Letters to the Editor

To the Editor: him. Oddly, both authors share one article and byline: Thomas Donaldson. s the Hitchhiker’s Guide Your readers may have noticed certain to the Galaxy suggests, sharp disagreements in (2nd Qtr. —K. Eric Drexler A 1998). “Don’t Panic.” Despite the In that issue, Author 1 calls for further Thomas Donaldson replies: title of this issue’s feature story, study of how damage could be “The Failure of Cryonics,” I repaired by nanomedical technologies. He It seems to me that my statements are don’t believe that cryonics has notes that this effort “...need not actually quoted out of context, and in many cases solve [the problem of inferring neural con- context is important. failed and I don’t believe that nectivity] in practice,” which would be be- First of all, there is an issue of what it will fail. yond current technological abilities, and “” is to include. If Why am I printing this ar- asks instead for scenarios that start with nanotechnology means the manipulation of ticle then? Because I do be- “the damage that really occurs, then specify matter on a molecular scale, chemists have lieve that the cryonics com- the biochemicals or other concrete items” now done that for over a century, and their enabling the required inference. abilities to do so have increased a great munity holds valid opinions Author 2, in contrast, argues that “only deal. Biochemists have come on the scene besides my own. As I prom- solving the problem theoretically would be and proceeded to manipulate those chemi- ised from my first issue, Cry- cheating,” and asks not for specifications, cals which play a major role in our own onics is aimed at all cryonicists, but for “experiments” in this area. He criti- chemistry — and in many ways, since that not just at Alcor’s directors, cizes those who “believe we need take no chemistry is quite complex, have moved special effort to improve our cryopre- very far. For instance, it’s commonplace to members, or magazine editors. servation methods” in order to achieve sus- use modified viruses as tools, and our use Almost by definition, pension reversible with future technologies, of these tools has increased in sophistica- cryonicists are independent and ridicules this and associated technical tion. thinkers; if they are to make views as being essentially religious. The day will come when we will de- the most of this trait, they need Undaunted by this attack, Author 1 sign bacteria, also, and use them as tools notes the view “that nanotechnology will too. And building on that, we will design as much information as pos- provide, someday, a solution even for those entire creatures, again to manipulate the sible. frozen with our current primitive methods,” biochemicals of human beings. I’m pleased to note that in and concurs: “If nanotechnology includes There are some who want to limit the last few months the readers all the different methods we use now and nanotechnology to only particular methods. of Cryonics have conveyed an may use in the future to manipulate matter They argue that those methods will give increasing number of their “in- on molecular scales, I would certainly them great power over matter; at present agree.” their arguments are theoretical alone, while dependent thoughts” to me. In ridiculing assorted ideas regarding various other scientists have proceeded to While I haven’t yet received the future, Author 2 writes “Rather than get their hands dirty and produce some- the rich cross-section of ideas God we have Nanotechnology, which will thing that will actually work and do some- that I might want, I have re- put us into Heaven. All the nations will live thing. Certainly this does not save the world, ceived more letters than I can at peace with one another for 1000 years, but a relatively simple application, such as followed by the end of the world...” Per- a modified virus, is still a good tool. And publish in existing magazine haps some actual, non-straw person has ad- while I am optimistic that our understand- space. If you sent me some- vanced this notion, or perhaps the nano- ing and control of the world will increase to thing but don’t find it in this critic, Author 2, is merely attacking some a level at which we’ll know how to repair issue, please forgive me; some- imaginary nano-crazy, Author 3, in an at- damage to cryonics patients, I doubt that tempt to discredit the nano-optimist, Au- any single research direction will allow us times I will print a letter just thor 1. to do that. After all, biotechnologists have because it fills the right num- I wish the best of luck to these warring run into lots of unexpected problems even ber of column-inches. authors in sorting out their conflicts, and while modifying viruses; I doubt that we hope that Author 1 ultimately wins the war can deal with such problems purely theo- of ideas — he fights fair, and I agree with retically, no matter what our idea of

2 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 nanotechnology may be. have a vested interest in avoiding personal Second, I have noted a kind of argu- Sirs: obliteration. But would they work together ment which brings in nanotechnology (the marketing cryonics brochures? I doubt it. unspecified kind) to claim that repair will In a recent issue of Cryonics, Mr. Thomas Mr. Donaldson rightly portrays that as a become possible, but never examines what Donaldson gave a good book a bad review. poor argument, and wrongly portrays it as is now known about memory or the work- The book was The Physics Of the only argument. A weak argument for a ings of our brain. It is one thing to be able to by Professor Frank Tipler, and Mr. position doesn’t invalidate that position. The analyze the brain of someone who is healthy Donaldon’s discomforts with it — well, world is round, even if I assert that it got and in full working condition, and then seemed to me not only to have missed the that way because Santa’s Elves rounded off (say) be able to duplicate it (if that is what point, but to have given poor expression to the corners with sandpaper. I myself would you want), and quite another thing to exam- Mr. Tipler’s views. In essence, Tipler’s ar- argue that an all-knowing entity would in ine the brain of someone who was poorly gument is that, at some point in the future, a fact be loving and merciful simply because frozen 10 years ago, and claim that computing entity will be created (some knowledge implies empathy: to know and nanotechnology will tell us just how to re- penultimate Windows upgrade no doubt) not to experience is not to know. We step pair that brain. The first may very well be with such capacity that it will be able not on ants because we do not know what it’s possible; the second requires some detailed only to compute the molecular pattern of like to be crushed under a shoe fifty times confrontation with the condition of that brain every human being that ever existed (or our height; we eat hamburgers because we and similarly detailed knowledge of how ever could), but also that of all possible do not know what it’s like to be pole-axed, brains and memory work. Merely bringing beings, all possible events, and all possible chopped apart, and fed into a meat grinder. nanotechnology into the argument tells us universes. This computer will thus know If we really experienced such surreal oblit- nothing about the condition of that patient’s everything that it is possible to know, pre- eration — and if (like our projected brain. We have no logical reason to believe sumably including how to do whatever it supercomputer) we could easily replace that that he or she is repairable unless we also might wish to do. By definition, then, it agony with paradisial joy — well, we would. use ideas from neuroscience. For all we would be ‘all-knowing,’ and hence ‘all-pow- I certainly would. After all, if punching you know, this patient might have been totally erful’ as well. (Hence the ‘physics’ behind in the face breaks my nose, I won’t punch destroyed. Mr. Tipler’s immortality — he believes that you. If feeding you sweets and cake de- I describe this argument not because I some 80 billion years from now the Big lights my palate, I’ll feed you sweets and believe that many of our patients cannot be Crunch will squash the current universe cake. If we must fully experience another’s repaired, but because it commits a logical into a single point, an event releasing so experiences, we’d rather have them experi- error, and I do not believe that fallacious much his projected supercomputer ence beatific ecstasy, rather than the loneli- arguments will do anything to help cryon- will have oomph to spare for whipping up ness, brevity, and horror that is all too often ics. such trivial miracles as a new Heaven and the human condition. The alternative is mas- Thirdly, as many cryonicists (I hope) Earth). The least of its abilities would be ochism, and that is not a quality you’re have observed, human beings and other ani- the capacity to resurrect us all into a VR likely to find in a God, much less in a mals have abilities for self-repair which even paradise beyond imagining with the merest supercomputer to end all supercomputers. yet we do not understand, but which sur- wave of a sub-program. And Mr. Tipler Now such a supercomputer is not com- geons have taken advantage of for centu- feels it will do just that. ing off the assembly line at Intel by next ries. (I note that even the most modern How come? Tipler’s argument (mutual Thursday. It is way off. But the relevant computers lack such abilities, while any rat self-interest!) is of course lamentably shal- part of Tipler’s idea is a lot nearer. If, as or chicken can do so.) Current work in low. A microbe and Michaelangelo both Eric Drexler asserts, we shall relatively cryonics on and improved meth- ods of suspension is also trying to find a method which will make use of these self- repair capabilities. If we can do so, then we will be able to repair patients frozen by such methods without all the need to under- stand neuroscience, biochemistry, etc etc. Such methods, of course, will do nothing for those already frozen. I am very optimis- tic that we can find such methods, but they say nothing about what we might do with present and past patients. And we do have a responsibility to them, however long it takes. I do not see any contradiction between this belief and my optimism that, with suffi- cient knowledge of “nanotechnology” and how brains work, we will someday be able to repair many present patients.

