence on fl!!razu7znmani~:z Jlilzq:t&ft~ )

ost people, if they think of cryonics at all, think of Woody Allen in Sleeper, Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, or Mel Gibson in Forever Young. The hero, after spending decades or centuries in the deep freeze, thaws out gradually and some what painfully. Rather stiff from the cold, the warmth of the new era slowly penetrates into their chilled limbs until they at last stretch and look about the world with renewed legal customs require that the patient be aged, the mitochondria themselves are interest and vitality. legally dead before suspension can even probably swollen, and cellular energy Not! begin. While the terminally ill patient levels have probably dropped well be­ The damage done by the cryonic sus­ who has refused heroic measures can be low the point where the cell could func­ pension (and the probably poor condi­ declared legally dead when he could in tion even if all its biochemical and meta­ tion of the patient before the suspen­ fact be revived (even by today' s technol­ bolic pathways were intact. The high sion even began) are quite sufficient to ogy), we're not always so lucky. Often, levels of cryoprotectants used in the sus­ insure that nothing even remotely re­ there has been some period of ischemia pension (to prevent ice damage ) have sembling these scenarios will ever take (loss of blood flow), and the tissue is likely poisoned at least some and possi­ place. First, there are fractures in the nowhere near the pink of health. The bly many critical enzyme systems. Ifthe frozen tissues caused by thermal strain­ powerhouses of the cells, the mitochon­ if we warmed our hero up, he'd fall into dria, have likely suffered significant RalphJ\t1erkle is ~ n21Q pieces as though sliced by many incred­ damage. Floculent densities (seen in logl~t a}X~rox,r{:R<=. ibly sharp knives. Second, suspension is transmission electron microscopy) n~a;ched forcornmen~ only used as a last resort: the patient is at likely mean that the internal membranes least terminal and current social and of the mitochondria are severely dam- at·rnerkle,@fp9rctxe,(~~{>< ..

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 13 cryoprotectants didn't penetrate uni­ molecular machines. Over half think about where things should go. If we formly (as seems likely for a few special this technology will be developed in the could describe what things should look regions, such as the axonal regions of next 20 to 40 years. A medical technol­ like, then we could (with fine enough myelinated nerve cells: the myelin ogy based on such molecular tools will tools, tools that would literally let us sheath probably slows the penetration quite literally be able to arrange and rearrange the molecular structure) put of the cryoprotectant), then small re­ rearrange the molecular structure of the things right. If we can't describe what gions suffering from more severe ice frozen tissue almost at will. The mol­ things should look like, then the patient damage will be present. ecules in frozen tissue are like the bricks is beyond help. Because the fundamen­ All in all, our hero is not going to in a vast lego set, bricks which in the tal problem is the loss of information, simply thaw out and walk off. future we will be able to stack and un- this has been called information theo- And yet the litera­ retic death. Infor­ tureonfreezinginjury, mation theoretic on ischemia, and on death, unlike to­ the other damage day's clinical death, likely caused by a cry­ is a true and abso­ onic suspension lute death from forced me to conclude which there can be that cryonics would al­ no recovery. If in­ most surely work: how formation theoretic can this be? death occurs then Fundamentally, we can only mourn people are made of the loss. molecules. If those It is essential that molecules are ar­ the reader under­ ranged in the right stand the gross dif­ way, the person is ference between healthy. Ifthey're arranged in the wrong stack, arrange and rearrange as we see death by current clinical criteria and way, the person is unhealthy or worse. fit. We will no longer be constrained by information theoretic death. This is not While a surgeon's knife does indeed re­ the gross and imperfect medical tools a small difference of degree, nor just a arrange molecular structure, it does so that we use today, but will instead have small difference in viewpoint, nor a quib­ only in the crudest fashion. The living new tools that are molecular both in bling definitional issue that scholars can tissue itself is what really arranges and their size and precision. Repair of dam­ debate; but a major and fundamental rearranges the intricate and subtle mo­ age, even extensive damage, will simply difference. The difference between in­ lecular structures that underlie life and not be a problem. If molecules are in formation theoretic death and clinical health. When the tissue is too badly the wrong places, we will move them to death is as great as the difference be­ damaged, when intracellular levels of the right places, hence restoring the tis­ tween turning off a computer and dis­ ATP are too low to provide the energy sue to health. solving that computer in acid. A com­ the tissue needs to function, when its This ability, awesome as it will be, puter that has been turned off, or even own internal structure is disrupted, it willnotletuscureallinjuries. Beforewe dropped out the window of a car at 90 can no longer heal itself. Today's surgi­ can move a molecule to the right place, miles per hour, is still recognizable. The cal tools, gross and imprecise at the cel­ we must know what the right place is. parts, though broken or even shattered, lular and molecular level, can no more This is not always obvious. Consider, are still there. While the short term aid in this process than a wrecking ball for example, what happens when we cre­ memory in a computer is unlikely to could be used to repair a Swiss watch. mateapersonandstirtheashes. There's survive such mistreatment, the informa­ Technology advances, though. The more than damage. We can't tell where tion held on disk will survive. Even if "Third Foresight Conference on Mo­ anything was nor where it should go. the disk is bent or damaged, we could lecular Nanotechnology" (Palo Alto, We haven't a clue as to what the person still read the information by examining 1993) was attended by almost 200 re­ looked like, let alone the structure of the magnetization of the domains on search scientists, chemists, computa­ the tissues in their nervous system. This the disk surface. It's not functional, but tional chemists, physicists, STM re­ kind of damage will be beyond even the full recovery is possible. searchers, and other research scientists most advanced medical technology of If we dissolve the computer in acid, from a range ofdisciplines. By a show of the future. A person who has been cre­ though, then all is lost. hands, almost all think we will develop a mated is truly dead, even by the criteria So, too, with humans. Almost any general ability to make almost any mo­ of the 21st or 22nd century. small insult will cause clinical death. A lecular structure that we want, includ­ This true and final death is caused by bit of poison, a sharp object acciden­ ing a broad range of molecular tools and loss of information, the information tally (or not so accidentally) thrust into

14 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 a major artery, a failure of the central are easy to describe: ply do it. It is not free, and so we must pump, a bit of tissue growing out of con­ ( 1) Select N subjects. ask: how much is it worth? What price trol: all can cause clinical death. (2) Freeze them. should we pay? Part of this question can But information theoretic death re­ (3) See if the medical technology a only be answered by the individual: what quires something much worse. Even century (or more) from now can indeed value do we place on a long and healthy after many minutes or hours of ischemia revive them. life starting some decades in the future? and even after freezing we can still rec­ The clinical trials are ongoing (con­ How many dollars would we pay to see ognize the cells, trace the paths of the tactAlcor at 800-367-2228 ifyou wish to the future? axons, note where the synapses connect join the experimental group-no action We will leave these rather difficult nerve cell to nerve cell-and this with is needed to join the control group), but questions to each individual, and con­ our present rather primitive technol­ we don't expect the results to be avail­ fine ourselves to a simpler question that ogy of light and electron microscopy able for many decades. Which leaves us is more accessible to analysis: what is (which is a far cry from what we will with a problem: what do we tell the ter­ the likelihood that current suspension have in the future). minally ill patient prior to the comple­ methods prevent information theoretic It is interesting to note that "The tion of clinical trials? death? classical methods for tracing neuronal This is not an entirely novel situation For information theoretic death to pathways are histological methods that for the medical community. Often, new occur we would have to damage the neu­ detect degenerative changes in neurons and promising treatments are undergo­ ronal structures badly enough to cause following damage. These staining meth­ ing clinical trials at the same time that lossofmemoryorpersonality. Thestruc­ ods provide a remarkably accurate pic­ dying patients ask for them. There is no tures that encode short term memory ture of neuronal projections in the cen­ easy answer, but in general the potential seem particularly sensitive: they are tral nervous system" [5, page 262]. Such benefits of the treatment are weighed likely not preserved by cryonic suspen­ degenerative changes typicallytook days against the potential harm, using what­ sion. The electrochemical activity of or weeks to develop. In many cases, the ever evidence is currently available as a the brain is stopped when the tempera­ actual nerve fiber need not be present at guide. ture is lowered significantly (as in many all: "Some injuries, such as the crushing In the case of cryonics, the potential types of surgery that are done after cool­ ofa nerve, may transect peripheral axons harm is limited: the patient is already ing the patient) so it is certainly stopped butleave intact the sheath that surrounds legally dead. The potential benefit is by freezing, with probable loss of short it. In such injuries the sheath may act as great: full restoration of health. The term memory. But human long term a physiological conduit that guides re­ medically conservative course of action memory and the structural elements that generating axons back to their targets" is to adopt the strategy that poses the encode our personality are likely to be [5,264]. Thustherearemultiplesources least risk to the patient: freeze him. If more persistent, as they involve signifi­ of information about neuronal connec­ there is any chance of success, then cry- cant structural and morphological tivity, the actual neu­ changes in the neu­ ron being only one rons and particularly such source. in the synapses be­ If we can tell tween neurons. Thus, where things should we would like to know go, then we can in if the structures under­ principle (and even­ lying human long tually in practice) term memory and per­ restore the patient to sonality are likely to full health with be obliterated by memory and person­ freezing injury. ality intact. The evidence avail­ How can we tell able today suggests if information theo­ that the freezing in­ retic death has taken jury and other injuries place? How can we that are likely to occur tell if someone has been so injured that onic suspension is preferable to certain in a cryonic suspension conducted un­ they are beyond all help, both today and death. This is also in keeping with the der relatively favorable circumstances in the future? The medically accepted Hippocratic oath's injunction to "do no are unlikely to cause information theo­ method of evaluating any proposed harm." retic death. treatment is to conduct clinical trials: If cryonics were free there would be Not all cryonic suspensions are con­ try it and see if it works. The appropri­ no dilemma and no need to examine its ducted under "favorable circum­ ate clinical trials to evaluate cryonics potential more carefully: we would sim- stances;" some circumstances have been

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 15 decidedly unfavorable. When should the original state should be feasible. amateurs. The German Enigma, to we give up? How much damage is re­ Of course, reversibility strictly ap­ which the Nazi's war machine trusted quired to obliterate memory and per­ plies only in a closed system. When we its most sensitive secrets, was broken by sonality in the information theoretic freeze someone, there is random ther­ the Allies despite Nazis scientist's opin­ sense? What level of damage is suffi­ mal agitation and thermal noise that ion that it was unbreakable[ I]. cient to produce information theoretic comes from the rest of the world: this It is also well known that erasing in­ death? source of random information is not formation can be much more difficult Which brings us to cryptanalysis: the available to the "cryptanalyst" trying to than it seems. The problem is sufficiently art and science of recovering secret "decipher" your frozen body (the "en­ acute that Department of Defense regu­ messages after they have been deliber­ crypted message"). In cryptanalysis, lations for the disposal of top secret in­ ately distorted and twisted, ground up though, we don't know the key (which, formation require destruction ofthe me­ and then ground up again by a series of as far as the cryptanalyst is concerned, is dia. (This poses an interesting ques­ cryptographic transformations carefully random information mixed in with the tion: if a person with a top secret clear­ designed to obscure and conceal the plaintext). In addition, many crypto­ ance is cryonically suspended, is this a original message. In cryptography, the graphic systems add random informa­ violationofsecurityregulations? Would person who wants to send a secret mes­ tion to the plaintext before encryption their cremation be required to insure sage transforms it. The Caesar cipher, to make the cryptanalyst's job more dif­ destruction of the information con­ for example, changed each letter in the ficult. tained in the their brain?) message by "adding" a constant. "A" So the question ofwhether or not we Against this backdrop it would seem becomes "C", "B" becomes "D," etc. can revive a person who has been frozen prudent to exercise caution in claiming Modern cryptogaphic systems are more can be transformed into a new question: that freezing, ischemic injury, or complex, but the principle remains the can we cryptanalyze the "encrypted cryoprotectant injury result in informa­ same. message" that is the frozen person and tion theoretic death (and hence that cry­ Of course, enciphered messages are deduce the "plain text" which is the onics won't work). Such prudence is meant to be deciphered. We know that healthy person that we wish to restore? sometimes sadly lacking. each step in the scrambling process, each Are the "cryptographic transforma­ We now consider a particular method individual transformation that turns tions" applied during freezing sufficient ofcryptanalysis, the application ofMaxi­ "Attack at dawn!" into "8dh49s­ to thwart our cryptanalytic skill for all mum Likelihood Estimation (MLE), lkghwef" is reversible (if only we knew time? and discuss how it might be applied to the key ... ). Surely this makes freezing It is commonplace in cryptography frozen tissue. and ischemia different from cryptogra­ for amateurs to announce they have in­ The purpose ofMLE is to determine phy! However, the basic "transforma­ vented the unbreakable code. The the most probable configuration of a tions" applied in a cryonic suspension simple substitution cipher was once de­ system, given many individual (and pos­ are the laws of physics: a physical object scribed as utterly unbreakable[ 1]. Sub­ sibly correlated) observations about the (your body) is frozen. The laws of phys­ stitution ciphers can be broken quite state of that system. ics are reversible, and so in principle trivially, as we are now aware. MLE has been applied to World War recovery ofcomplete information about This weakness is not confined to II rotor machines[2]. While the connec­ tion between cryptanalysis of rotor ma­ chines and inferring the neuronal struc­ ture of frozen tissue might at first be obscure, the parallels are often compel­ ling. Rotor machines are designed to "scramble" the characters in a message by transforming each individual char­ acter into some other character. Rotor machines use a more complex transfor­ mation than the Caesar cipher. In par­ rotorresernbles ticular, they use a series of rotors. Each hocky-pUck in -".IClLlC/ rotor, which resembles a hockey-puck with each contact in shape, is a short cylinder with 26 con­ on one face conL. tacts on each face (for a total of 52 con­ nected by'El Wlreto tacts on the rotor). Each contact on one .a.single~of1tact on face is connected by a wire to a single the other face. contact on the other face. If we assign the letters A through Z to the contacts on

16 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 one face, and do the same to the contacts each rotor goes through is known (which poses a set of wirings for the rotors and on the other face, then connecting the is usually true for such machines) but says "Aha! This is the solution!" then we "P" on one face to a battery might make that the pattern of wiring in the indi­ would expect, upon deciphering the a voltage appear on (for example) the vidual rotors is unknown. Thus, we don't ciphertext, that there would be more "H" on the other face. A single rotor know which contacts on opposite faces "e"s than "b"s. If, when we deciphered thus is a hard-wired permutation of the of the rotor are connected, although we the message, we found that "e" and "b" 26letters. know the general structure of the ma­ were equally common (particularly for In the illustrations, we will pretend chine. a long message) then we would likely that the alphabet has not 26, but only 5 Rotor machines usually came with a conclude that the cryptanalysis was in­ characters: A, B, C, D and E. This will set of pre-wired rotors. By selecting correct. make the examples that follow much which rotors were used and by setting More generally, if the frequency dis­ more manageable. The reader should the initial rotational position of each tribution of the 26 letters obtained by be aware that real rotor machines have rotor in the machine, the user could "deciphering" the ciphertextwitha pro­ the full26 characters and contacts, and select a unique and hopefully difficult- posed solution is "smooth," i.e., if the that we use 5-letter rotors only to illus­ distribution could reasonably have been trate the concepts. produced by chance assuming that all A single 5-letter rotor is illustrated in 26 characters were equally likely, then Figure 1. The illustration shows the the proposed solutionis almost certainly input "B" as active, producing an out­ wrong. If, on the other hand, the put "A". "plaintext" produced by a proposed so­ If we put several rotors next to each lution is "rough," i.e., the distribution other (like a stack of coins), the contacts of letters has the unlikely peaks and on one rotor will make electrical con­ troughs of English text, then the pro­ tact with the contacts on the adjacent posed solution is very likely right. rotor. Ifwe apply a voltage to the letter It would seem, however, that to use "E" on the first rotor in the stack, we this "smooth" versus "rough" method, will be able to read off the voltage from we would have to try all the different some contact on the last rotor. The elec­ possible rotors until we found the right trical signal, instead of going through a ones. The wiring in a single rotor en­ single wire in a single rotor, will have codes one of 26! (twenty-six factorial, travelled through several wires in sev­ i.e. 26 x 25 x 24x ... x 2) different permu­ eral rotors. Connecting the 5 contacts tations, and three such rotors encodes on the last rotor to Slight bulbs, we can 26! x 26! x 26! different possibilities. see at a glance which output has been Simple exhaustive search would be activated by our input signal. rather expensive. Ifwe just stack several rotors together The problem that we face (common and pass an electrical signal through the in cryptanalysis) is that the possible keys stack, the result is actually no more com­ are discrete, and different keys produce plex than a single rotor, e.g., one rotor very different results. Thus, a "small" with the proper wiring would produce change to a single rotor might produce a the same permutation as a series of ro­ big (and hard to predict) change in the tors. The value of using several rotors to-cryptanalyze cipher. In what follows, deciphered message. becomes apparentifwe rotate individual we will simply assume that the permuta­ This can be overcome by mapping rotors by different amounts, thus chang­ tion described by the wiring of each the discrete cryptanalytic problem into ing the electrical connections in a com­ rotor is initially completely unknown, a continuous cryptanalytic problem. plex and difficult to analyze fashion. and will not attempt to take advantage In the discrete case, either" a" is con­ Various mechanical contrivances have of the fact that each permutation was in nected to "c" or it is not. There is no been used to move the different rotors fact drawn from a relatively small set of halfway about it, no partial connection. by different amounts, but the important possibilities. In the continuous problem, we will rep­ point here is that the result is a complex The information typically available resent our state of knowledge of the ro­ and changing network designed to defY to the cryptanalyst is the ciphertext. tors by allowing "partial" or "probabi­ cryptanalysis. Fundamentally, to determine the listic" connections. We might have a The application of MLE to plaintext from the ciphertext the 40% chance that "a" is connected to cryptanalysis of a multi-rotor system is plaintext must contain redundancy. In "c," and a 60% chance that "a" is con­ rather interesting. We assume, for the English, for example, "e" is more com­ nected to "e". Ortheremightbe a20% moment, that the series of motions that mon than "b". If the cryptanalyst pro- chance that "a" is connected to "c," a

~nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 17 33% chance that "a" is connected to what (the state of affairs when we begin letters with a physical rotor, we get a "e", a 12% chance that "a" is connected cryptanalysis) then we could use the probability distribution over our alpha­ to "b", an a 35% chance that "a" is con­ matrix of Figure 3. In this matrix, all bet. When we decipher many letters nected to "d". the entries are 0.2. That is, any input is with a non-physical matrix, we also get a More generally, we can assign prob­ equally likely (a priori) to be connected probability distribution over our alpha­ abilities that any letter is converted to to any output. We don't know what's bet. We know how to measure "rough­ any other letter. For our 5-character connected to what, and this uncertainty ness" and "smoothness" in a probabil­ alphabet, we can assign a probability to is captured by the matrix. The reader ity distribution:. if all the letters are the connection between "a" and "a", should note that this matrix does not equally probable, the distribution is "a'' and ''b'', "a" and ''c", ''a'' and ''d'', correspond to any "real" rotor. In some "smooth". If the letters are not equally andfinally"a" and "e". This would give sense, it describes the probability that a probable, the distribution is "rough". us a vector of probabilities, such as: specific physical rotor is the "right" ro­ Our method of cryptanalysis is now ( 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 0%). Instead of tor (physical rotors are rotors whose clear. We start by assuming non-physi­ percentages, we will adopt fractions, so matrix has a single "1" in every row and cal rotors (as in figure 3) which repre­ that the preceding vector will be de­ column, with all other entries being sent our initial state of knowledge: all noted by (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.0). ''0''). permutations are equally likely. We can If we wish to describe the connec­ How does this help solve our origi­ "decipher" the ciphertext with these tions between all five input characters nal problem? Yes, we can now use the rotors, and compute the distribution. and all five output characters, we will three "we don'tknowwhat's connected Initially, of course, the resulting need five vectors. Thus, we can describe to what" rotors of figure 4 as the rotors "plaintext" distribution is smooth. We a single rotor using a 5x5 matrix, as illus­ in our machine, but what does this gain can now make a small perturbation in trated in Figure 2. The particular rotor us? How do we "decipher" the cipher­ our matrix. We might, for example, make described in figure 2 is actually a spe­ text, and how do we decide if the result­ the connection between A and C slightly cific real rotor (the rotor described in ing "plaintext" is smooth or rough? more likely, while making other con­ figure 1), for each row and each column Whenwedecipheragivenletterwith nections slightly less likely. We can again ofthematrixhasasingle 1 with all other a physical rotor, the result is another decipher our ciphertext with this new entries being 0. The "1" in row A col­ letter. When we decipher C we get A. (slightly modified) rotor. If the distri­ umn C means that the input A is con­ When we decipher a letter with a matrix, bution of the resulting plaintext is still nected by a wire to the output C. This we get a probability distribution over all smooth, we're no closer to the answer. matrix notation lets us describe all pos­ letters. When we decipher C we might If the distribution is somewhat rougher, sible real rotors. get a 20% chance of an A, a 10% chance then we're moving in the right direc­ The great advantage of this notation of a B, a 30% chance of a C, a 15% tion. is that it also lets us describe our uncer­ chance ofaD, and a 25% chance ofan E. In short, we can now make small tainty about a rotor. For example, if we In vector notation, we get (0.2, 0.1, 0.3, changes and ask "Are we moving in the don't know which wire is connected to 0.15, 0.25). When we decipher many right direction?" If the distribution of

Ciphertext c E

18 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 plaintext is rougher than it was, the an­ Microscopy) methods already image in­ might be called local neuronal struc­ swer is "yes!" If the distribution of dividual atoms, thus demonstrating the ture or LNS. If the suspension took plaintext is smoother than it was, the feasibility in principle of this kind of place under favorable circumstances, answer is "no!" Instead of playing a analysis. Economically producing a suf­ the LNS will be substantially correct with game of hide-and-seek where you only ficient number of sufficiently small in­ little ambiguity, that is, wewillbeableto know if you've found the answer when struments able to scan a sufficiently large assign a single interpretation based upon you actually stumble on it, we're now volume should be feasible, based on pub­ local information, (e.g., this synapse playing a game where we can take a few lished proposals for molecular manu­ connects this neuron to that neuron; steps and ask "Am I getting warmer or facturing systems[3]. this axon carries information from one colder?" As the reader might appreci­ The kind of information this gives us well identified location to another well ate, this makes the cryptanalysis much is shown in Figure 4. identified location, etc.). Under adverse easier. The computational load implied by circumstances, the LNS will become in­ There is actually greater sophistica­ this approach is enormous. Again, ex­ creasingly ambiguous. An axon might tion in picking "good" directions than trapolation of future computational ca­ have one of two possible targets, which is described here, but the additional pabilities strongly supports the idea that cannot be fully disambiguated based mathematics involved is all based on the we will have more than enough compu­ only on local information. Which axon same concept: we can tell when we're tational power to carry out the required a synapse is connected to might not be getting warmer or colder, and move in analysis, even when it quite literally en­ distinguishable based on the remaining the appropriate direction. tails considering every atom in our local structure. This will result in a situ­ This type of method has been used to brain[4,6]. ation where the LNS will not be a single, successfully cryptanalyze rotor ma­ Analysis of the frozen tissue will, on specific neuronal structure, but will in­ chines with three independent rotors a local basis, allow the recovery of what stead be a set of possible structures with over an alphabet of 26 characters on a rather small computer in the late 1970s[2]. A larger computer should be able to handle more than three rotors, although as the number of rotors in­ creases the cryptanalysis rapidly be­ comes more difficult. Generally, meth­ ods like this either succeed or fail com­ pletely. If there is sufficient informa­ tion for the algorithm to start moving in the right direction, it will usually suc­ REMARK An exampl~ of thE; Brookha~en. (c;>r Pr6feirl. ceed. If things are so confused that it REMARK Bank) file format. This file format can't even make an incremental im­ REMARK the t)Tpeof atom, the x, Y, and z provement, then it will fail utterly amid REMARK and other information (not shown)·. data that is totally confusing. REMARK How might this be applied to cryon­ REMARK Atom X y ics? In general, frozen tissue can be HETATM 1 c 4.345 1. 2'73 HETATM analyzed to determine its structure. The 2 c 4.588 2.559 HETATM 3 c 5.207 1.2'73 most information that can usefully be HETATM 4 c 4.587 -0.• 015 obtained about the frozen structure is HETATM 5 c 2.967 1.273 the location ofeach atom. (Purists might HETATM 6 N 3.431 2.503 argue that we also need information HETATM 7 c 4.375 3.884 -12. about electronic structure, but the elec­ HETATM 8 N 6. 2 •. 5.03 -:13.491 HETATM 9 0 4.94'7 -0.028 -:10,41~ tronic structure can almost always be 2 inferred from the locations of the nu­ HETATM 10 0 4.947 2.575 -10.419 HETATM 11 c 6.673 1.273 ~1l.44(J .. clei. Forthosefewcaseswherethismight HETATM 12 c 4.375 -1.339 -1~-~37 not be the case, some additional infor­ HETATM 13 N 3.431 0.041 -14.245 mation might be used, e.g., the state of HETATM 14 N 6.121 0.041 -13 .. 490 ionization of an atom.) Future tech­ HETATM 15 0 2. 836 -0 ..028 -11.0:11 nologies will almost certainly be able to HETATM 16 c 1.894 1.272 give us information about the frozen HETATM 17 0 2.836 2.574 tissue that approaches this limit: we will HETATM 18 c 3.585 L HETATM 22 2.982 3.83 know the coordinates of essentially ev­ c HETATM 23 c 7.069 2.560 ery atom when we begin our" cryptanaly­ sis". Even today, SPM (Scanning Probe