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 3 shortly be able to pack ten thousand Cray today, a few hundred alone — a few hun- Thomas Donaldson replies: supercomputers into a sugar cube, and in- dred — may live on. Every time you enter a deed use nano-assemblers to convert whole restaurant, or a concert, or a shopping mall, In my review, I pointed out that Tipler planets into arrays of such sugar cubes, or traffic jam, you think: all these people listed several conditions of our universe then mapping out the few paltry sextillion around me are going to die, to die finally which must be satisfied for his ideas to molecules making up an individual’s brain and irrevocably — everyone: Garbo and work. As I understand current cosmology, should be no big deal at all. Computation Elvis, Reagan and Gorbachev, Laurel and those conditions are not satisfied. That is will reach the point where re- Hardy, Janis and Jimi, Sakharov and Sinatra, sufficient refutation. Moreover, though in ally is technologically possible, and quite our parents, our brothers, our sisters, our Cryonics and elsewhere I discuss biology probably likely (which is what Tipler is children, our friends, our enemies, — ev- and biotechnology a lot, I feel qualified to saying). That being the case, why does Mr. eryone, irrevocably obliterated. To believe make that judgement because I am a math- Donaldson dump on Tipler so? Tipler is not that is spiritually toxic. It is insupportable. ematician by training. only “wrong,” asserts Mr. Donaldson, with- Tipler offers us a way to bear it. He offers As for how I feel about methods of out enlightening us as to why; Tipler, he us the same hope that cryonics gives: plau- revival which don’t use cryonics, I am not writes, is “among those infinity-hating cos- sible resurrection. But resurrection for us conscious of any special problems. I will mologists,” who perhaps “fear infinities and all, and resurrection in the far future rather add, though, that those methods suggested the associated with them,” they “refuse than the near. Why should these hopes be at so far do not seem plausible to me; to dis- to deal with these issues,” “rationalize their odds with each other? They support one cuss why would take far more space than way around cryonics and immortalism,” another, or so it seems to me. available. Of course, given enough time, “and so cannot save themselves.” The Omega Point — Mr. Tipler’s God we will probably use a technology different I can’t help but feel that Mr. Donaldson — is not going to come into being without from freezing to store people whom we did is uncomfortable because the immortality our efforts; and we are not going to make not know how to fix at the time -- but we projected by Mr. Tipler is not our immor- much of an effort if we’re dead. The moral must deal with the present if we ever expect tality — cryonic immortality. ‘We’ are the imperative of cryonics is very much to the to deal with the future. resurrection and the life, and all other point: to do good, you first have to live. churches are merest hogwash, Satan’s help- Mr. Tipler’s notion of general rather than ers. Tipler’s ideas are a threat. After all, he merely individual resurrection is not sim- Dear Cryonics: seems to be saying, if we’re all going to be ply a noble prospect. It is a noble effort. resurrected anyway, why not wait till a lov- And one can’t participate in that noble ef- Charles Platt wrote an excellent article, ing, merciful, omnipotent entity turns up to fort, or any noble effort, if one is dead. “Of Angst and Activism,” in volume 19:2 do it right? Better that, surely, than possibly Which is one of the most profound argu- of Cryonics. The article could be a standard rising up from a miasma of ments for cryonics that I know. statement of a number of issues, concerns, eighty years hence, a brain-damaged tem- Why shut the door on Tipler or on real-life experiences, and dynamics of the poral immigrant stranded in some Orwellian religion in general for making this argu- cryonics movement. The article is a clear, hell. On top of this, Tipler even has the ment? Eightypeople are in cryonic suspen- sensitive, and organized statement of years temerity to to use the ‘G’ word as a label for sion; four billion are said to believe in God of discovery and learning. this all-knowing, all-powerful, loving, mer- or belong to some form of organized reli- On the nightly news, we hear of medi- ciful Supreme Being. If he’d called him Al gion. Perhaps one or two of them know cal authorities transplanting heads, or of or Fred, no one would be much excited. But something we don’t. Tipler has given reli- lowering the temperature of certain acci- he calls him ‘God,’ and this makes the tacit gious belief a depth, logic, and plausibility dent victims to improve their survival and shallow atheism abounding in the hard that it may in fact actually have. He has chances. Every few months, and sometimes sciences (and the flabbier ones like cryon- asked a startling question, a question so every other day, we are told of new medical ics) nervous and edgy. ‘God,’ indeed; throw startling no one has quite grasped all the miracles, advances, and promises, which the bum out. This just seems to me to be off implications: not, ‘are religions like Chris- would have been thought impossible just a the mark. Tipler’s views are complemen- tianity true?’ but ‘are religions like Chris- few years back. In the media of books, we tary, not competitive; I would even go so tianity technologically possible?’ If they read James Halperin’s recent novel, about far as to say that they’re a necessary comple- are — as Tipler seems to imply — then like cryonics, . There are ment to a serious cryonics position. all technological possibilities they can be plans to turn the book into a TV mini- The fact is, one of the harshest conse- made true, and religion ceases to be a shout- series. quences of really accepting cryonics is sud- ing match of unprovable assertions and be- Clearly cryonics is entering a new tech- denly grasping that virtually everyone we comes instead a battleground of conflicting nological and social environment, and like see, meet, hear of, touch, recall, know, is technologies and historical will. And that is every movement that enters a new environ- going to irretrievably die. The Holocaust is something we ought to think about deeply, ment, cryonics will be offered opportuni- a grain of sand compared to the vistas of not cavalierly dismiss, as Mr. Donaldson ties as well as threats and challenges. Some extermination that meet our eyes. Every dismisses the striking, significant, and pro- opportunities might be new technologies human being from 1967 to today might found book under review. that offer techniques quite have survived in suspension: perhaps fifty will. Of the five billion human beings alive -- David Pascal Continued on page 28

4 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 Alcor’s Third Annual Cryonics Conference commentary by Brian Shock

If you’re a regular reader of Cryon- long-term ischemia. that day was a speech by Jim ics, you probably remember a year’s n brought us up to Halperin, author of The Truth Ma- worth of ads for “Alcor’s Third An- date on Twenty-first Century chine and The First Immortal. Af- nual Cryonics Conference.” If you Medicine’s exciting research toward terward, Jim graciously consented didn’t have the time or money to see improving suspension procedures. to sign copies of The First Immortal this gathering for yourself, you may n Fred and Linda Chamberlain dis- brought by dozens of attendees. wonder about the results. cussed their new wash-out suitcase While his hand was still limber, we for cryonics field procedures even convinced him to sign the fifty- [as detailed in “Alcor’s plus copies of this novel that Alcor Flashcool Project,” Cryon- was offering for sale. ics 2nd Qtr ‘98 — ed.], and As exhausted as this conference suggested possible future im- left me, I couldn’t argue with the provements for Alcor’s results. The possibility of coopera- CryoTransport Team. tion between cryonics groups, hinted That evening, after the at during Alcor’s 1997 conference, banquet (my favorite part of began to seem more and more plau- the festivities), a panel of no- sible. Everyone had a chance to tables that included Marvin meet plenty of old and new friends The merest handful of CryoTransport Class Minsky, Ralph Merkle, Max within the cryonics community. And participants. Left to right: Hara Ra, Andrea van More, and Jim Halperin dis- if a conference attendee wasn’t care- de Loo, David Hayes, Monica Stephenson, Steve cussed “What’s in It for Me” ful, he or she probably learned some- Jackson, Ken Stone. (Photo by Mary Margaret Glennie.) regarding cryonics and life thing from the experience. In a word, the conference was extension. True to splendid, particularly for those Alcor form, Dr. Minsky chal- members who attended the preced- lenged the audience’s intel- ing week’s CryoTransport Techni- lect and assumptions with cian Class and were compensated his incisive arguments. for their conference membership. The next day, Sunday, The 17 class members not only April 5th, was an especially helped to strengthen Alcor through- busy one for me. An Alcor out the U.S. (as well as the U.K., Facility Tour had originally thanks to Jack St. Clair), they also been scheduled to overlap had a chance to become much better with a panel about “Identity acquainted with Alcor’s facility, and Reanimation,” featuring A panel on Cryonics Service Companies. Left to staff, and day-to-day operations. Jim Halperin, , right: Steve Harris, Bruce Cohen, Brian Wowk, The conference proper began on and . In or- Fred Chamberlain, Linda Chamberlain, Robert Saturday, April 4th, at the large, well- der to avoid missing this Ettinger. (Photo by Mary Margaret Glennie.) appointed Holiday Inn Select near event, conference attendees arranged Alcor owes many thanks to its Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. two early-morning tour facility vis- conference guests, and special thanks Among the day’s highlights: its. Imagine my nervousness upon to such volunteers as Mary Marga- n — with the help of finding such crybiology experts as ret Glennie, Judy Muhlestein, and a friendly canine test subject — cap- Brian Wowk and in my Lisa Shock. tivated the audience with his work tour groups! on the recovery of animals from Even so, the stand-out event for

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 5 Highlights of James Halperin’s Talk at Alcor’s Cryonics Conference (April 5, 1998) by Steve Jackson

James L. Halperin’s novel The First Immortal is spreading like wildfire among cryonicists. It offers a compelling view — hopeful without being sugar-coated — of a future that is worth reaching, and a way to get there alive. This book is being hailed as the best possible introduction to the movement for a relative, an interested potential cryonicist, or just someone curious about the idea.