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 19 I initial probabilities assigned based on resulting plaintext-ciphertext pairs be­ have fully reconstructed a neuronal local information. come more or less reasonable. If the structure consistent with the original Our experience with MLE suggests result is more reasonable, we are mov­ data. that ambiguous local neuronal structure ing in the right direction and should If there has been so much damage can be disambiguated by global infor­ continue. Ifthe result is less reasonable, that we have been unable to infer suffi­ mation (just as ambiguous information we are moving in the right direction and cient local structure to allow even an about a single rotor can be disambigu­ should stop and try some other direc­ incremental improvement in our de­ ated using the ciphertext and the redun­ tion. scription of the ..system, then this ap­ dancyoftheplaintext). As in cryptanaly­ More generally, the brain has many proach will fail. Published work on the sis, the fundamental observation is that cortical areas connected by projections. cryptanalysis ofmultistage rotor systems neuronal structures are redundant. We The processing in each cortical area and has already demonstrated an ability to can use this redundancy to correct er­ the information that can pass alongthese infer the wiring of the rotors even when rors or omissions in the LNS. We con­ projections is characteristic of the func­ thereisnoknowledgeatallofthewiring sider as an example the neuronal struc­ tion being performed. When inappro­ in the intervening states period. In the tures that process visual information priate responses are observed, we can case of the frozen human brain, there is (not least because this system has been incrementally change the relevant LNS typically a wealth of information about extensively studied, and hence we have in an appropriate direction (e.g., we can the neuronal wiring (or LNS) unless the some reasonable idea of what's in­ change the initial probability vector structures involved have quite literally volved). which describes the state of the LNS by been obliterated. The retina is exposed to photons taking a small step in the multidimen­ Or, as experience with erasing top which describe the visual scene. This sional hyperspace). secret media has demonstrated, it's hard information is processed initially in the The high degree of redundancy in to get rid of information when sophisti­ retina, then transmitted along the optic the brain is evident from many lines of cated means of data recovery are em­ nerve to the lateral geniculate nucleus evidence. One of the more dramatic is ployed. And we'll have very sophisti­ and from there to the primary visual the ability of the embryonic and infant cated means of data recovery available cortex in the occipital region. The out­ human brain to correctly wire itself up. to us in the future. put coming from the primary visual cor­ Initially, the "wiring diagram" of the tex is highly characteristic: the image brain is quite rough. As the brain re­ has been processed and basic image ele­ ceives input, the growing neurons uti­ ments have been isolated and identi­ lize the characteristic patterns of neu­ fied. From our point of view, the inter­ ronal activity to quite literally make the esting thing is that certain types of input right connections. Individual neurons to the retina (a spot of light, a line, a can determine, based only on local in­ moving line, etc.) produce characteris­ formation, that~hey aren't wired up tic outputs from the primary visual cor­ correctly. Theywilleither change mor­ tex. We have, in short, "plaintext" (the phology (often dram~ally) or (in the input to the retina) and "ciphertext" case of roughly half the neurons grow­ Notes (the output of the primary visual cor­ ing in the brain) will actually die. 1) The Code Breakers, by David Kahn, tex), a great deal of knowledge about The same redundancythat allows the Macmillan 1967. which "plaintext" can correspond with growing human brain to wire itself up 2) Maximum Likelihood Estimation Ap­ which "ciphertext," and some knowl­ can be used to verifY that we have cor­ plied to Cryptanalysis, by Dov edge about the structure of the "key" rectly inferred the neuronal structure of Andelman, 1979, Ph.D. Thesis, (the possible structures of the neural the frozen brain. If the characteristic Standford Dept. of Electrical Engineer­ ing. circuits in the retina, lateral geniculate neuronal behavioral patterns ( simu­ 3) Nanosystems: Molecular Machin­ nucleus, and the primary visual cortex). lated, of course, on a computer) are in­ ery, Manufacturing, and Computation, Given that we have knowledge de­ appropriate, then we have somehow by K. Eric Drexler, Wiley 1992. rived from the frozen tissue about the erred in our analysis and need to incre­ 4) The Technical Feasibility of Cryon­ LNS in the retina, the lateral geniculate mentally modifY the LNS until it is ap­ ics, by Ralph C. Merkle, Medical Hy­ nucleus, and the primary visual cortex, propriate. potheses 39, 1992, pages 6-16. we can then enter "plaintext" (images This approach will let us start from a 5) Principles of Neural Science, third on the retina) and observe the resulting state of partial knowledge of the origi­ eidition, by Eric R. Kandel, James H. "ciphertext" (neuronal outputs from the nal neuronal structure (perhaps after Schwartz, and Thomas M. Jesse, primary visual cortex). If the "cipher­ twenty-four hours ofwarm ischemia fol­ Elsevier 1991. text" is inappropriate for the "plain­ lowed by a straight freeze in the absence 6) The Molecular Repair of the Brain, text," we can incrementally modifY the of cryoprotectants) and successively part I, by Ralph C. Merkle, Cryonics, descriptions of the LNS and see if the improve that partial knowledge until we 1994, Vol. 15 No. 1, pages 16-31.

20 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 ... ''Frozen Souls, "continuedfrom page 7 net is in place. You might make that decision based on your religious beliefs, immortalism, life extension, space suspension members (and remind the on a desire to fill some part of your own travel, and other ideas) that fills the psy­ current suspension members) that empty "religion slot," or for reasons chological space in my brain previously Alcor's official policy is to take no posi­ based completely on logic and science. used for religion. It performs well in tion on the relationship of cryonics to Whatever causes you to make this choice one of the primary roles of religion: to religion, whether Christianity, Judaism, to live, we welcome you. help people stay sane in the knowledge Islam or any other belief. Individuals that death comes to everyone. I don't make their own decisions on the cor­ ( know ifcryonic suspension will preserve rectness and acceptability of cryonics, ·••. . . .. • • i . . • . . . ( life or not. I think it is likely, based on based on whatever criteria they consider Advertisements, my understanding of science; but I have important. Alcor's approval of suspen­ •. no guarantee. However, if it turns out sion membership is not related to an .and. that my life only exists in this physical individual's religion or personal belief reality, then I want to prolong that real­ system. PleaseseeAlcor's "Non-Discrimi­ .Personals ity for as long as possible. nation Policy" in the box on page 7. Qryomcs nwsaz1ne rru;erves th~ risht I am not saying this to persuade you We welcome your further thoughts a~cept~rr~t;.ct a~ at o~troJ¥Udiscretion, and that my beliefs are correct. Religion or on these issues, especially if you can dis­ ass#D1e> z'!O tt!fl'Pnsibllityj'?~ tbeir. content or lack ofit is very personal, and my beliefs cuss how cryonics might fit in with Islam the; colist;qqence~ 9[ a~etit;B these qdvertise- may not have any influence on yours. or other religions with which most 1llent$• • Th~rat?i~ $8~00perllne permonth ·' Besides, mine may change again over Americans are less familiar. . ( purline£ 4re consld~t~ tg /Je 6.6. columns ..• wide); ·Tip~m r~tes per sheet pre iH40 ..· the next decade. But I want you to see Ifyou are not yet a suspension mem­ (printed one ~ide). 01: $ I8Q (prlntl'd both where some of my beliefs originate and ber of Alcor, do some thinking about sides),jom calnera-ready copy. · · to remind you that there are many ap­ how important living is to you. If it proaches to life and philosophy that can seems a lot more important than dying EXTROPY co-exist with the choice of cryonics. does, you may wish to make cryonic sus­ Journal ofTranshumanist Thought #14 I also want to inform all prospective pension arrangements, so your safety Methusaleh's Kitchen: An Interview with Roy Walford, M.D.; Nanotech: Utility Fog pt.2; Prozac and the Next Generation; Evolutionary Architecture; Lilliputian Uploads; Conscious­ ... "'William Godwin , "continuedfrom page 12 ness: Spontaneous Order and Selectional Sys­ tems. Reviews ofTipler's The Physics '![Immortal­ In it one can see the idealism of Godwin We must make the attempt to become io/, Gauthier's Morals By Agreement. 56pp. $5; tempered with a cautionary tale of how higher life-forms. We must succeed, or, I $18 for one-year sub. ($22 Canada, $32/$24 overseas air/surface) from Extropy Institute, things do not necessarily go as planned maintain, very likely we will self-de­ 13428 MaxellaAvenue #273, Marina Del Rey, even with the best of intentions. struct. Fortunately, the astonishing CA 90292. E-mail: [email protected] Victor Frankenstein, the young ge­ progress in science and technology nius biologist who has just discovered shows we are moving forward. We are MARY NAPLES, CLU and BOB GILMORE the secret of reanimating dead tissue, in fact making the attempt to transcend CRYONICS INSURANCE SPECIALISTS. resolves to create the ideal man out of our humanity, whether many people yet 4600 Bohannon Drive, Suite 100 snippets recovered from graveyards. His recognize it or not. We in cryonics do Menlo Park, CA 94025. more-than-human creation is about recognize it, and our freezing arrange­ (800) 645-3338. eight feet tall, endowed with high char­ ments will, we hope, help us, as indi­ acter and intelligence, and, as far as pos­ viduals, to reach and enjoy this glorious VenturistMontbly News promotes immortalistphi­ sible, very handsome and appealing. outcome. losophy. For free sample write: The Venturists; Frankenstein, however, is a better sci­ 1547 W. Dunlap; Phoenix, PIZ 85021. entist than artist and plastic surgeon and References r------~ . his ambling colossus is rather less attrac­ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed. Do you want to keep up with science and tech­ nology bearing on cryonics? Periastron is a science • tive than hoped for. Such a being must 1948 vol. 14, p. 7 44 ("Malthus"). newsletter written by and for cryonicists, only cope with a society not at all prepared Godwin, W.Enquiry Concerning Politi­ $2.50 per issue. Periastron, 80-Q N. Cabrillo for it, and matters go from bad to worse. calJustice, Penguin, 1985. HWY, #247, HalfMoon Bay, CA 94019-2172. But if Frankenstein is one depic­ r------~~.. " tion of the possible perils that may be­ Marshall, P. William Godwin, Yale U niv. Are you still healthy? Want to delay suspen- fall our quest for more-than-human sta­ Press, 1984. sion? A bookforusersofAntiaging Drugstells tus, it must not blind us to the desirabil­ Shelly, M. Frankenstein; or) The Mod­ the good and bad of each one. Send for free ity of making the effort. There is no ern Prometheus, Bantam, 1981. brochure. Periastron, 80-Q N. Cabrillo HWY, ~~ #247, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019-2172. turning back the clock, nor stopping it.

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 21 nteman

n]anuary3, 1995, Alcorplaced former Director Paul Genteman into cryonic suspension. Paul was 47years old, 0 and had been actively involved in cryonics since the 1970s. Alcor has only seven current members who have been signed up longer. Paul was onAlcor,sfirst suspension team, and served as Secretary, Vice-President, and Chairman ifAlcor's Board ifDirectors. Paul Genteman was one ifthe most respected and well-liked people in cryonics. We at Alcor want to express our deepest sympathy to Paul'sfamily and to others who loved him. And we wish to express ourgratitude toAlcorfounders, Fred and Linda Chamberlain, and to Alcor iWember Roman a Machado, for permitting us to print their moving tributes to Paul. Good luck on yourjourney, Paul. The world will be a poorer place untilyour return.

Dear Paul, As a cryonics pioneer, you were one of the first to ability to have had the vision to understand the impor­ truly honor the memories of your suspended compan­ tance of cryonics before it was mainstream. You were ions, and hold them in the highest esteem for their also very aware that if cryonics works and if we are fortunate enough ourselves to experience circumstances favorable to our own suspensions, that we (and our suspended family members, friends, and fellow Alcorians) may someday share a unique reunion and a future bond ... which humans who did not have to go through death and suspension will never be able to share. When we first met you over 20 years before your suspension, you frequently wore a black flag (set in gold) around your neck. You considered yourself to be an anarchist. You had a delightful sense of humor, valued freedom and life, and became one of the most well-liked of all twentieth century cryonicists. Each of us who knew you will remember different traits, differ­ ent agencies, different abilities. But our combined memories represent a valuable resource. Amongst the items we are sending to Alcor for your archives are a few of the items you shared with us during your first life cycle, including your letter about a Monty Python event on September 26, 1980, with a "Python Poem" which must have appealed to you. The "Fall '82 Listings of LUDICROUS HOUSE PUBLISHERS" is included also, with your business card printed on it, telling us a great deal about both your values and your humor. More seriously, there is a detailed chart which, we recall, you made of cryonic suspen­ sions to date, even before the compromises at Chatsworth were discovered. We have shared these with those who at­ tended your Bon Voyage at Alcor after your sus- pension. We hope that these will reliable, practical way to get you back? help them keep your memory living. Will Alcor be able to find ways to We requested that they put these in a provide "safe harbor" into which you safe place, along with their own will emerge, take a deep breath, and memorabilia of you and their skim through this letter? friendships with you. We hope this These are unknowns as we write will mark the beginning of a new this. But at least you have this going cryonics custom whereby we keep for you: those of us who remain alive "memory-sakes" for each of our must make it work for you, or it will suspended loved ones, with the hope not work for us. Alcor must be made that someday we may be able to re­ into a safe vehicle for forward time turn these (to you, Paul, and to travel, and do research to get you others) to help rebuild lost back, and create a safe haven into memories, old friendships, which you emerge to explore a and possibly even en­ vastly advanced world, or all hanceidentity. of us may go out of exist­ We will have to ence together. wait many decades One thing that for you to read is certain is that this letter. Con­ the dedication, versely, you will hard work, and not have to wait at vision which you all. This letter may be gave to Alcor while one of the first things you you were secretary, a di­ "see," when you awaken, and rector, vice-president, and you may breeze through it in less an early member of the sus­ time than we now need for a heart­ pension team, will play a large beat. For now, we will ask Alcor (in part in Alcor' s success in the end. addition to others) to safe-keep this Travel swiftly through time, Paul! for you. Travel safely! Now, if you have Will Alcor be able to do what's actually read this, the intent of this required for you to ever read this letter has become a reality. And the uni­ letter? While you hurtle through verse awaits you! time, will Alcor be able to grow into a stronger and stronger time machine, Bon Voyage, Paul, and Boundless Life, which will not crash into some bar­ rier? Will Alcor be able to develop a Linda and Fred Chamberlain

Early '80s: Paul (left) assists Jerry Leafin surgery a new year approaches, most were sufficiently severe that we were His opinion was universally respected, people anticipate positive concerned. When the complications and his calm demeanor was always wel­ hanges and resolve to actively ultimately resulted in his suspension, come, especially during the more tumul­ improve their lives. Some exercise, some we were deeply saddened. Paul was 4 7. tuous years in Alcor's history. Paul had diet, and some choose to just "get out of When Paul Genteman first joined manyfriends. Andalmosteveryonewho the house more." Long-timeAlcor mem­ the Alcor Society for Solid State Hypo­ saw him at the hospital found that, de­ ber Paul Genteman chose to schedule thermia in 1977, there were few people spite his surgery, Paul was able to main­ an operation. He'd been putting off with an active interest in cryonics. (Only tain his excited and optimistic outlook intestinal surgery for years and decided seven currentAlcor members have been and was looking forward to being well. to finally have it done. signed up longer.) From the beginning, Derek Ryan and I had been walk­ For many reasons, Paul chose to Paul was enthusiastic about helping Al­ ing out the door to visit both Paul have his surgery in Phoenix. Mter the cor to thrive and established himself as Genteman and Paul Garfield (our in­ operation (which took place in late De­ an active participant in many aspects of credibly helpful volunteer who was hos­ cember), he was discharged from the Alcor's operations. He participated in pitalized with Valley Fever and multi­ hospital and went to stay with his new early cryonic suspensions and research lobed pneumonia at the same time) at love, Alcor member and Surgical Nurse as a surgical assistant and perfusionist. about 3:30PM on the afternoon of J anu­ Rhonda Iacuzzo, who lived nearby. U n­ More impressively, Paul served on the ary 3, 1995. Steve Bridge had just an­ fortunately, serious complications led Alcor Board of Directors for many swered Alcor' s phone and came quickly to his being readmitted after only a brief years-holding the positions of Secre­ rushing out of his office waving his arms release. Although we knew Paul to be tary, Vice-President, and Chairman of for us to wait. Steve had just received a generally healthy and expected him to the Board. Paul was renowned for his call from Paul's wife, Maureen (they'd recover and live a very long life follow­ fairness of mind and ability to consis­ been separated for about ten years.), ing the operation, the complications tently consider all aspects of a situation. and she told us that Paul had apparently

24 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 been taken back to the hospital by am­ allowed to administer heparin and cool­ was developed commercially for the hy­ bulance. Steve then paged Rhonda ingwhilewewaited. Fortunately, Steve pothermic flushing and storage oftrans­ Iacuzzo, whom we expected to have Bridge had already informed Funeral plant organs, and it is used to convey more information about Paul's condi­ Director Anthony Cerullo of the situa­ asanguinous organs from a donor to a tion. Rhonda responded, and informed tion, and he was on his way to the hospi­ distant recipient. Organs may be trans­ Steve that Paul was in serious condition tal. So, while we were waiting, the hos­ ported anywhere in the world (within and unconscious. Derek and I tempo­ pital staff assisted us with moving the 24 hours) and successfully trans­ rarily postponed our social visits and MRC III into Paul's room and with mov­ planted.) Howeyer, because this trans­ began to prepare for a suspension. It ing Paul into the ice bath. We packed port wouldn't involve multiple hours, was only a few minutes later that Steve him in ice and positioned our mechani­ we hoped that the washout step could be rushed in to say "Paul's heart stopped." cal CPR device. Cardiopulmonary sup­ eliminated if preparations for the cryo­ Both Pauls were in serious condition, port was begun at about 4:30PM, while protective perfusion were complete and my heart skipped a few beats as I still awaiting our mortician's arrival. within a short time of our arrival. asked, "Which Paul?" and heard the Tony Cerullo arrived within ten min- We entered the driveway at about answer of "Genteman." 5:30PM: a scant two hours W ewere told that the after our initial notifica­ hospital was attempting to tion and arrived to find the resuscitate him. But we cryoprotective perfusion knew that there was no preparations well under­ guarantee that the resusci­ way. The heart-lung ma­ tation efforts would be suc­ chine circuit was strung; cessful, and we had to re­ the surgical instruments spond. We loaded the and other supplies were Mobile Rescue Cart (MRC being assembled; and III), chests of crushed ice, those team members not and copies ofPaul's paper­ already present were on work into the ambulance their way. (everything else was al­ We did have one ma­ ready on board), and jor missing link. The [glyc­ within 15 minutes of the erol] perfusate was being call, Derek, Scott Herman, mixed, and it wouldn't be and I were on our way to ready for several hours. the hospital. We expected Instead of waiting, we de­ thedrivetotakethirtymin­ cided to use the MRC III and utes, and we had little time dowhatwewould do in any to get ready. Scott was driv­ other case where we need ing, and Derek and I were to buy some time: blood busy calculating medica­ washout using the organ tion doses and preparing preservation solution. them for administration. TheMRC III was specifi­ As we neared our des­ Arriving at the Alcorfacility cally designed for blood tination, we called Alcor washouts and rapid core (using a cellular phone in the ambu­ utes of our transferring Paul to the MRC cooling of a cryonic suspension patient, lance) for an update on Paul's condi­ III, and we ran out the door as he was though it has never been used during a tion. What we were told confirmed our signing the paperwork. transpo;:t while in our operating room. darkest fears: the resuscitation efforts Paul was quickly secured in the It worked just as well as it does in the had failed, and Paul had been pro­ ambulance, and we administered the field, perhaps even better. For once, if nounced legally dead. Our next course remaining transport medications as we we were missing any equipment or sup­ of action became expediting Paul's re­ drove to the Alcor facility. plies, they would be in the next room; lease from the hospital. Fortunately, During a remote transport, the pa­ there were several people capable of the hospital staff had been informed tient is usually taken to a mortuary or carrying out the surgery and perfusion about Paul's cryonics arrangements and funeral home after being released from (rather than one or two); and we had were both interested and cooperative. a hospital. Once there, the patient's plenty of volunteers. We were told that a mortician had blood is washed out and replaced with Dr. Nancy McEachern and Surgi­ to sign the release forms before we could an organ preservation solution before cal Nurse Rhonda Iacuzzo began the remove Paul from the room, butwewere transport to Scottsdale. (This solution femoral cutdowns while Hugh Hixon

2nd Quarter, 1995 II Cf!JOniCS 25 Dr. Nancy McEachern (lift) and Rhonda lacuzzo peiform the femoral cutdown