ames Halperin was a featured speaker become so smart that they take over us any more. Or nuclear war, or a “gray Jat this year’s Alcor conference. His their own development, accelerating the goo” nanotech disaster. (2) talk was entitled “Get Ready for a Cen- rate of progress until “five minutes later n Muddling through. We might sim- tury of Ever-Accelerating Change” ... we don’t recognize anything any more.” ply stagger through adversity into pros- but, as he put it, “it’s really about get- (1) perity and immortality, four steps for- ting other people ready.” n Global conflagration, perhaps even ward and three steps back. This is the He opened by discussing valuable brought about by a singularity gone scenario Halperin depicts in The First innovations that had “down sides” to awry, if the AIs decide they don’t need Immortal. As he says, “I can’t prepare some people, most typically those who for a conflagration, and I can’t lose their jobs to technologi- prepare for a singularity.” But cal improvements. People he can — we all can — pre- tend to notice the tragedies pare for a future in which man- felt by a few rather than kind somehow manages to sur- the general benefits to the vive without mutating into many. The next century will something completely unrec- bring more and more such ognizable. innovations; almost every- Halperin’s own story is one thing that helps “mankind” of both careful planning and will harm some individuals. “muddling through.” He had Predicting and avoiding such been an entrepreneur since his harm to ourselves, and pre- college days, dividing his time dicting and minimizing “col- between a number of different lateral” harm that our inno- businesses. Eventually he con- vations do to others, clearly centrated his energy in the nu- becomes the great challenge mismatic business, selling rare of the 21st century. coins to investors. His com- Halperin pointed out that pany was successful, but only on the average, over the past one among hundreds. Then, in centuries, life has been im- 1975, he invested much of his proving in an almost steady net worth in an IBM main- progression, due mainly to frame computer, and spent a science and philosophy. And great deal of time in deciding the rate of progress is itself how to use it to improve his increasing. Where will this company’s efficiency. It was lead us? There are several a good decision. By 1979, his possibilities: company had become the larg- n The “Utopian Singular- est player in the booming ity” — when high-speed arti- worldwide numismatic indus- ficial-intelligence machines try. At one time, Halperin Halperin at the mike (Photo by Mary Margaret Glennie.)

6 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 turned down a $20 million buyout of- and has so far sold about 70,000 copies will survive to see the future he de- fer. not counting foreign sales. scribes. Eventually the industry stabilized. Halperin had expected that writing “We need to work on legislation. Other companies copied Halperin’s in- one book would be enough. But he We need to start lobbying.” According novations; prices came down, efficien- found himself wanting to write more, to Halperin, the most important thing is cies increased, and the coin business and to write better ... and to write about that the laws concerning cryonics be became more predictable for everyone cryonics. He added a cryonics chapter predictable, so everyone involved ... but less profitable for the leaders. He to a late draft of The Truth Machine. knows what to expect; legal battles (as realized that it had become boring. He And his second book was entirely about vividly depicted in The First Immortal) looked around for other things to do, cryonics, and about a human race trans- drain both time and energy. In particu- and decided to try his hand at writing. formed by the defeat of death. lar, cryonicists need ways to avert chal- His first novel, The Truth Machine, The plot of The First Immortal grew lenges to suspension. grew out of the idea that society might out of a short story that he wrote for a “One thing I’d like to see is a more benefit from an infallible lie detector. night course in fiction writing, in which sensible cost structure for cryonics.” This led him to study what we might Dr. Benjamin Franklin Smith (3) at- Halperin is now seriously looking at really expect from future society and tends the of a friend who had the creation of a legal/trust company technology. He surveyed “dozens and saved his life during World War II. TFI which would invest for cryonicists and dozens” of people, asking what they is set in the same historical universe as defend their rights — and if it gets off might expect and when, and developed The Truth Machine, but instead of cry- the ground, he will be looking for cry- a chronology which grew into the back- onics being a background element, it is onics-friendly staff ... specifically, at- ground events for The Truth Machine. central to the story. It tells the story of a torneys and experienced managers. He showed the novel to friends, lis- determined man who manages to bring “If my muddle-through scenario tened to their feedback, studied, and not only himself, but his family, to a occurs, we find ourselves in a tiny win- rewrote The Truth Machine ... over and remarkable future ... through cryonics. dow of history, when cryonics is both over ... 23 rewrites in all. It was during “There is nothing altruistic at all in available and needed ... and could be that period that he first encountered cry- my decision to write The First Immor- profitable. We need ideas ... please e- onics, in an article in Spin Magazine. tal the way I did,” says Halperin. He mail me ... for your own selfish best He couldn’t get any agents to rep- describes it as his LifePact statement, interests as well as mine.”(4) resent him; they read the first few pages an act of long-term self interest. “If the of his manuscript, saw the prose style ‘muddle-through’ scenario occurs, my was (as he put it) “workmanlike at best,” book will be recognized as somewhat and never read the story. But after he prophetic. If not, it won’t matter.” And, self-published The Truth Machine and of course, if the book succeeds and at- put a copy on the net, Ballantine saw a tracts others to cryonics, it will increase copy and liked it ... and published it ... the chance that he, and his loved ones, Footnotes:

(1) This concept has been discussed at some Do You Have length by Robert Anton Wilson. For another fictional view of the “Singularity,” see Marooned The First Immortal in Realtime by Vernor Vinge. (2) “” is the archetypal nanotech disas- Yet? ter scenario, in which rogue assemblers turn everything, or at least the whole biosphere, into Alcor is selling a limited quantity copies of themselves; see Eric Drexler’s En- of copies signed by the author, gines of Creation. James Halperin. (3) Benjamin Franklin thought about far more than electricity, proverbs, politics and the ladies Don’t miss out -- order yours today! of Paris. He once expressed the wistful wish that Signed Hardback: $35.00 he could be preserved in a cask of Madeira and revived to see a future . One might Unsigned: $24.95 expect that he would have become a cryonicist Send check or money order to the Alcor Foundation, had he lived today. 7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale, AZ 85260. With Visa or Mastercard, call 1-602-905-1906. (4) Halperin can be reached at [email protected].

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 7 by

The following article is taken from CryoNet postings #9556-9557, Tuesday, April 28, 1998, and is published at the request of the author. --ed

n 1964, the cryonics movement was money for the purpose of funding and pro- cryonics patients being restored to life in Ilaunched by Bob Ettinger’s book, The moting research in the future. the future, I think it’s time to face the un- Prospect Of Immortality. I was inspired by In 1964, I was thrilled to learn that pleasant truth that the cryonics movement Bob’s book to become a cryonics activist there were groups of mainstream scientists is dying, and that, unless it can be revital- To me cryonics was far more than a chance conducting organ cryopreservation research. ized and rejuvenated, our chances of sur- of survival in the face of death. In 1964, I I assumed that cryonicists would be a major vival may be very small. saw death as being far in the future. I was force in helping these and other mainstream I make this assessment as someone who 25 years old and in excellent health. The researchers advance their research, and that, has been an active cryonicist for most of the first patient had yet to be frozen, and I knew as the cryonics organizations grew, we past 33 years, who has seen and partici- that freezing would cause severe damage to would begin to conduct research ourselves. pated in many of the ups and downs of the the body. As I saw it at the time, the combination of movement, and who remains, in spite of My primary motive in becoming a cry- mainstream research, and the fierce dedica- this overwhelmingly negative assessment onics activist was to save my life in the tion of cryonicists in promoting and fund- of its current state, an optimist about our future, when I knew it would need saving. I ing bold, pathbreaking new research would ability to turn the downward spiral of the knew that my youth and health were short- lead to perfected be- movement around in the next 10 years, and, lived; that I was programmed to grow old, fore the end of the 20th century. ultimately, to succeed in our quest for physi- suffer and die; and that major scientific With these assumptions in place, I was cal immortality. However, before I give advances would have to occur to change all highly motivated to help the fledgling cry- you my prescription for this turn-around, that. onics movement grow as rapidly as pos- let’s look at the the evidence that the cryon- I saw cryonics as a dynamic, dramatic sible. I saw every minute, hour and day ics movement has failed. force to drive the pace of research forward. spent in fostering the growth of the move- The first piece of evidence that the I saw it as a vehicle for me to play a role in ment as a tremendously exciting opportu- cryonics movement has failed is the fact driving the pace of research forward. I as- nity for me to save my life, and the lives of that we’ve attracted such a minuscule fol- sumed that anyone who wanted to improve my loved ones, and to advance the most lowing in the past 33 years. their chances of survival through cryonics powerful and far-reaching revolution in When you consider that cryonics of- would be strongly interested in research. I history...a revolution that would lead to fers the most valuable product ever con- realized that few people would have the physical immortality and the opportunity to ceived—the possibility of everlasting life will or aptitude to become researchers them- explore an incredibly vast universe of — that we offer the only product in history selves, but I expected that everyone who unimagineable riches. It was going to be that is essential for everyone on the planet, opted for cryonics could contribute to re- the adventure of a lifetime...my lifetime! and that the vast majority of Americans search in other ways. They could help to My assessment today — 33 years later (and a great many people abroad) have fund research themselves. They could urge — of the cryonics movement that began learned of its availability over the past 33 the government, corporations, and other in- with such promise and potential is that it years, our ability to attract members has dividuals to fund research. And, if they has failed, and that there is significant risk been utterly and absolutely abysmal! couldn’t afford to fund research in 1964, of its . At a time when cryonicists I believe cryonics has received more they could dedicate themselves to making continue to debate about the probability of publicity with less results than any idea in