assembled the perfusion circuit on the With the common failure modes MRC III. Mter some initial hovering to eliminated, our remaining possible so­ make certain that things were progress­ lutions to the venous return problem ing well, I withdrew from the operating would take longer to implement than room to assist with other preparations. would open-heart surgery, and were still When I returned, the surgery was com­ without guarantee of success. Further, plete and the circuit was primed. We our initial impediment to open-heart were ready to begin the blood washout. surgery and cryoprotective perfusion­ By this time, Paul's esophageal tempera­ the readiness ofthe glycerol perfusate­ who vyere ~lose io Paul may ture had dropped to 20 o C, and with the was nearly overcome. In our estima­ person.:lllnformf;ltion about an exception ofthe surgical site, he was still tion, the open-heart surgery and final patient may ~e placed .into an\lll"£'\ln_ completely packed in ice. perfusate filtering would require about mentally stable, archival vaults The washout began at 6:57PM, but the same length of time to complete. At derground salt wines In was stopped almost immediatelywhen a this point, we decided to begin the open­ suchinformatioq is sentto lack of venous return was detected. For heart surgery. in envelopes with Paul r:;~:~ntAril<=~,h'i:l thirty frustrating minutes, we tried to At 7:50 PM, Paul was transferred name on them, they Will oepJa.cec~;ln!P , ·:.. locate the root of our flow problems. from the MRC III to the operating table. an a~Chival storage vVlJ.lQIIJ.t:1Vi!.,lll~i Normally, poor venous return is there­ His chest was quickly shaved and opened, . ·... · ...... ·'· ...... > ·>·.· sult of flow through the tubing being prepped for surgery. Dr. McEachern Everything storec:lln th~seup~er- · improperly channeled or impeded by a and Rhonda were assisted by Surgical ground vaults will be maintained, P:er~ · clamp. These are our most common Nurse Judy Kranz. The operation pro­ petually by Alcor, Limited complimen­ failure modes, and each was eliminated ceeded smoothly, and our time estimates tary archhtal storage is a,vailab{e. for as Hugh checked the circuit without find­ were close: the filtration and surgery every Alcor patient, and consists basi~< ing the source of our inadequate venous were completed within ten minutes of cally of one cublcJoot .Not everything return. each other. Cryoprotective perfusion may tit, into one cubic foot v• "''I"Cl\~"'·'~' With each attempt to restore flow, began at 9:30PM. additlonalstoragels aV<:tllaJOie.at~;2oUk; we pumped in a little more fluid. Solv­ Results were good. There were no ft3. Items ofa _,_., ·-!IJem rr":"'' a~ stan"'·• ing this problem was somewhat limited inexplicable losses in our bypass circuit, dard "banker's" by how comfortable we were with add­ the color of the venous return was light­ with ing more. Ofthe multiple liters pumped ening, and there were fewer clots in the the in, only a liter (or so) had been recov­ system than we'd expected. The lack of ered. Further, excepting minor abdomi­ significant clotting is probably the di­ nal swelling and a slow nosebleed, there rect result of the early administration of was no direct evidence of fluid accumu­ heparin. As the concentration of cryo­ lation or pressure build-up in his body. protectant in the circuit increased, the typical skin discoloration which accom­ totype system for detecting the occur­ oped marked hypoxia secondary to fo­ panies a glycerol perfusion was ob­ rence of cracking during the tempera­ cal bronchopneumonia and severe pul­ served. Generally, the skin of a patient ture descent), we attached both monary edema which was exacerbated who had an extensive ischemic episode crackphone elements and our standard by intravenous fluid therapy." will perfuse distinctly patched, but even temperature probes inside the All of the cannula and connectors with a short ischemic episode, we found burrholes. were left in place after the suspension, that the discoloration in this case was Cooling was carried out using to make it more likely for the patholo­ remarkably uniform. Alcor's automated cooldown system, gist to identifY _any possible error in Burrholes provide a direct view of with the crackphone elements ready to Alcor's procedures during the suspen­ the brain. We use two burrholes, placed record any suspicious sounds. Only one sion. The only comments made by the to observe both hemispheres of the cracking event was detected, and that pathologist with specific reference to brain directly during the cryoprotective even was detected between -108.1 oc the bypass operation or the femoral perfusion. This direct observation of and -112.0°C, but it also appears the cutdowns were straightforward obser­ the brain is important for catching signs reliability of the recording system may vations that they had taken place and of cerebral edema. Swelling is have been compromised. Mter review­ the cannula were in place. He did state undesireable and invariably occurs in ing the crackphone data for the initial that the aortic cannulation was of"usual patients with long ischemic episodes, cooling, Hugh realized that the caliber". Unfortunately, there was no sometimes preventing perfusion alto­ crackphone elements might have come indication of a cause forthepoorvenous gether. loose from their bindings. If so, the return duringthewashout in the autopsy Judy Krantz had prepared the crackphone data from this case will be report. burrholes earlier, so we were able to filed and not used in future patient com­ Still, the suspension went fairly observe the brain (beneath the dura) parisons. (The crackphone project is well. We found that our coordination throughout the operation. As the perfu­ still in development, and its failure to and logistics need more attention dur­ sion progressed, we noticed some leak­ record accurate information in no way ing local transports, as there was loss of age from the burrholes (which occurs affected the outcome of the perfusion time where the washout cannulations frequently) and that both hemispheres or cooling.) might have been started sooner. Our were slightly receded, although un­ Some questions remained after the sample collection system for post-sus­ evenly (right more than left). freezing, which was a neurosuspension, pension evaluation must be reorganized Perfusion was stopped at 2:45 AM and an autopsy was performed on Paul's to become more efficient. Everyone, due to elevating pressures. Final molar torso and lower extremities, in part, to but especially the volunteers, provided glycerol concentrations were 6.54M establish the cause of his death. The many helpful suggestions for inventory (venous sample), 5.97M (sub-dural pathologist's findings were of interest; control and suspension preparations burrhole), and 6.64 M(arterial). he determined that Paul "died from during a debriefing which took place a With the perfusion complete, the complications of abdominal surgery. few days after Paul's suspension. Many circuit was disconnected, and Paul was The specific condition was sepsis sec­ of the recommendations were simplifi­ prepared for dry ice (and eventually liq­ ondary to severe peritonitis following cations of our current system, and once uid nitrogen) cooling. In an attempt to necrosis and wound dehiscence at the implemented (and many already have testHughHixon's "crackphone" (a pro- colonic anastomosis site. He also devel- been), will bring Alcor's standards of operation closer to that found in a hos­ pital. I would like to thank all oftheAlcor staff for their participation in Paul's sus­ pension, and I especially would like to thank the volunteers who made their time and skills available: Rhonda Iaccuzzo, Judy Muhlestein, Nancy McEachern, Judy Krantz, Fred Cham­ berlain, Linda Chamberlain, Jay Skeer, Ted Kraver, and Lucinda Torres.

Tanya ]ones (lift) assists Dr. McEachern in the open-heart procedure

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 27 eople are usually surprised ice bath, administering medications to lized for shipment to Alcor. when I tell them that when han­ protect cellular integrity, replacing the Simply having equipment available dling the suspension of an Al­ patient's blood with an organ preserva­ is not enough to carry out a transport, cor patient, my biggest sense of accom­ tion solution, and preparing the patient nor is it enough to ensure that a patient plishment and relief usually occurs be­ for shipment to Alcor. For local emer­ will receive a good stabilization or trans­ fore the actual suspension procedures gencyresponse,Alcor has an ambulance. port. There are many things that people even begin. I've participated in about a This ambulance is well equipped to al­ may do to prepare for their eventual dozen suspensions and almost that num­ low a transport team to carry out each of suspension. ber of transports. With some suspen­ these steps internally, but naturally am­ First and foremost, of course, a per­ sions, I've felt joy. With others, terror. bulance travel is usually limited to the son must be a member, i.e. sign up. But either way, from the moment I walk Phoenix area. (Air travel is qmch faster Generally, a cryonics organization will in the door with a patient, a huge weight for distant regions.) With several days' not suspend an individual who has not begins to lift from my shoulders. While notice of a member's decline, however, chosen to be frozen. Legal documents the job is far from over, the hard part is the ambulance has traveled to northern establish this intent, and some states done. and southern California, and may be have laws which require that a person's Why is it that most of the major ob­ used in other nearby states. wishes for the disposition of their hu­ stacles to a favorable cryonic suspen­ Remote emergency response man remains must be followed as long sion occur before the patient arrives at (where "remote" means beyond ambu­ as they don't impose a financial hard­ the Alcor facility? What makes trans­ lance range) requiresAlcor' s remote sta­ ship on the family. A signed Cryonic porting a "legally dead" person so com­ bilization kit. This kit consists of eight Suspension Agreement and Authoriza­ plicated? Presenting and explaining the sturdy boxes which accompany trans­ tion for Anatomical Donation will go a many aspects ofa "successful" transport port team members on a commercial long way toward demonstrating the de­ is difficult, but it's important that Alcor airline. Together, these boxes replicate sire to be frozen. For those who haven't Suspension Members and potential the capability of the ambulance in a rela­ decided which organization to sign up Members understand the complexity in­ tively compact, ifless convenient, pack­ with, but who know that they do wish to volved, since each of you is in a position age. Because shipment of the remote kit be frozen, theDeclaration £?!Intent to be to dramatically improve your chances could cause serious delays in the Cryonically Suspended is a form which of a successful transport by taking some patient's stabilization ifpronouncement establishes intent without obligatingthe action now. is unexpected, some local groups of Al­ individual to a specific organization, and The major components of a cryon­ cor members have been issued smaller without empowering or obligating a sus­ ics patient transport are Infrastructure, versions of this kit. These kits generally pension organization to freeze him/her. Mobilization, Patient Acquisition, Sta­ contain medications and a portable ice (These forms are available from Alcor bilization, and Transport. Let's look at bath. Some also contain a mechanical upon request.) each of these separately. cardiopulmonary support device and Another legal document which is oxygen. With this equipment and the useful to a cryonic suspension patient is Infrastructure cooperation of a local mortician or fu­ the Durable Power of Attorney for A patient stabilization generally in­ neral director and/ or trained local Al­ Health Care. With this form, an indi­ volves cooling the patient in a portable cor volunteers, a patient may be stabi- vidual chooses a medical surrogate (an

28 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 agent to make medical decisions when Alcor members, their family, and a patient across state lines and are fre­ the individual is unable to communi­ friends, thus expanding the resources quently willing to prepare the paper­ cate his intentions) and states the de­ upon which Alcor may call during an work. gree of medical intervention in an emer­ emergency. A member who chooses to assist Al­ gency. For example, I have no desire to Knowing about the protocol is great, cor in negotiating a contract with a local be connected to life support equipment but there's much more than that to opti­ mortician has many things to discuss, if there is no hope of my waking from a mizing your own chances for a favor­ and should have some familiarity with coma with my identity intact, and this is able transport. Each Alcor member Alcor's protocol. (However, if a mem­ specifically detailed in my DPAHC. should consider preparing a list and map ber simply finds a cooperating funeral A transport may be impeded by rela­ oflocal suppliers for transport supplies director, Alcor personnel are available tives of the patient, especially if they and consumables and sending copies of to conduct the contract negotiation.) haven't been informed of the patient's these to Alcor. As an example, oxygen Mortuary contracts should at least desire to be suspended before Alcor's cylinders may not be transported on address the 24-hour availability of an services are required. In one of Alcor's commercial airlines, and oxygen is individual who is capable of signing for cases, the patient's relatives had only needed both to power the mechanical the release of a patient from the hospi­ heard cryonics mentioned by the pa­ cardiopulmonary support (CPS) device tal. Some morticians have had suffi­ tient once, and that had been years be­ and to oxygenate the patient during sta­ cient personnel available to stand by fore he became ill. They had no idea bilization. Alcor's central remote kit with the transport team members to that anypaperworkhad been signed and carries an air compressor (which has enable the fastest possible release of the were initially defensive and unhappy. never been tested in a field situation) as patient from the hospital. If a mortuary For this patient, things ultimately an alternative for the CPS device and a transport vehicle is to be used to take the worked out well, because he came from bagging device which will respirate the patient to the funeral home and the pa­ an understanding and supportive fam­ patient with room air as an alternative tient will be in the portable ice bath, the ily. The desire for confidentiality will to pure oxygen. However, these alterna­ mortician will generally have to remove always be respected by Alcor; however, tives are less effective and more labor his gurney from the back of his vehicle a person who informs his family of his intensive and will only be used in cases before taking it to the hospital, so that cryonics arrangements before decisions where compressed oxygen is unavail­ the patient may be loaded. must be made during a crisis will prob­ able. Ice (hundreds of pounds) must be Alcorwill usually supply the person­ ably receive a stabilization superior to available 24-hours a day. Generally, lo­ nel needed to stabilize the patient for onewhodoesnot. Familymemberswill cal grocery markets carry ice in this quan­ transport, and in these cases, will need often be the ones to call Alcor when a tity and increasing numbers are perpetu­ the uninterrupted use of a "prep" room member becomes ill, and having their ally open as well. Having a central list table for at least two hours. If suction is cooperation is crucial. We are always with this and similar information will available, it might be useful during the willing to have discussions with family, aid the transport team in their attempt washout procedure. medical staff, and morticians in advance to do the best that they can for you. Becauseofthevolumeofequipment of a suspension. For legal reasons, in most states no needed during a stabilization, storage Having some familiarity with transport can be performed without a space is also required for the duration of Alcor' s cryonic suspension protocol will local funeral director or mortician's in­ the stand-by. Ifthe equipment is placed also help an individual explain cryonics volvement. We expect this to change as in a prep room that will not be needed to others. Alcor's introductory hand­ cryonics continues to become more com­ by the mortician during the timeframe book, Cryonics: Reaching For Tomor­ monplace. Adding the names, ad­ of the standby and transport, it may be row, and Cryonics magazine carry in­ dresses, and phone numbers of local possible to string the perfusion circuit formation about Alcor's procedures, in funeral homes and mortuaries can save in advance ofpronouncement (and save the form of suspension or research re­ a lot of time during an emergency. Con­ up to thirty minutes later). ports and explanatory articles. Detailed tacting some in advance is even better. In cases where insufficient trained information is available to those who Morticians are generally quite interested personnel or equipment are available, attend Alcor's transport certification in cryonics and sympathetic to an morticians have been used to perform course. (To date, Alcor has offered this individual's desire to be cryonically sus­ femoral surgery, and their embalming course at no charge.) During this week­ pended instead of buried or cremated. pumps have been used ( onlywhen those long course and subsequent refresher Morticians are usually needed to secure pumps have variable pressures which weekends, Alcor members are intro­ the release of a patient from a hospital; may be set to meet our needs). The duced to the specific cryonic suspen­ they have space, equipment, and sup­ conservative approach to cryonics re­ sion protocol, to the equipment used plies which can be useful-especially in quires that the conditions of a hospital during a transport, and to the multitude an emergency; they are frequently will­ operating room be duplicated through­ oftechnical and medical references used ing to assist with femoral surgery or per­ out a stabilization. As a result, any mor­ to formulate the procedures. They are fusion and are experienced in carrying tuary equipment which is used must be shown how every hand can be of assis­ them out quickly; and they have a com­ thoroughtJ,tcleaned and rinsed with ster­ tance during a transport. Many go home prehensive knowledge of the legal and ile water (and sterilized, whenever pos­ and share this information with other practical requirements for transporting sible) before being used on a patient.