8 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 history. Over the years, there have been and only two members are under 30 (One ment was already aging fast, but the major thousands of radio and TV shows and news- of them is an infant, the child of a member activists were still young and ambitious paper and magazine stories about cryonics. in his 40s). The largest group of CryoCare enough to be optimistic, and hardly any of Although much of this publicity has been members is in the 40-to-60 age range. They them had died yet. Moreover, as a result of negative, many media stories have presented represent about 20 percent of the total age our activism, we were beginning to attract our point of view fairly, and many have range, but more than 60 percent of the mem- young activists, such as Ralph Whelan, been quite positive about cryonics. bership. (I’d appreciate it if the other cry- Tanya Jones and Derek Ryan. Despite this massive publicity for a va- onics organizations would post the current However, this “youth movement” riety of cryonics organizations for more age range of their members). proved short-lived. Ralph, Tanya and Derek than three decades, we have a mere 700- Actually, the aging of the cryonics found, after a number of years of toil and 800 people worldwide who have made fi- movement is far more serious than these trouble, that there was still no future in nancial and legal preparations to be frozen. figures show. When you look at cryonics cryonics. They managed to escape from the Despite all the publicity, under 100 pa- activists, the figures are even more alarm- movement while they were still young tients have been frozen since the inception ing. Today, the vast majority of cryonics enough to build a viable career in the real of the movement, in the face of hundreds of activists are over 40, many of them are over world. millions of people who died during this 60, a fair number of them are over 70, and a Today, as the cryonics movement period, but chose or over significant number of them have already grows older and older, its attraction to young cryopreservation. died, including such stalwarts as , people grows weaker and weaker. Today, In the last 33 years, billionaires and an Paul Genteman, Jerry White, Dick Marsh, the cryonics movement has nothing to offer untold number of millionaires, who were Walter Runkel, Jack Erfurt and Andrea young people except hard work with little well aware of the option of cryonics, chose Foote. A signficant number of others are or no pay; apathy, ridicule or hostility from instead the total destruction of death the likely to die within the next 5 years or so. the outside world; internal fighting with “old-fashioned” way. These people are not being replaced by aging cryonicists, many of whom have never The facts speak for themselves. In the any stretch of the imagination. The cryon- learned how to work and play well with context of the intense desire for survival on ics movement is not attracting young activ- others; a level of emotional stress from deal- the part of virtually everyone on Earth, ists in anywhere near the numbers we need ing with cryonics cases that is comparable we’ve failed miserably in attracting people to keep the movement alive and vital. It is to that found in emergency care medicine, to the cryonics movement. Considering the clearly a dying movement. without any of the benefits of being a health powerful attachment to life that most people The reasons young activists aren’t be- care professional; and the fear that you’ll have, the almost total rejection of cryonics ing attracted to the cryonics movement end up an institutional cryonicist with little by the general public is strong evidence aren’t hard to see. When I was a young or no hope of success in the outside world. that people just don’t think it will work! activist in the 1960s, I saw great hope and Further evidence that the cryonics move- It’s true that it costs money and takes promise in a movement that I was confident ment has failed has been our inability to time to sign up for cryonics, but these would would, eventually, bring me wealth, fame persuade mainstream scientists of the value not be major barriers to growth, I believe, if and physical immortality. I knew that it of cryonics. I am not aware of a single people truly believed there is a reasonable would be quite a while before these goals mainstream scientist whose negative opin- chance that cryonics will work. would be achieved, but I was young and ion of cryonics has been changed by any- The evidence also shows that, not only vigorous, I was working with other young thing we’ve said, written or done in the past have we failed to attract people to the cry- and vigorous people, and we were shooting 33 years. On the contrary, the position of onics movement in general, but more omi- for the stars! establishment scientists over the years has nously, when it comes to attracting young In 1971, I realized that things were hardened into perpetual, and sometimes ridi- people, we are rapidly losing ground. This moving much slower than I had hoped, that culing negativism and condescension. is the evidence for my conclusion that the I was 32 years of age without any money, a The overwhelming negativity of estab- cryonics movement is dying and moving viable career, or any prospects for either if I lished scientists for cryonics was not preor- towards extinction. remained a cryonics activist. So I dropped dained or inevitable. In fact, in the early According to Mike Darwin, the aver- out of activism to make my mark in the years of the movement, a number of scien- age age of Alcor members in 1984 (when “real world” and didn’t drop back in until tists, including prominent cryobiologists, he was President of Alcor) was 38 years of the mid 1980s, when I could afford to do were quite friendly towards cryonics. age. Today, half of CryoCare’s members so. Reknowned biologist Jean Rostand, for ex- are 50 or older, 80 percent are 40 or older, In the mid 1980s, the cryonics move- ample, wrote the preface to The Prospect of

Saul Kent was a founding member of the Cryonics Society of New York in the 1960s. Since then, he has written books such as The Revolution and Future Sex, helped to create and run the Life Extension Foundation (a successful dietary supple- ment company), and defeated the FDA’s efforts to tighten government control of vitamins and supplements.

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 9 Immortality. Armand Karow, Jr., an estab- responsible for their loss of funding. As a product. Outsiders don’t have to think twice lished cryobiologist at the Medical College result, they became bitterly opposed to a to come to that conclusion. It’s self evident of Georgia wrote a series of columns for movement in which they saw no redeeming to almost everyone....except to cryonicists! Cryonics Reports, the newsletter of the Cry- value. In their eyes, the vast publicity that For the past 33 years, we’ve been bend- onics Society of New York. A.P. Rinfret of cryonics was attracting was a direct slap in ing over backwards to evade the truth about the Linde Division of Union Carbide, which the face of the only people (the scientists) our movement. We’ve twisted ourselves into sold cryogenic equipment in the '60s, was on Earth who could ever achieve the goal proverbial pretzels in our efforts to pretend friendly towards cryonics. Jerome K. the cryonicists were supposed to be seek- that we have a good product, when all the Sherman, a cryobiologist at the University ing. In their eyes, the constant focus of the evidence screams at us that our product is of Arkansas sought financial help from the media on cryonics rather than terrible! cryonics movement. In the 1960s, I was was a sad, cruel joke played upon them by a In the process of evading reality, we’ve able to put together a Scientific Advisory group (the cryonicists) driven primarily by sidestepped, twisted and distorted the truth Board to the Cryonics Societies, which in- vanity and narcissism, who preferred sen- so badly that we’ve lost our way in a tangled cluded a number of eminent mainstream sationalism to science. jumble of wrong ideas, false notions, and surgeons and cryobiologists. As the cryobiologists hardened their misleading myths. When I was about to go to New York stance against the cryonics movement, Instead of facing up to the crudity of University Hospital to participate in the cryonicists reacted by attacking the our freezing methods and the importance of freezing of Ann DeBlasio in 1969, I called cryobiologists for their attacks on the prac- the massive damage caused by these meth- cryobiologist Arthur Rowe (who was then tice of cryonics. What could have become a ods, we’ve focused more and more on the working at the New York Blood Bank) for highly productive partnership driving us to possibility of future repair of this damage. advice, which he gave me willingly and perfected suspended animation became in- This has been easy to do because of the openly. This is the same Arthur Rowe who stead a cold war between two hostile camps growth of the nanotechnology movement, has since been quoted over and over in who were hurting each other’s chances for which has lent credibility (in some quar- newspaper and magazine articles saying that success. ters) to the concept of future repair of very the belief that cryonics will work is like My thesis that the cryonics movement severe injury caused by aging, disease, is- believing you can turn “hamburger back has failed and is moving towards extinction chemic injury, and freezing damage. into a cow!” is so strongly supported by the evidence When cryobiologists contend we are It’s no mystery why mainstream that it is truly remarkable that cryonicists damaging our patients too much to permit cryobiologists were friendly towards cry- have failed to discuss it. I contend, in fact, future reanimation, we criticize them for onics in the early days of the movement. that the failure of these issues to be raised failing to take into account the potential of They thought cryonicists were a potential and taken seriously by cryonicists is indica- future repair methods. In doing so, we fail source of funds for their research. They tive of an escape from reality that is at the to appreciate that we are, similarly, failing thought that anyone who wanted to beat root of our failure, and is a significant threat to take into account the severity of the dam- death by being frozen would want the best to our survival. Before we can deal effec- age our methods cause. Until we have solid possible chance of success. That even a tively with the threat of the movement’s evidence that we can preserve the brain small cryonics movement would do every- extinction, we must first accept the fact that well enough to retain enough information thing within its power to help fund cryobio- we have failed. to maintain our identities, it is inappropri- logical research. I believe that, unless we face the truth ate, I believe, for us to criticize They soon found out they were wrong. about the failure of our movement and its cryobiologists over their opinion that fu- Cryonicists didn’t fund their research. possible extinction squarely and unflinch- ture repair of today’s frozen patients will be Cryonicists didn’t try to raise funds for their ingly, we will be doomed to the very thing impossible. Without the evidence that we research. Cryonicists didn’t even seem in- we have been trying so desperately trying can effectively preserve ourselves, the terested in their research. Instead, cryonicists to avoid...permanent and irreversible death! cryobiologists are not only entitled to their spent a great deal of time trying to persuade A major symptom of our escape from negative opinions about cryonics, but we cryobiologists, and the rest of the world, reality has been our widespread denial of don’t have the slightest chance of changing that people frozen after by the the importance of the massive damage their minds! extremely crude and damaging methods of caused by the primitive freezing methods Whenever we refuse to admit that the the '60s, had a chance of revival, perhaps we employ. We’ve not only failed to fund “miracle” of nanotechnology might not ever even a good chance of revival, in the future. and promote the research needed to im- be able to repair the most severe damage to And so the cryobiologists withdrew all prove cryonics methods, but we’ve actively today’s patients, we are seen as irrational, support for the cryonics movement. As the resisted finding out and admitting to the wild-eyed dreamers, and our movement as years went by with little or no evidence that world (and to ourselves) how much dam- more a cult or religion than a scientific cryonicists were interested in research, they age we were (and are) inflicting upon our endeavor. turned more and more against the move- patients. In our denial of the truth and our eva- ment. When their government and corpo- The result has been the failure to con- sion of reality, we go on and on about rate funding sources began to dry up in the front and effectively deal with the fact that irrelevant or imaginary things. Among the 1970s, some cryobiologists began to worry our failure to sell cryonics has been due, myths cryonicists have developed are the that the cryonics movement was, in part, almost entirely, to the poor quality of our following:

10 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 1) That all we need is for some billion- facility designed by a company called CryoCare). All these people were success- aire to bail us out with a barrel-full of money. CryoLife in Kansas City, Missouri. Bob ful in other ventures; none were successful This myth has been with us since the incep- said that he had been told that CryoLife in cryonics. tion of the movement and shows no sign of expected to see 30 of these facilities built The most impressive team I met with disappearing, despite strong evidence that across the country over the next few years. in those days was a group of well capital- it is absurd. Rich people, even rich In October 1966, while on a cross-country ized businessmen and scientists from Cleve- cryonicists, aren’t fools. They aren’t going cryonics trip with , we land, headed by the Vice-President of a to bankroll a movement of wild-eyed dream- met with the man behind CryoLife, a suc- major cryogenic equipment manufacturer. ers and rigid ideologues. They’ll put their cessful , who was the slick- This group had developed specialized equip- money up (with caution) when they see est, most persuasive promoter I’ve ever met. ment, including a multiple-body storage persuasive evidence that the money will be However, CryoLife never got off the ground. device that had been patented, and included used wisely, with a reasonable chance of A couple of years earlier, two fast- a Prof. of Biophysics from Case Western success. talking promoters with good track records Reserve University whose research team I say this as someone who has been in other fields — Leonard Gold and Steve had frozen pigs at Case Western. Despite responsible for putting more money into Milgram — put considerable time and all this, they went nowhere with cryonics. cryonics than anyone in the history of the money into developing a cryonics company In later years, a number of other com- movement, and who has been accused fre- (Juno, Inc.). Gold purchased a bankrupt petent people, with track records of success quently of being a wild-eyed dreamer my- business (the Patton Machine Works) in in other business ventures, tried their best self. Well, the truth is that I have been a Springfield, Ohio; raised substantial capital to promote cryonics. These included, Irv- wild-eyed dreamer at times, and have wasted from local businessmen; persuaded a cryo- ing Rand, a crack insurance salesman, who some of the money I’ve put into cryonics. genic equipment manufacturer in Colum- spent a great deal of time and money at- But, for the most part, I’ve put my money bus, Ohio (Cryovac) to build the first cry- tempting to sell cryonics, without success. on horses who had produced evidence that onics storage capsule free of charge; per- Then there is what I consider the best they had a shot at reaching the finish line. suaded the local Springfield newspaper to and longest standing campaign to promote Moreover, now that I am older, wiser and give his company free publicity through cryonics...the efforts at Alcor in the ’80s more desperate, I am becoming more and regular news stories; and gathered a stack and early ’90s, which led to a growth rate of more realistic about where I put my money of letters from funeral directors around the 30% a year for a number of years until Jerry and what I expect to get from it! country stating their desire to work with Leaf’s sudden and untimely death, which 2) Another myth that has permeated Juno. destabilized Alcor and led to its breakup, cryonics from the beginning is that there In May 1965, Juno was involved in the resulting in the formation of CryoCare in has never been a really good effort to pro- near-miss freezing of a woman in a hospital 1993. I’ll get back to what Ralph Merkle mote cryonics by a professional promoter/ in Springfield that generated a tremendous has deemed “The Golden Era of Cryonics” publicist/sales person, and that if we had amount of worldwide publicity. When Curtis later, but first I want to discuss another of the right promoter and enough money to do Henderson and I met with Gold near the the myths that has plagued the cryonics the job right, there would be rapid, acceler- Whitestone Bridge in late 1965, shortly af- movement for years. ating growth in the movement. ter starting the Cryonics Society of New 3) This myth is that the biggest thing I contend that this is the exact opposite York, we asked him what he thought we holding back growth in cryonics has been of the truth. While it’s true that there has should do: “Nothing!” he replied, “I’ve the continuous and persistent attacks on us never been a multi-million dollar campaign taken care of it all. The first person will be by cryobiologists...in newspaper and maga- to sell cryonics, there’s never been enough frozen in a few months on international TV zine stories and on radio and TV shows. evidence to support the investment of that with the Pope and other celebrities in atten- I don’t deny that a less hostile attitude kind of money in the promotion of cryon- dance. After that, Juno expects to be freez- towards cryonics on the part of the ics. ing thousands of people a year, with the cryobiologists would have helped the move- On the other hand, there is a long his- company going public right after we freeze ment, but I completely disagree with the tory of competent promoters, entrepreneurs a Nobel-prize winning scientist.” Suffice it notion that the hostility of cryobiologists and sales people comitting themselves to to say, none of this happened. has been a major reason for the failure of the growth of cryonics, with little or no Among the other people who tried to the cryonics movement to grow. success. promote cryonics in the early years were I say this because history shows that it First, there is Bob Ettinger himself, banker and oil speculator Harlan Lane, real is possible to achieve major growth in an whose book (The Prospect of Immortality) estate speculator and politician Don industry in spite of hostility from the au- persuaded a number of people (including Yarborough (who came within a few votes thorities in the field. me) to become cryonics activists. In the of becoming Governor of Texas), business- A good example is the growth of the 1960s, Bob appeared on many local and man Forrest Walters (who formed vitamin supplement industry. In the 1950s, national radio and TV shows, including sev- ContinueLife); businessman and biophysi- virtually every medical doctor and nutri- eral appearances on the highly popular cist John Flynn (who formed the first incar- tionist in the United States contended that Johnny Carson show. nation of BioPreservation), and business- “supplemental vitamins are worthless” and On one of these appearances, Bob held man and real estate speculator E. Francis didn’t hesitate to voice this opinion to their up a color rendering of a beautiful cryonics Hope (who formed the first incarnation of patients and to the media. At that time, the

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 11 relatively small number of people who took But all I hear about is other reasons for Jerry’s primary interest was research. vitamins were considered “health nuts.” our failure to grow: that signing up is too He agreed to head Alcor’s cryonic suspen- However, in the 1960s and ’70s, the hard; that religious beliefs stop people from sion team reluctantly, and thought it un- use of vitamins grew rapidly in spite of signing up; that people find it hard to con- likely that current methods of cryonics were continued opposition from the medical pro- front their own mortality; that people don’t preserving enough of the brain to permit fession and little scientific evidence to sup- want to confront the opposition to cryonics future reanimation. His dream was to port it. By the 80s and 90s, the growth of of family members and friends; that young achieve suspended animation, and he would the vitamin industry had accelerated dra- people don’t think they’ll need to be signed never have considered becoming involved matically, in large part because of an ava- up for years...etc., etc. in Alcor without being involved in research. lanche of scientific studies in favor of tak- I’m well aware of all these reasons and One of the people that Jerry attracted ing vitamins. more and there’s some validity to all of to Alcor was Mike Darwin. Mike was liv- Another example is the practice of birth them, but the truth is that all of them to- ing and conducting research in Indianapo- control in the United States among Catho- gether don’t compare to the simple fact that lis, Indiana when Jerry Leaf started Cryovita. lics in spite of continuing opposition to the we’ve got a terrible product that virtually It was Jerry’s experience in conducting re- practice by the Pope and the upper echelon no one wants! search at UCLA Medical Center, his desire of the Catholic Church. Surveys have shown Now it’s time to get back to Ralph to conduct research at Cryovita, and his that just as high a percentage of Catholics Merkle’s “golden era of cryonics” when willingness to invest substantially in that practice birth control in the U.S. as non- Alcor’s growth rate was 30% a year. research that caused Mike to move to South- catholics. First, I want to say that the growth rate ern California. Shortly after Mike moved to The common thread in these two ex- in Alcor at the time was the result of a SoCal he became President of Alcor and amples is that it has been possible to gener- tremendous amount of effort and energy on the “golden era of cryonics” began. ate tremendous growth in two industries the part of a number of dedicated people, Another person who came to Alcor be- despite the opposition (and hostility) of the which began to dissipate after one of these cause of Jerry was Brenda Peters. Brenda authorities for one critically important rea- people — Jerry Leaf — died suddenly. interviewed Jerry about his interest in sus- son: the products work! Second, I want to say that, although pended animation around the time that Jerry In the case of vitamins this became there were strong promotional efforts car- was beginning to get involved in Alcor. apparent to regular vitamin takers long be- ried out during those years to increase mem- Brenda then became involved herself, even- fore scientific studies confirmed the health bership growth, the critical heart of Alcor’s tually becoming a member of the Alcor benefits of vitamins. It didn’t take rocket program that, I believe, was most reponsible Board of Directors. She participated in and science for vitamin takers to discover that for its growth was the research program played a significant role in Alcor’s research, they felt better and got sick less often when carried out by Jerry Leaf, Mike Darwin, and played a major role in recruiting mem- they took vitamins. Hugh Hixon and others, which led to ad- bers to Alcor and in raising funds for re- Similarly, Catholics defied their Church vances in the methods by which we freeze search. by using birth control because it stopped our patients. The fourth person who played a women from becoming pregnant far more This research effort was the core activ- signficant role in Alcor’s growth, but would effectively than the rhythm method advo- ity around which everything else revolved. not have done so if not for Alcor’s research cated by the Church. It was the major source of energy that lent program was me. When I stopped being a I’m very confident that many people vitality and excitment to all Alcor activi- cryonics activist in 1971, a major reason who believe in the religious concept of an ties. Anyone who doubts this should under- for doing so was that, after 6 years of inten- will opt for cryonics as soon as stand that if it hadn’t been for Alcor’s re- sive efforts, the cryonics movement had they believe it will work better than the search program, the “golden era of cryon- failed to fund or promote any signficant notion of getting to heaven, which brings ics” would undoubtedly have been known research. I vowed never to become an ac- me to the final cryonics myth I want to as the “dark ages of cryonics” and the move- tivist again unless the organization I was discuss: ment would be even closer to extinction part of had a significant commitment to 4) That the failure of the cryonics move- today. research. In the 1980s, I donated significant ment to grow is some kind of mystery. The I say this because I know beyond a funds to Alcor, wrote and developed pro- only mystery I find difficult to fathom is shadow of a doubt that four of the key motional brochures and other mailing why — after 33 years of failure — anyone people in Alcor at that time would not have pieces, organized and directed conferences, in the movement remains puzzled in any been activists if it hadn’t been for the Alcor/ and helped promote the research program. way about why cryonics has failed to grow. Cryovita research program. Without the active participation of Jerry To put it in a nutshell: cryonics hasn’t They are Jerry Leaf, who brought pro- Leaf, Mike Darwin, Brenda Peters and my- grown because nobody thinks it will work! fessional research and cryonics services into self, Alcor would have remained a tiny back- After 33 years of failing to convince people the movement, who played a major stabi- water cryonics organization or would have that cryonics can work, you’d think we’d lizing political role in Alcor, who funded disappeared into the night. Certainly, Alcor all agree that, except for a handful of people, virtually all of the initial research through would never have made the research, legal, it’s difficult or impossible to sell cryonics, his company Cryovita Laboratories, and medical, public relations and administra- and that “a handful of people” cannot be whose presence at Alcor attracted a wide tive strides it made in the ’80s and early translated into significant growth. variety of competent people. ’90s. In fact, I think it’s highly unlikely that