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 29 0

~_,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Alcor is notified of impending suspension

Mobilization

suspension is immi- About eight hours a#et.Aicor's l'lotific~ticm, ~n~ ~holtly '"'T'~'"'P'.,..,.-·-· .rAt\rA•~Arlt::rti\tt>l=: Jn fOUCh With after the arrival· of. the transport. t~a;qk the p~t~~~fii~ pa,tlent, while .other pronounced·legally clead, •. T:h~haspitai.~II~W~th~1eq,mt() .;j~I.OlJI".fJI~J~>OI][l~I!OotlfY ttl;! nc.r,r.rr1"a'""' members local to the begin immediate .surtac~ qqoUng, ~() Jils t~mper(;lture. · morticians, and begin slowly begins to drop. fli1ea~While 1 va,rlous legal r!;lqulr~-: ;tr:aJns~'ort Ftrran~~errleOtl? :for team members and for the ments for his retasearebeingfulfill~<;lpyAicorpersonn~I patient ls distant from the and a local mortician.. ··Twenty lllir:Jutes pass.beforethe/, e~pect(;}d to Jive for sevE;Jral hours. hospital is prepared to release the patient. ·

It's important to note that, while of emergency mobilization and each is nounced. This significantly improves morticians and their equipment are dependent upon the condition of the the chances of a smooth stabilization. sometimes relied on heavily in an emer­ patient when Alcor is called: the patient Standby contracts are optional but gency, members can usually avoid the has a known terminal illness and will highly recommended. risks inherent in this option by (when suffer a predictable course of deteriora­ A transport team may be comprised feasible) keeping Alcor well-informed tion; the patient has been admitted to ofone or moreAlcor staff members, one ofall serious surgeries and life-threaten­ the hospital after the sudden onset of or more experienced transport team ing conditions. Note as well that, while illness or accident and is unlikely to sur­ members flown in from around the mortuary contracts have been negoti­ vive for more than 12-24 hours; and the country, and one or more local volun­ ated at the last minute, they have occa­ patient has died suddenly and is at risk teers. These team members will invari­ sionally turned out to be with unprin­ of autopsy. ably interact with members of the con­ cipled persons who chargeAlcor unrea­ ventional medical community. Every sonable amounts because of a miscon­ Advance Notice o/ Death interaction between that physician, hos­ ception that cryonics is a profit-making With advance notice, a remote pital administrators, charge nurses, or venture. Emergencycontractingshould standby may be deployed. (But please hospice nurses andAlcor personnel will be avoided whenever possible. note, Alcor'.s basic membership con­ affect how well the patient is treated When an emergency response be­ tracts make no provisions for .standby. prior to and immediately following the gins, a transport team must have access Special arrangements are required, and pronouncement of legal death. to everything listed above (and more). the relevant documents are available The climate is changing. In the past, Having things done in advance means from Alcor.) In a standby, a transport when transport team members dis­ that the team members may concentrate team is deployed before the member cussed cryonics with conventional medi­ on other, equally critical aspects of pre­ has been pronounced legally dead. Ad­ cal personnel they were often met with paredness. vance deployment generally means that hostility and fear. Today, I can't re­ the team can prepare for the impending member when I last encountered this Mobilization transport, take the time to negotiate ser­ attitude during an emergency. This Transport team members are de­ vice contracts, facilitate a smooth and doesn't mean that there is uniform ac­ ployed by Alcor Headquarters upon speedy release of the patient, and pro­ ceptance ofcryonics in the medical com­ notification of an Alcor member's dis­ cure all of the necessary equipment and munity, but there certainly is more curi­ tress. There are three basic categories personnel before the patient is pro- osity than ever before. An interested

30 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 Patient is declared legally dead

The patient is ·packed,ih'lc;e in a specially •designed transport container andt?k~~ ;a a localalrport;the airport p~rsonnel are expecting him. He is plaqed ()nthevery next available flight, though fD()~t ef the transporttearn must take a later flight.. Wp.i~ng ln>Ph()enix ~re moreAicor personnel, who've nego~iatedwlththe localairlinerepre­ sentatives for a pr:ompttransxe,rto the W?iting Alcor,ambu~ lance. The patierit is drivento Alcor'.s me3J11 facility.

physician or nurse can do a lot to see that hospital provide the ice? Many patients Alcor literature and other cryonics the patient is given a head-start toward a will receive intravenous (IV) therapy information is carried with the remote good stabilization. (But this is a hospi­ during their hospitalization. If any IV kit, and may be handed out freely to tal-the shifts change every eight hours lines are in place, leaving them in means doctors and administrators. Transport or so, and the cryonics arrangements that once the patient is released, Alcor team members have occasionally found must be discussed anew with each staff personnel can begin injecting cell-stabi­ themselves performing impromptu talks member.) lizing medications immediatelywithout when many hospital workers express an What would we ask for? We'd like placing a new line. (This also applies to interest in Alcor. Taking the time to access to the patient. ( Mter all, it's some­ airways.) Will they leave all lines se­ inform these individuals about cryonics thing we ought to know if the rosy­ cure? And if there are no IV lines, may and the unusual way they can help their cheeked patient who laughed heartily one be placed before pronouncement? patient is rarely a waste of time, and it with you that morning is lethargic and Lastly, we'd like to begin our transport can be quite invigorating to present a pale by evening.) We'd like to wait procedures immediately after pro­ neat idea to a receptive group of people. nearby. Is the floor lounge comfort­ nouncement, as we are running for the Some terminal patients are dis­ able? The transport protocol demands door. charged from the hospital and placed that cooling begin immediately after Most doctors encountering a trans­ into home hospice care. Home care is pronouncement. Ideally, we should port team have called in the hospital generally limited to patients with a ter­ have our equipment in place at the mo­ administrators when faced with these minal illness who wish to die at home. ment of pronouncement, and that can questions. The transport team leader Performing a transport from an Alcor only be accomplished if it is stored will present cryonics to an administra­ member's home can be challenging. nearby. How about the next room or tor (and sometimes, to an accompany­ All of the above considerations ap­ the storage room down the hall? ing attorney) who is primarily con­ ply in these cases as well. The question Cryonic suspension procedures may cerned about hospital liability. A Hold­ of prompt pronouncement becomes only be implemented after legal death Harmless Agreement may be offered to more critical, as in some states hospice has been pronounced. Because of the the hospital which states that Alcor will nurses may pronounce legal death. In known dangers ofischemia, we'd like to not hold the hospital responsible for others, the patient's physician must pro­ have a physician available at all times to any charges or damages arising from a nounce. Whoever declares legal death, pronounce. If we have to wait, may we civil lawsuit over the cryonic suspension the patient's physician must sign the pack the patient's head in ice? Can the of the patient. death certificate. Without a signed death

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 31 certificate, no patient may be trans­ patient (to the best of my knowledge) Cryonic Suspension Agreement, theAu­ ported anywhere. (Certified copies are and if it ever does, the patient will prob­ thorization for Anatomical Donation, obtained later.) ably be fortunate if any portion of their the Consentjor Cryonic Suspension, and brain is suspended. Local coroners have powers of attorney for health care or Emergency Notification also been known to conduct indepen­ Relative's Affidavits. In cases where little advance notice dent investigations into disease. In one The staff at Alcor Headquarters is is available, there will be little time to Florida county, the coroner stated his available to provide documentation of negotiate contracts or cooperation. The intention to autopsy every person dying the patient's intent, to discuss cryonics quality of these transports is often de­ of AIDS in his county. (He later soft­ procedures with-hospital personnel termined by the calibre of people the ened his position on this somewhat, af­ (over the phone), and to provide gen­ team encounters, and the speed with ter localAlcor members met with him to eral support for the team members in which the team members and equip­ discuss the matter.) the field. Copies of relevant court deci­ ment arrive. Depending on how long it Autopsies may sometimes be un­ sions are available, if the circumstances takes to obtain custody of the patient, the avoidable, but there are things which merit a firmer approach during negotia­ stabilization protocol may be modified. may be done to minimize the damage to tions. Additional letters have been gen­ If there is significant delay before the patient. Transport team members erated for hospital administrators who the team can begin, oxygen may not be should try to have the scope of an au­ are unfamiliar with cryonics, and these used at all. Reintroducing oxygen to a topsy limited to the minimum dissec­ letters are sent from Alcor Headquar­ physiology which has used all of its oxy­ tion necessary to determine the cause of ters after they've been modified for the gen supplies and is consuming alterna­ death. The pathologist may be able to situation. They may also be sent out in tive forms of energy causes additional avoid damaging the brain and still fulfill advance of a patient's admission to the damage. Some of this "reperfusion in­ the requirements of the investigation. hospital. jury" may be avoided if the patient is not An attempt should be made to have the In some suspensions, little docu­ oxygenated during stabilization. This is autopsy performed right away. If the mentation has been needed except for generally only for patients who have ex­ patient dies late in the afternoon, and the patient's legal paperwork. If a phy­ perienced more than an hour without no autopsies are scheduled until the next sician and hospital choose to cooperate heartbeat or breathing before stabiliza­ morning, the transport team leader may withAl cor personnel, they may improve tion procedures are started. offer to compensate the county for any the patient's chances for a quality trans­ If the delays are extreme (several overtime involved, if the autopsy is per­ port. hours), it may not be possible to replace formed immediately. If there will be a A physician has the opportunity to the patient's blood with an organ pres­ delay, the patient should be kept in a prescribe medications for a patient ervation solution before shipment. De­ morgue cooler at temperatures above while legally alive, and there are a few cisions of this nature are made by the 0°C to prevent the tissues from freez­ which have been shown to improve later transport team leader in consultation ing. Patients who are autopsied almost cryoprotective perfusion if adminis­ with Alcor Headquarters. never receive a washout or cryoprotec­ tered before pronouncement. Some of tive perfusion. them are also in Alcor's stabilization Sudden Death Once the autopsy is complete, the protocol. If these items will not inter­ Sudden deaths are rare, but they do transport team leader must verifY that fere or react with the medications cur­ occur. When they do, members of the all of the organs are intact or have been rently being taken, a physician might transport team often will interface with placed with the patient. Then, the pa­ prescribe vitamins C and E, selenium, a coroner or medical examiner, and the tient is shipped to Alcor. magnesium, and beta carotene. These patient risks autopsy. Currently, five are powerful anti-oxidants which help states (New York, California, Rhode Is­ Patient Acquisition to reduce the damage caused by inad­ land, New Jersey, and Ohio) allow an The legal status of cryonics is some­ equate tissue oxygenation. Dilantin is individual to state his objection to being what ambiguous. Because our patients also recommended as a calcium chan­ autopsied by signing a Religious Objec­ have been declared legally dead, the nel blocker. Cimetadine hydrochloride tion to Autopsy, and there is no require­ custody of their human remains may be (Tagamet) will reduce the accumulation ment to state the specific objection. transferred to Alcor via the Uniform of stomach acid. Many patients have Maryland also has a weaker, but still Anatomical Gift Act; but little legisla­ experienced gastric bleeding during sta­ useful, version of these statutes. tion exists in this country which deals bilization, and have lost large volumes There are some cases where an au­ specifically with cryonics (see "The Le­ of fluid through holes in the stomach topsy is required by law, and the reli­ gal Status of Cryonics" by Steve Bridge, lining. This damage may be mitigated gious objection form will not prevent Cryonics, lst Qtr, 1995). by the administration ofTagametwithin the dissection. The Centers for Disease Personnel in the field will work with the hours before pronouncement. Prior Control (headquartered in Atlanta, Alcor Headquarters to secure the release to pronouncement, these medications Georgia) have the authority to require of the patient. Alcor will deliver copies may be administered only by conven­ an autopsy for all patients dying from of the patient's paperwork to the hospi­ tional medical personnel acting under a specific contagious illnesses. This has tal and mortuary, as the situation mer­ physician's orders. Premedicating a never happened to a cryonic suspension its. These legal documents consist of the patient requires a cooperating physician

32 Cr!Jonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 and a patient willing to request the assis­ remote patient will be transported to Delays can be expected before the tance, and generally, is one of the last the cooperating funeral home. There, patient is loaded onto the aircraft. Most topics broachedbytransportteam mem­ the blood replacement surgery will be­ commercial airlines require that cargo bers when discussing the prompt release gin, and the patient's blood will be re­ be taken to the loading dock at least four of the patient. placed with an organ preservation solu­ hours before flight time. In the past, we Once the patient is released to Alcor tion through the femoral artery and vein. have found a few airlines (like America personnel after pronouncement, the sta­ During the blood replacement, a heat­ West) to be especially cooperative, and bilization may begin. exchanger will cool the fluids being in­ they have waived this requirement for troduced, and the patient's core tem­ our suspension patient. Such coopera­ Stabilization perature will drop to about 5 °C. tion has been unusual, though, and At the earliest possible moment af­ After the washout is complete, the should not be expected or planned for ter pronouncement, transport team patient must be packed for shipment to during a transport. members will initiate the stabilization Alcor. This usually involves Alcor' s cus­ At least one transport team mem­ protocol. First, the patient is transferred tom-engineered water-tight container. ber should be on the same flight as the to the portable ice bath and surrounded This is sent out as part of the central patient and should have copies of all on all sides with crushed or cubed ice. remote kit, and its arrival might delay relevant transport permits and the death Some water may be added to the bath if the shipment of a patient to Alcor if certificate. All of the transport equip­ the team has access to acirculatingpump there was little or no advance notice of ment should also be shipped. Medica­ and tubing. This device is called a the suspension. A conventional mortu­ tion kits and other consumables are in­ "squid" and makes it possible to cool ary shipping container also may be modi­ ventoried and replaced at Alcor Head­ the patient using circulating ice-water, fied to hold the patient and ice. The quarters before the remote kits may be which cools much faster than simply sur­ patient should be placed inside a body redeployed. rounding the patient in ice. bag and completely surrounded by Once the patient has been trans­ sealed bags of ice. (Ziploc™ baggies Conclusion ferred to the portable ice bath, a me­ work well.) Containers carrying human Of course, even after all of this has chanical CPS device (such as the Michi­ remains must not leak, or they will be been accomplished, the actual suspen­ gan Instruments Heart-Lung Resuscita­ removed from the commercial carrier sion has still not begun. But it may be tor) is placed and started. This will re­ and quarantined until the coroner has clearer to you now why my overwhelm­ store circulation. An airway is placed to an opportunity to inspect them. ing emotion is relief when I finally ar­ restore respiration, and IV medications Once the patient is packed for ship­ rive at the Alcor facility with each new are administered to combat the damage ment, the necessary transit paperwork patient. There are many, many vari­ ofoxygen deprivation and hypothermia. has been prepared, the operating the­ ables affecting the quality of a stabiliza­ Ideally, all of this is done and docu­ ater has been cleaned, and the morti­ tion and transport, several of which are mented in the transport notes before cian paid, the patient may be taken to completely out of the hands of Alcor the patient leaves the hospital premises. the airport for transport. A cooperative personnel. Once those variables can no As a minimum, the patient should be mortician will be able to recommend longer prevent a successful cryonic sus­ packed in ice and administered heparin commerical carriers and will have a fa­ pension, the patient's future is a little (an anticoagulant), which should be cir­ miliarity with the shipping require­ more secure. culated for 5-10 minutes using conven­ ments; he may even be willing to make Please remember that much of the tional manual cardiopulmonary resus­ all of the necessary arrangements and groundwork for a successful transport citation. should also provide transportation for can be done in advance by local cryoni­ A local patient may be brought di­ the patient to the airport. Alcor should cists. Many of you live in areas which rectly to the Alcor facility, with all of the be kept apprised of progress, since we Alcor has not had the time or opportu­ stabilization procedures (except the have often been able to speed arrange­ nity to include in its transport prepared­ washout) being performed in the ambu­ ments through the local airline offices. ness infrastructure. You can help us lance. Whether the organ preservation change this, and though it will certainly solution will then be administered be­ Transport save Alcor personnel a major headache fore cryoprotective perfusion begins de­ Shipping a patient should be the if you do, the primary beneficiary is you. pends upon the readiness of the perfu­ easiest aspect ofthe operation, but there Anyone wishing to discuss local pre­ sate. This perfusate takes many hours to are still occasional snags. The patient paredness should contact me at Alcor prepare in sufficient quantity for a cry­ should be placed onto a direct flight to for more information. onic suspension (although we are work­ Phoenix, if possible, and care should be My thanks to Ralph Whelan for his ing on shortening this procedure), and taken when selecting an airline and flight invaluable assistance in the preparation if mixing the perfusate is expected to path. Some airlines advertise their of this article. take longer than the open-heart surgery, flights as direct, when in fact, the plane the washout may be performed while will make additional stops before it the perfusion preparations are com­ reaches its ultimate destination. Avoid pleted. these flights as long as there will be no Once released from the hospital, a significant delays in transport time.

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 33 A no er by Hugh L. Hixon

or some years, I have been looking over other people's shoulders at electron micrographs of frozen tissue, and listening to them say unkind (and true) things about the expense, the quality of the pictures, the difficulty of interpretation of what's in the pictures, and what's in the pictures. What is often seen in EM's of cryoprotected rather uniform stew of large and small tography is so vast that the time when tissue is a rather homogeneous mess: no molecules, the cells of the higher one person could read it all passed thirty internal cellular structure comparable lifeforms are not. The eucaryotic cell or forty years ago, but the fundamental to just about anything in pictures of con­ (i.e., ours) is subdivided into a number idea is quite simple. Put simply, every trol tissue. You can't tell what it was, and of compartments, or organelles, plus a molecular species (pure chemical) has a you can't tell how it got that way; which lot ofother structures. A shortlist reads: different affinity for every other mo­ is really not too useful at all. nucleus (or nuclei), mitochondria, Golgi lecular species, and so molecular spe­ I am unable to say where the obses­ apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum, ly­ cies are held back to different degrees sion with EM's in cryonics came about; sosomes, a zoo of vesicles (wrapped when they are moved with respect to the first dog cryoperfusion that I was packages of materials), cytoskeletal each other. present at (in 1977) had as a goal the structures, ribosomes, etc., and there is A common example of this process generation of EM's. EM's, EM's EM's. a great deal of order apparent in control is the concentric patterns found in wa­ . . . It seems more like a mantra than a EM's. The homogeneous mess we often ter spots on a ceiling. Here, the water useful technique. Besides which, I'm a see in electron micrographs of has diffused through the plaster, pressed biochemist by training, and while elec­ cryopreserved tissues is the end point of cellulose, or whatever, from where it tron microscopy can sometimes give you a host of destructive processes. came in contact with the ceiling. As it a remarkable picture of what's going A good part of chemistry is the sort­ has diffused, it has dissolved some ofthe on, it's only a single technique in the ing out of mixtures like this to recon­ components ofthe ceiling material. But vast armamentarium of biochemistry struct the previous state of affairs, and each of those solutes has a different af­ and molecular biology. the most powerful tool for this is chro­ finity for the water and for the insoluble While the interiors of bacteria are a matography. The literature of chroma- portion of the ceiling material, and so

34 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 has been held back in its traveling to one tion scheme to determine which com­ degree or another. And so the solutes ponents of cells in the brain have been are separated into the concentric rings damaged (this would be for a control): characteristic ofwater spots. And ifgaso­ Perform a carotid cannulation of the line had dripped onto the ceiling in­ animal and wash out the blood with an stead ofwater, the pattern of separation intracellular perfusate of choice. Re­ in the resulting spots would be differ­ move the top of the skull. ent. And so would the separated compo­ Inject into the carotid circulation nents. (See sidebar.) perfusate containing 2 Molar glycerol, Back to the problem of freeze-dam­ to open up the blood-brain barrier. (The aged tissues. It is possible to grind them blood-brain harrier is a single layer of up and separate the different types of cells on the inner side of all the blood cells. The separated cells can then be vessels in the brain that chemically iso­ broken up, and the organelles separated; lates the brain from the rest of the body. and the lipids (fats); and the proteins; Onlyaveryfewofthechemicalsinblood and the metabolic intermediates; and can cross it, under normal conditions.) so on. From there, we can go on to Inject into the carotid circulation a identi:£Y, measure, and assign locations, digestive enzyme such as collegenase or and eventually create a picture of the trypsin to specifically digest away con­ internal economy of a cell. We can then nective tissues between the brain cells. compare it to an undamaged cell, and Stop circulation and let marinate. Re­ infer the nature and path of the damage move the brain. process. Mter some experimentally deter­ How well can these separations be mined time, place the brain in a small done? I know of one system (and there speed-controlledblenderwith perfusate are certainly others) that can separate (and other components as suggested by red blood cells by their age! (As they examination of the appropriate litera­ age, the proteins and lipids in the exter­ ture) and gently take it for a spin. More nal cell membrane undergo chemical than any other organ, the brain is a changes, and this changes the affinity of tangled mass of nerve fibers, which are the cell surface for the chromatographic inevitably going to be ripped free of the solvents.) neuronal cell bodies, so a brain that has Anyway, here is a tentative separa- been disaggregated becomes a suspen­ sion of neuronal cell bodies, glial cells, the tangled mass of dendrites and axons (in small masses), and the remains of the blood vessels. The disruption is con­ trolled by the shearing force (deter­ mined by the speed of the blender and the size of the structures being sheared) and the strength ofthe different compo­ nents of the tissue. It's crude, but with some skill, the degree of disintegration can he controlled fairly well. By one of several centrifugation methods (differential sedimentation; repetitive sedimentation in solutions of different density; density gradient sepa­ and/ or subjected to chromatographic ration), the suspension of brain compo­ separation. The synaptic processes can nents can be given a preliminary separa­ be taken for another spin in the blender tion. The blood vessel material can be to break them up into the synapses, separated and discarded. The mass of vesicles, Golgi apparatus, soluble pro­ dendrites and axons can be taken for a teins, sulfated mucopolysaccarides, etc., harder spin in the blender and broken etc., which can also he separated by cen­ Four-liter blender, without up into fibers and the synaptic processes. trifugation and/ or chromatography. accessories: $1128 These can be separated centrifugally The vesicles and other compartments

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Cryonics 35 Gas chromatograph with thermal Programmable fracdon collector Table-topcentdfuge, to26810xg, conducdvity and Dame jonjzadon for use WJ.th chromatographjc refrjgerated, without rotor: detectors: $7985 columns: $4180 $7995 (rotors: $695-$995) can also he concentrated and broken by associated computer software and them up and get to the heart of the mat­ up. At each step, it is possible to separate databases.) ter: which organelle populations are out the membranes of the vesicles and Separation ofthe neurons (and neu­ missing after ischemia, cryoprotection, organelles, and chemically react them ronal processes) should he rather inter­ etc. This may give us some indication of to make them volatile (approximately, esting. All the literature I have read the nature and source of the destruction able to evaporate), after which they can (including current material) claims that seen in electron micrographs. If neces­ he separated by gas chromatography the brain is the most biochemically com­ sarywecantreatourexperimentalhrains (retardationinagasstreamflowingover plex organ in the body, even more so in small steps to do a time-course on the a non-volatile liquid) and then fed into a than the liver, which has over a hundred destructive processes, to see if we can mass spectrograph for absolute identifi­ different cell types and carries out a very find the beginning of them. cation. (The output of the gas chro­ large number of specialized chemical For the intact organelles, we can matograph, consisting ofseparated pure reactions. I do not believe that anyone, disrupt them and determine their enzy­ compounds, is fragmented and sorted anywhere, has sorted out neurons by matic contents with specific substrates by size and charge. Each compound has chromatography, and I am not aware of that yield colored products. Enzymes a characteristic and often unique distri­ any reason why it couldn't he done. are the reactors for specific biochemi­ bution of fragments, which constitute a Anyway, we can separate outthe neu­ cal reactions, and are quite specific about fingerprint and are readily identified rons or not. Then we go on to break which molecules they will react with. With appropriate chemical insight, it is possible to make other, similar, mol­ ecules that not only react, hut change color when they do so, the evolution of which we can follow in a spectropho­ tometer (which is an instrument that can measure a specific color change). We can also test to find the enzymes from the organelles that are present, hut this will take some guesswork, and the enzymes may he too diluted in the separation process. Ifnecessary, we may he able to reconcentrate them and sepa­ rate them on an ion-exchange chroma­ tography column. (The enzymes have characteristic charges, and are attracted to column materials with the opposite AunHary drculadng chjjler, -25° C to -400 C: $815 charge. Depending on the technique, they can he separated on the column, or