12 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 Ralph Merkle and hundreds of others would the Prometheus Project. doors” to get it, and we’ll have more growth have joined Alcor if Jerry, Mike, Brenda Over the last few years, I’ve come to than we can imagine. and myself had not become activists. the conclusion that major research advances However, if we do not conduct the Throughout most of the 33-year-old leading to better and more credible cryon- research to develop cryonics and gain cred- cryonics movement, I was almost as guilty ics services is the only hope we have of ibility in mainstream science and medicine, as others in denying the truth about cryon- salvaging the failed cryonics movement and the movement will grow weaker and weaker, ics. I, too, put less money and time into preventing its extinction. I think it would be and will likely, in my opinion, become ex- research than I could have. I, too, pursued a huge mistake for us to keep on trying to tinct within the next 20-to-30 years! tactics aimed at cryonics growth rather than sell an inferior product that almost nobody The choice is ours! Unless we invest the improvement of cryopreservation meth- wants to buy. That’s what we’ve tried to do our money and time in research, I believe ods. I, too, became involved in internal po- for the past 33 years. Our failure can be we are doomed to oblivion...both individu- litical conflicts within the movement. I, too, seen in a rapidly aging movement whose ally and collectively! castigated the cryobiologists for their at- principals are dying off without being re- Anyone who wishes to donate money tacks on cryonics. placed. to research can do so through the non-profit But, in comparison with most other I believe that the only way we can Institute For Neural Cryobiology. INC is cryonicists, I was enlightened. Despite my attract young people to our movement is to funding a hippocampal brain slice myopia over certain issues, I have been provide them with irrefutable evidence that cryopreservation project at a mainstream investing money and promoting research we are improving cryonics methods and medical center that is an important step since the 1960s. moving towards suspended animation. Re- towards suspended animation. You can find At the time of Jerry Leaf’s death, he search will not only attract scientists who out more about this project on INC’s web and Greg Fahy were well into the planning can contribute to it, but will also attract site: http://neurocryo.org. You can donate stages of a brain cryopreservation research young people from all disciplines, who will to the project at http://neurocryo.org/ project, which I had already raised some see cryonics as a vital, growing, dynamic funding.html. money for. We had also planned to con- movement that’s going to change the world! (21CM) is a tinue the full-body washout hypothermia Research is also the only means of im- for-profit company that occupies two build- research we had conducted for a number proving the credibility of the movement. It ings in Southern California. One building is years, and had other research plans as well. will not be possible for us to win over main- devoted to cerebral resuscitation research, When all this was derailed by Jerry’s stream scientists, physicians, media lead- the other to cryopreservation research. death and subsequent events at Alcor, I ers, politicians, attorneys, businessmen and 21CM has an ambitious research program made up my mind to work harder than ever professionals of all kinds in any way other that features kidney, heart, brain and whole- to make enough money to support a re- than through research. body vitrification. Later in the year, 21CM search program that would not be so depen- We now have an unprecedented op- will be offering stock in the company to dent on one person (such as Jerry Leaf). For portunity to make major progress in cere- investors. Anyone who wishes to be put on a number of years, I (and Bill Faloon) were bral resuscitation, organ cryopreservation, a waiting list to receive a 21CM Prospectus not able to make enough money to achieve and human vitrification, which will lead to should send their name, phone number and this goal because of a long-standing legal great improvements in cryonics services, postal address to: Joan O’Farrell, Chief Fi- and political struggle with the FDA. greater credibility for cryonics, the ability nancial Officer, 21st Century Medicine, Fortunately, Paul Wakfer, who had to raise capital to develop even better ser- 10743 Civic Center Drive, Rancho come to SoCal in large part to help out with vices, major profits which can be reinvested Cucamonga, CA 91730; or call her at: 909- the research program, began to put in sub- into research,and the transformation of cry- 987-3883 or contact her via email at: stantial amounts of his money, time and onics from a tiny, dying oddball movement [email protected]. effort to help Mike Darwin put together a into an integral part of mainstream 21st I’ve written this essay to provide evi- research facility in Colton, California, which century medicine. dence for my contention that — at this time was the precursor to the 21st Century Medi- What we need to acquire legitimacy in history — we should devote most of our cine facility in Rancho Cucamonga, which for cryonics from young and old alike, is attention, time and money to suspended ani- Paul also played a major role in creating. hard, published evidence that major organs mation research. I invite comment, criti- Finally, in February 1996, Bill and I such as the kidney and heart can be cism and discussion of the ideas in this were able to win our war with the FDA and, cryopreserved effectively; that the infor- piece. as a result, were soon able to increase our mation in the brain can be cryopreserved funding for research dramatically. Today, effectively; that apparently “dead” people we are investing about one million dollars a can be restored to life, health and vigor, that year in 21CM research, as well as hundreds we can convert laboratory breakthroughs of thousands of dollars more per year for into advanced human cryopreservation ser- anti-aging research, while Paul Wakfer con- vices, and that we can deliver these ad- tinues to raise money for brain vanced services to consumers at affordable cryopreservation research through the In- prices. stitute For Neural Cryobiology (INC), which Once we develop a product that people has taken over what was formerly known as really want, they’ll be “breaking down our