36 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 tivelyslow, finicky, and expen­ catalogs and books. sive process at this time. The process of discovery in bio­ The point I'm attempting chemistry and molecular biology is a to make by detailing all these vast interconnected web, which we must separations and identifica­ navigate with both art and science. The tions is that techniques exist biggest aid to this is all the work that has to get to the heart of almost been done to this time by other research­ any cellular function or struc­ ers in related fields, extending far be­ ture, and new methods and yond electron microscopy or even cryo­ new insights are being devel­ biology. oped constantly. Reliance on A library card is perhaps the single Critical research equipment: a library card a single technique, such as elec- most necessary (but not sufficient) tool tron microscopy, results in se­ a researcher can have. I've got one. released all at once.) vere limitations on what can be discov­ There are several other ways to sepa­ ered. The paths and techniques I have rate proteins. One very common and outlined here are a small sample that powerful method is gel electrophoresis, happened to spring to mind as I wrote which separates them by their ratio of this article. I do not doubt that there are charge to size, in a sort of sieving pro­ many other paths and techniques, and cess. Another method is by isoelectric that the solution to cryonic focusing, which will separate proteins suspension lies at the end by the behavior of their charged groups of more than one of them. at different pH's. The problem is to come up Membership Status Identifying separated proteins is with a reasonable path to more difficult. The most common way investigate, and then ob­ Alcor has 3 6 5 Suspension Members, 608 is to attempt to match the behavior of an tain the money for the Associate Members (includes tO in the unknown protein to a known sample of equipment, time, and process of becoming Suspension Members), what you think the unknown protein is. skilled people to explore and 2 9 patients in suspension. These This involves a certain amount of guess­ that path-which is why numbers are broken down by country below. work. An absolute method of identify­ this article is unsubtly ac­ ing a protein is to take it apart, amino companied by illustrations acid by amino acid, but this is a rela- and prices from scientific

The Alcor Foundation is sponsoring a cryonics technology festival next February in Scottsdale, Arizona. Confirmed speakers for the festival include Ralph Merkle, Ph.D. (Report on Fourth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology), Mark Voelker, Ph.D. (Aicor Research), "Father of Cryonics" Robert Ettinger (Cryonics Institute Research), Alcor President Stephen Bridge Argentina (Aicor current activity and future plans), Ben Best (Structure and Austria Australia Function ofthe Human Brain, and its Relevance to Cryonics), Paul Brazil New Segall, Ph.D. (Normothermic and Hypothermic Blood Substitutes), Canada Russia Costa Rica Spain and Hal Sternberg, Ph.D. (Cryogenic Preservation). Denmark Sri Lanka Registration is $55 before December 1, $75 after that (includ­ Estonia Sweden Finland Switzerland ing at the door). The registration fee includes some meals and all France U.K. events, but does not include lodging. For more detailed information Germany U.S.A. Holland Ukraine and a registration form, contact Alcor at 1-800-367-2228. TOTALS

2nd Quarter, 1995 • Crvonics 37 by Thomas Donaldson, Ph.D.

Cryonics Reinsurance

their life insurance policies. The result man Catholic Church to the longevity of of such an arrangement is that even if established businesses, but we can't re­ your insurance policy goes bust, you (or ally prove our ability to last so long until your heirs/beneficiaries) will still re­ we have done so. And of all the ques­ isputes between the different ceive a substantial fraction of what you tions someone may ask, that one seems cryonics societies and providers would have received if it had not gone the most reasonable. It's fine to believe Dof cryonics services have been bust. that in the future the human race will endemic ever since cryonics began. The Not only do such arrangements routinely perform medical miracles, latest chapter in such disputes (which I strengthen the ability of insurance com­ using nanotechnology or any other hope closes soon) consists of arguments panies to sell new policies, but they also means. Yet how do I know that I will about the merits of "bundled" services help protect those who have policies. remain suspended long enough to reach versus "unbundled" services. Bundled Unfortunately, the cryonics societ­ that time? services, such as those provided by Al­ ies have not really worked out any such In one sense, the reluctance of cry­ cor, involve a cryonics society in all as­ arrangements. Moreover, the benefits onics societies to deal with reinsurance pects of suspension. The cryonics soci­ of"cryonics reinsurance" extend much closely resembles the reluctance of ety itself provides both the suspension farther than those for insurance compa­ people at large to deal with death. !f team and the long-term care services. nies. Even if a society is in fine shape, no reinsurance becomes necessary, Unbundled services involve a separa­ society yet has grown enough to provide whether because your society has fallen tion: the cryonics society oversees one two complete suspension teams able to apart or because its suspension team is or more entities which individually pro­ carry out two simultaneous suspensions. now working furiously to save someone vide different parts of the service: one So far we have all been lucky that such a else, you will have no choice but the ser­ company does the suspension, another problem hasn't occurred, though we've vices provided by another society. The provides for storage, and so on. come very close. Not only that, but as alternative, of course, is nothing at all. In this column I do not aim to dis­ with insurance companies, explicit Within verywide limits, questions about cuss the merits of either kind. However reinsurance agreements would help pro­ the quality of that service matter very one very important idea has come out of tect us from failure of one or the other little. Even if you believe that your own these discussions. Since it may be easily society. society provides the very best, if it can­ forgotten in the turmoil of debate, I will It's not even very unlikely that two not provide those services when you focus on it here. That is the idea of cry- people may die almost simultaneously. need them, their quality doesn't matter. omcs reinsurance. We all know of the parlor game in which Right now three different organiza­ The idea of reinsurance is at least a group of people are asked to put their tions can reliably provide suspension 100 years old and is now very well ac­ birthdate on a piece of paper, and when services: Alcor, Biopreservation, and ceptedbyinsurancecompanies. Itworks the birthdates are examined two of the CI. ACS may well join this list soon. A like this: suppose I am an insurance people there turn out to have the same reinsurance agreement between all of company, and I sell you a life insurance birthdate. A similar calculation will show these organizations would help their policy. Like all companies, even ifl have that, with hundreds of members, dates members (or clients), and make all of lots of money to pay off your policy, the of deanimation can easily coincide too. them look stronger to anyone consider­ possibility still exists that when pay off This issue of reinsurance will also ing whether to join any one of them. time comes I will have gone bankrupt, help recruitment by all cryonics societ­ for one or another reason. I therefore ies. One major question some people Note: Alcor's contracts have long included make an arrangement with other insur­ ask of cryonics is: how do I know that provisionsfor switiching its patients to an­ ance companies: theywill take over some you will last long enough to reach a day other organization if that necessity ever of the risk in your life insurance policy, when I can be revived? Sure, we can arises, though the recipient organization is and I will take over some of the risk in provide lots of analogies, from the Ro- not explicitly specified. -Ed.

38 Cryonics • 2nd Quarter, 1995 Mind Matters How Mind and Brain Interact to Create Our Conscious Lives By Michael S. Gazzaniga, Houghton-Mifflin, 1988

Reviewed by Thomas Donaldson

azzanigais most famous for of schizophrenia and schizophrenic epi­ a drug doesn't help that state. Ghis work with split-brain sodes), Anxiety, Depression, Obsessions, As I noted when I began this review, patients: people for whom the Addiction, Love, Sleeping, Stress, and Heal­ Gazzaniga discusses Love also. In this dis­ connection between the two ing. In each case Gazzaniga argues for a cussion he very much does not concentrate halves of their brains has been constant feedback between the feeling, our on sexual intercourse itself, but on the feel­ severed, and the effects this has brain, and all the other sides of our personal­ ings we have. And as we might guess, lots of on them. (Basically, each half ity. moralists have thunderedfrom the pulpit reacts as if it were a separate, but Gazzaniga does have interesting things and the legislature against any study of brain-injured, individual). In this to say about each of these. The perception of love. Yet some interesting work has been book he takes up a much larger subject: the pain, for instance, differs significantly be­ done, though no one really claims a "com­ interactions between what we think and tween nationalities and also depends on con­ plete theory of love." An interesting fact: believe and the physiological state of our text and understanding. People wounded in people passionately in love secrete a chemi­ brain. battle respond to a physical injury very dif­ cal, phenylethylarnine. And if for some One issue which he specifically does ferently from that of someone who received reason the affair is broken off, some take to not discuss is that of how we come to have a similar injury in an auto accident. Some eating chocolates for a while-which hap­ a sense of awareness at all, and what the peoples can become so inured to pain that pen to contain phenylethylarnine. As be­ significance of that sense of awareness may they don't even notice it (Gazzaniga tells fore, though, our soul is involved, not just be. The title and even the subtitle might about the Sherpa caniers in the Himalayas, our brain. suggest that-and were, plus his work with and how their reactions differed from those Gazzaniga doesn't pretend to summa­ split-brain patients, exactly what led me to of their European employers. His story raises rize all the literature on any of the condi­ buy the book. interesting thoughts about how we might see tions he discusses in one chapter for each. Moreover, although he discusses a va­ our own perceptions, 1000 years from now). He aims simply to touch most on those riety of serious conditions (loss of memory He also discusses both schizophrenia points that suggest an interaction between with age, schizophrenia, depression), he and depression. Both of these can begin with our feelings and our understanding. His never goes beyond the standard American serious brain malfunctions. But when they version of "the mind" of course consists doctor's idea of accepted knowledge and happen to thinking human beings, they may really of the activity of our cortex, which practice. This is not a book to read about not end there: instead, some people respond reacts not just to events in the outside world the possible memory-enhancing effects of to their schizophrenia by devising explana­ but to what we feel, too. Like it or not, we tacrine or acetyl-carnitine. tions for it, which become more and more are (short of major surgical alterations to However, reading it was far from a florid as time passes. This has a serious which none of us would consent!) a unity total loss. It may actually serve as an anti­ consequence: if the condition continues un­ from which thinking and feeling cannot be dote to much discussion within cryonics of treated, those suffering from it will come to separated, not ever. our brain and our selves, specifically be­ see their views of the world and their condi­ These ideas may even tell us some­ cause it focuses not just on intelligence but tion to be the correct ones, and therefore thing as cryonicists. One kind of depression on all the other parts of our awareness too. active! y resist any other ideas. What began as produced in animals is called "learned help­ It is very easy in discussing our Selves (or a chemical derangement becomes much more lessness". The animals are given shocks Souls, the word I have suggested we use global, and something which no simple drug with no ability to escape. They respond by because it most characterizes what we re­ treatments will help. Who would give up a showing all the physical signs of depres­ ally mean) to forget that we don't just think true set of beliefs, worked out after long sion. The depression resulting means that if and remember, we also feel. .. in many thought, merely because of a drug? anything these animals will actively resist different ways. To revive a creature which In the case of depression, as each of us any action. I will leave immortalist readers had our memories but no feelings at all, or knows from our own experiences, we can to work out just what inevitable (so far) very different feelings from our own, comes feel depressed because of events outside us event gives nearly everyone a sense of close to not reviving us at all: as if our or because of chemical changes in our brain. helplessness .... And finally, since we are memories had simply been logged in a Chemical treatments now exist for depres­ human beings with cognitive ability too, library and were to be used by someone sion: tricyclics and MAO inhibitors among people have constructed theories to ac­ else. them. Yet a completely chemical theory count for this helplessness and make it seem Most of the book goes into what is doesn't explain how these drugs can take proper and right. known about the detailed relations between several weeks to have an effect. One serious If all of history up to now has been the brain events and feelings, for all the most possibility comes simply from the fact that a story of people in severe depression, then notable feelings. It begins with Pain, then depressed person will construct their own when that depression lifts we may see many discusses memory and thinking after age theories as to why they feel depressed: no wonderful changes, too. 40, then Intelligence, then Crazy Thoughts one listens to them, no one cares for them, (which comes down mostly to a discussion they are worthless. Yet again, simply giving

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