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 13 Shock Treatments

The Editor of Cryonics Comments on “The Failure of Cryonics”

by Brian Shock

irst, let me state unequivocably that dressing some of the statements that information or to unreal expectations. FI agree with the underlying mes- Mr. Kent employed as facts. Alcor continues to grow at a slow but sage of Saul Kent’s preceding article: steady rate of approximately one mem- Cryonics research is vital to us. There “According to Mike Darwin, the ber per week (not counting attrition of hasn’t been enough of it. There must average age of Alcor members in 1984 existing members, which still allows be more! (when he was President of Alcor) was for a significant net gain). Of the new Of course, not everyone is cut out 38 years of age. Today, half of Alcor suspension members who com- for research. If you’d seen me in my CryoCare’s members are 50 or older, pleted their arrangements in 1997, 60% college organic chemistry lab, you 80 percent are 40 or older, and only two were in their 40’s or younger. would certainly feel much more secure members are under 30 (One of them is Moreover, I feel personally dis- in knowing that I edit a magazine in- an infant, the child of a member in his counted in this assertion about the lack stead of fiddling with test tubes! (Ever 40s). The largest group of CryoCare of “young activists”; although I am paid try to synthesize sulfa drugs? In my members is in the 40-to-60 age range. to work as a cryonicist, I still consider single attempt at it, the glassware appa- They represent about 20 percent of the myself an “activist,” and although I’m ratus exploded, dissolving the lab’s ceil- total age range, but more than 60 per- 37 years of age, I still consider myself ing with a gout of chlorosulfonic acid cent of the membership. (I’d appreciate “young.” Right behind me are similar and fogging the entire room with deadly it if the other cryonics organizations individuals such as Lisa Ferrington chlorine gas.) would post the current age range of Shock (my wife and a regular Alcor My primary disagreement with Saul their members).” volunteer), Steve Van Sickle (Cryonics Kent revolves around the method by columnist), Steve Jackson, Monica which he attempts to convey this rally- Alcor shared its figures with Stephens, and James Wade (who par- ing cry for more research. At worst, the CryoCare president and Cryonics col- ticipated in the CryoTransport Training casual reader of Mr. Kent’s article might umnist Charles Platt, whose article on Course preceding Alcor’s latest confer- conclude that cryonics has indeed failed, the subject immediately follows this edi- ence in April), Tim and Ailing Free- and that cryonicists’ only viable option torial. The average age of Alcor mem- man (who have hosted cryonics sign-up is now to scrap all publicity, all mem- bers is approximately 43, with the great- parties in their home), and too many bership organizations, and all suspen- est concentration in the 30-to-50 age others to count. (For the dozens of you sion teams, and plow the equivalent of range. in Alcor, ACS, and these resources into research. At best, whom I failed to mention, please ac- this same casual reader is unlikely to “The cryonics movement is not at- cept my humblest apologies. I know feel motivated about participating in any tracting young activists in anywhere you’re out there!) Perhaps these num- aspect of cryonics, research or other- near the numbers we need to keep the bers aren’t large enough to satisfy any wise. movement alive and vital. It is clearly a of us completely, but these “young ac- Even so, these are questions of mar- dying movement.” tivists” do exist and their ranks are grow- keting and mass psychology, and so are ing. infinitely (perhaps pointlessly) debat- As Alcor Membership Manager in able. In the interest of journalistic ac- addition to Editor of Cryonics, I must “In the mid 1980s, the cryonics curacy, I am far more interested in ad- attribute this statement either to lack of movement was already aging fast, but

14 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 the major activists were still young and Jones, and Derek Ryan are no longer Alcor’s growth rate was 30% a year.” ambitious enough to be optimistic, and Alcor employees, they are still very pub- hardly any of them had died yet. More- lic Alcor suspension members. Further, A minor note: Ralph Merkle’s de- over, as a result of our activism, we Tanya Jones and Derek Ryan partici- nies ever using this phrase, “the golden were beginning to attract young activ- pated in the latest Northern California era of cryonics,” although he has fre- ists, such as Ralph Whelan, Tanya Jones CryoTransport Training session during quently spoken in favor of 30% growth and Derek Ryan. February, 1998; both recertified them- per year. “However, this “youth movement” selves as Alcor CryoTransport Techni- proved short-lived. Ralph, Tanya and cians. Finally, in May, 1998, Derek While Mr. Kent states several other Derek found, after a number of years of Ryan was elected to Alcor’s Board of opinions that I feel are not substanti- toil and trouble, that there was still no Directors. ated by fact, I must grant that my per- future in cryonics. They managed to The reader may decide for himself sonal opinions are no better docu- escape from the movement while they whether these three individuals have mented. Let me suggest only that unre- were still young enough to build a vi- “escaped the movement.” mitting pessimism is probably no more able career in the real world.” productive than mindless optimism. “Now it’s time to get back to Ralph Although Ralph Whelan, Tanya Merkle’s “golden era of cryonics” when

Mark Your Calendars Today!

BioStasis 2000

June of the Year 2000 Asilomar Conference Center Northern California

Initial List of Speakers: Eric Drexler, Ph.D. Ralph Merkle, Ph.D. Robert Newport, M.D.

Watch the Alcor Phoenix as details unfold! Artwork by Tim Hubley

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 15 Reality Check

Growth and its Consequences

by Charles Platt

n my previous column I provided people “emigrate” from the community. membership growth, and average mem- Ia personal overview of real-life prob- Thus, the cryonics population is affected ber age — affect the number of lems afflicting cryonics and its activ- primarily by two factors: immigration per year. This makes it very difficult to ists. In this and future columns I’ll nar- (i.e. new members joining) and the death derive a formula predicting the prob- row the focus to concentrate on specific rate. ability of simultaneous cases. issues. So far the death rate has been low, My answer, therefore, is to forget One concern that I mentioned last because the “nation” of cryonics was about formulae and do what demogra- time was the possibility of two cryonics established only 30 years ago. Most of phers do when they want to predict the patients requiring emergency transport the early cryonicists were young, and future status of a population. They simu- and perfusion simultaneously—a risk few have died yet; they have merely late it via a computer program. that obviously increases as an organi- grown older. Meanwhile, most people As many readers will be aware, de- zation acquires more members. But pre- who signed up for cryonics during the mographic simulations have achieved a cisely how much does the risk increase? past three decades are also still alive, very poor record over the past 40 years. To what extent should a cryonics orga- and growing older. Consequently the Back in the 1960s the UN made com- nization worry about this problem, now average age of cryonicists has increased puter-based projections of global popu- and in the future? So far as I can tell, and will continue to increase until eld- lation growth that turned out to be far these questions have never been an- erly members start to die in larger num- too high, because no one at that time swered. bers. believed people in less-developed coun- At first glance the chance of simul- The increase in average age of tries would voluntarily have fewer chil- taneous cases resembles the “birthday cryonicists has already become notice- dren. Also, the idea that European na- problem” (well-known among math- able just by casual observation. At the tions such as Italy would suffer a popu- ematicians), which asks how many Alcor conference earlier this year I saw lation decrease seemed inconceivable; people must be in a room to reach a 50- more white hair (or absence of hair) but today, with a birth rate of 1.2 chil- 50 chance of any two of them sharing than at similar meetings a decade ago. dren per female lifetime, Italians (like the same birthday. But the cryonics ver- Possibly, as Saul Kent believes, aging most European nationalities) are re- sion is more complex, because people cryonicists are not being supplemented producing below replacement level. of different ages have differing mortal- fast enough by young new cryonicists, We can try to avoid gross blunders ity risks, and the age distribution within and most activists now are over fifty. I of this kind in our cryonics simulation cryonics organizations has changed, and haven’t examined this proposition in by allowing very flexible assumptions. will continue to change, as time passes. detail, so I can’t confirm or refute it; For instance, we can assume that there Why should this be? The answer but I do know without any doubt that will be zero growth in Alcor’s member- becomes clearer if we think of cryonics the average age of cryonicists has in- ship over the next forty years, and then as being like a nation. Four factors de- creased over the past thirty years, for we can run the simulation again assum- termine national population and age dis- reasons I have described above, and it ing a constant compounding growth rate tribution as time passes: birth rate, death will continue to increase for at least the of 30 percent per year, which is the rate, immigration, and emigration. next twenty years, until age-related fac- highest the organization has ever In cryonics, very few babies are tors cause cryonicists to start dying in achieved. This provides “worst case” “born into” the community and signed larger numbers. and “best case” scenarios, with the truth up by their parents, and relatively few So, two unpredictable variables — probably lying somewhere in between.

16 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 curve, I derived a rough estimate. dies during a year of the simulation. Methodology Now I knew the age of each Alcor Suppose we define “simultaneous First, with the helpful cooperation member, and the average risk of death cases” as two that occur less than three of Alcor, I obtained the known birth at each age. This enabled me to write a days apart, bearing in mind that a dates of Alcor members. Since these very simple program that figures the standby team needs at least a couple of dates were not accompanied by any probable number of deaths during the days to complete one case and start the names, Alcor felt that the data was not next year. My program then extends its next. For each member who dies, the confidential. From this I constructed a simulation into the future by increasing program chooses a random day, then demographic profile of Alcor, which is the age of each surviving member by checks whether it falls within two days shown in the bar chart below, alongside one year, and enlarging the total mem- of any previously calculated random a profile of CryoCare Foundation, the bership by a predetermined growth per- death-day that year. If it does, the pro- other organization allowing easy access centage. Now the program repeats the gram increments the number of simul- to data. CryoCare is about one-sixth the death-rate calculation, discards the de- taneous cases. size of Alcor, but its age distribution is ceased members, adds new members, Here again, the results are obvi- similar, with the median lying in the and goes through another iteration . . . ously affected by the choice of random 40-49 group. Alcor has relatively more as many times as necessary. numbers; but if we run the simulta- members aged 30-39 while CryoCare At the heart of this process is a neous-death test 100 times for each year has a larger group aged 50-59, probably pseudorandom number function. Sup- of a projection (which itself will be because CryoCare was established by a pose a member aged 75 has a 1 in 10 repeated 100 times), once again the re- core of “Alcor refugees” who were al- chance of dying during the next year. sults can be averaged to get a most- ready in their middle years. Also, The program chooses a pseudorandom likely scenario. CryoCare has not recruited new mem- number from 1 to 10; if the number The program still needs to take ac- bers as actively as Alcor. Both organi- happens to be 10, the member is elimi- count of variations in membership zations, however, are similar at the de- nated from the membership list, while growth. Presumably, new members will mographic extremes, with relatively few if the number is less than 10, the pro- join Alcor each year, and I don’t know elderly members (presumably because gram increases the member’s age by 1 how numerous or how old they will be. most people sign up before retirement year. During the next iteration, the pro- To allow for this, program allows the age) and relatively few members aged gram runs the random-number test again user to specify different values for these under 30. The under-30 group consti- using the appropriate (higher) chance variables. This creates another useful tutes 5 percent of the CryoCare mem- of death for someone aged 76 ... and so tool: instead of sitting around arguing bership, and about 10 percent of Alcor. on. and worrying about the number of ad- Of course this still does not prove By performing the random-number ditional cases we’ll have to deal with if that cryonics has lost its appeal to young test for every Alcor member, the pro- membership grows at, say, 3 percent people; we would need to know the gram provides an approximate idea of per year, we can specify the growth rate ages at which members signed up, rather how the population is likely change in and see what happens. Also, we can see than their current ages, to resolve that the future. Of course, the random num- the consequences if the median age of issue. Possibly I can examine it in my ber generator creates different numbers signups is higher or lower. My default next column. each time the simulation runs—but if value is 40, and the program chooses Having acquired the birth dates, I we repeat it, say, 100 times and then random ages grouped around the me- turned to a valuable volume published average all the results, this leaves us dian in an approximate bell curve with every year by the U. S. Census Bureau: with the most likely scenario. a cutoff at +/- 12 years. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Already this is a useful tool, be- It contains data on every aspect of cause for the first time it enables a cry- Caveats American life, and is available on CD- onics organization to plan ahead for the Cryonics could be affected by fac- ROM. likely number of member-deaths per tors that are totally unpredictable. If Buried among its many tables is year. Now, how can we enhance the researchers freeze and resuscitate a one supplying the number of deaths per program to predict the probability of mammal, for instance, this could cata- 1,000 Americans, tabulated by age. Ac- simultaneous cases? lyze the growth of cryonics far beyond tually the table is inadequate for our Easily. The program assumes that the 30-percent-per-year maximum al- purposes because the Census Bureau death is equally likely on any day of the lowed by my program. Conversely, we doesn’t bother to include persons over year. So, it assigns a new random num- can imagine a federal law that would 85. By plotting the data for younger ber, from 1 through 365 (ignoring leap decimate membership growth by ren- people, however, and extrapolating the years for simplicity) to each person who dering cryonics illegal (as has happened

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 17 Age distribution of 80 CryoCare members, as of January 1, 1999 Age distribution of 426 Alcor members, as of January 1, 1999

already in British Columbia). mum life expectancy and age-related longer than non-whites, and females Such singular events obviously are death rates will be the same for Ameri- tend to live longer than males. Since beyond the scope of any simulation. cans 20 years from now as for Ameri- most cryonicists are white (implying a Even without any singularities, how- cans today. Obviously I hope I’m wrong higher life expectancy than average) but ever, my program still contains some about this, but I wanted to provide a male (with a lower life expectancy than assumptions that could introduce mi- conservative prediction, so I did not average), I believe the nor inaccuracies: allow for the development of success- that I’ve used is reasonably appropri- n After the user chooses a growth rate, ful life-extension therapies. ate. Of course many cryonicists like to the program applies it constantly n The program doesn’t allow for believe they’ll increase their life ex- throughout a future period. In reality, members quitting Alcor before they die. pectancy by using vitamins and other growth is not constant. We don’t have enough experience, yet, supplements, but in my experience they n The definition of growth, in a cry- to determine the percentage of mem- eat junk food like anyone else, which onics organization, is tricky. Suppose bers who are likely to let their financial may be a more relevant factor when we begin with 210 living members, and arrangements lapse; so I ignored this assessing their death rate. in the course of a year we have 10 factor. n I couldn’t obtain figures for coun- deaths and 20 new signups. Since only n I assumed that people who sign up tries other than the USA, so non-Ameri- 200 members were alive at the end of for cryonics are in average health. I did can Alcor members have been assigned the year, while 20 new members were not include “last minute cases,” where American death rates. Fortunately, life added, my program interprets this as 10 someone who has a terminal condition expectancy in Canada is similar to the percent growth. This may not be strictly seeks membership, or a relative wants US, and Alcor has few members in other accurate, depending precisely when the to freeze someone who has already died. countries. deaths and signups occurred during the Currently Alcor (and CryoCare) are ex- Despite these compromises, I do year. tremely reluctant to accept such cases; believe the program provides an ap- n To establish an arbitrary cutoff therefore, I saw no need to include them proximate guide to the likely number of point, the program assumes that anyone in the simulation. deaths per year and the probability of aged 99 has 100 percent chance of death n I used mortality rates averaged for simultaneous cases. within the subsequent year. all Americans — white and black, male n The program assumes that maxi- and female. Actually whites tend to live

18 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 Results Linda Chamberlain are making strenu- half-a-million members, more than Because I serve as President of ous efforts to recruit more volunteers, 10,000 people frozen, and a peak of 5 CryoCare Foundation, initially I ran the especially at the local level. This is re- cases per day. Anyone who believes simulation for CryoCare members. I assuring, assuming the outreach is suc- that growth will solve all the problems found that the smaller number of cessful. in cryonics should ponder carefully the CryoCare members more than compen- If higher growth rates are sustained, infrastructure that would be needed to sates for their higher average age, and the table suggests a need for enough sustain this load. offers one advantage: we don’t have to volunteers (or paid staff) to constitute Finally, if we assume a 30 percent worry much about simultaneous cases two separate response teams. On a non- annual growth rate for 40 years, Alcor or standby-team burnout. During the emergency basis these volunteers could will sign up more than 13 million people next 20 years, for each CryoCare mem- be rotated on and off duty, allowing (about 5 percent of the current U.S. ber who dies, the chance of another recuperation time and guarding against population), while 150,000 more will member dying less than 3 days later burnout. If two cases should occur si- be frozen. This, incidentally, represents remains around 1 percent, even if there multaneously, the two teams could both the upper practical limit on the func- is 3 percent compounded annual growth. be activated. Of course, in this situation tionality of my program. Even with I believe this risk is low enough that we duplicate equipment would be needed. some optimization (using long integers do not require more than one standby Lastly the table illustrates the power and minimizing floating-point opera- team, at least during the first half of of compounded growth. If a 30 percent tions), the program required four hours, that period. Also, one standby team annual growth rate (which was sustained on a 200 MHz Pentium, to run the 40- should easily handle the predicted av- for several years in the past) is main- year, 30-percent growth projection 100 erage of one CryoCare death per year. tained over two decades, Alcor would times. I’m not advocating small member- end up with about 75,000 members by ship as a desirable goal, because obvi- the year 2020. Meanwhile, fewer than Conclusion ously a large organization is better able 1,000 would have been frozen during As I suggested in my last column, to pay employees, more likely to be the preceding years—because, statisti- those who join Alcor under the impres- financially secure, and more likely to cally, the chance of death does not be- sion that they are buying a service in find members with useful skills who gin to increase rapidly until members exchange for membership dues may be may be able to facilitate further growth. are over 60, while my simulations as- disconcerted to learn that the organiza- It’s a fact, though, that sooner or later, sume that the median age of new mem- tion needs their help in order to provide members do die and will need to be bers will be 40. the service. There’s no way around this frozen, imposing a future burden that If we extend the projection for an hard fact; cryonics is still a fledgling we can’t afford to ignore today. additional 20 years, the picture changes science, cryonicists are pioneers, and Table 1 on the following page illus- drastically as many more patients need like all pioneers, they need to pitch in trates this. It shows averaged results to be frozen. In Table 2 we see that and lend a hand. from 100 runs of my simulation pro- even if there is no membership growth In the past, people could dismiss gram using Alcor member data, under at all, by 2040 Alcor would need to find this kind of statement as idle rhetoric. various growth assumptions. space for 260 more patients than it My computer simulation, however, dra- This table shows that with low-to- houses today, necessitating a much matizes the situation and supplies ac- moderate growth (up to 6 percent per larger storage facility than anything cur- tual numbers illustrating the growing year) Alcor can expect around 5 cases rently contemplated. If we assume a need for standby/transport capability in per year on average, during the next modest annual growth rate of 6 percent, an aging cryonics population. There- couple of decades, with a peak of around the patient population more than doubles fore, I urge you to consider participat- a dozen cases a year and a 3 or 4 per- to 525 during the same period. Also, ing in the training programs that Alcor cent chance that any case will be fol- with a peak of 38 deaths per year, even is offering. lowed by another case within 2 days or two teams of emergency personnel Incidentally, if anyone wants to less. Since I am not an Alcor member, might not be enough—unless of course check my program, I’ll email a copy of it would be presumptuous of me to make the teams are employed on a full-time the source code and the compiled .EXE any recommendations, but personally I basis. Clearly, moderate growth has sig- file which runs under any version of find the chance of simultaneous cases nificant consequences if we look far MS-DOS. (So far, computer scientists slightly worrying, and I wonder if a enough ahead. Mike Perry, Art Quaife, and Kevin single standby team could deal with 10 With 20 percent annual growth for Brown have received copies and have or 12 cases in one year without suffer- the next 40 years, the numbers become not reported any errors, which gives me ing battle fatigue. Fortunately, Fred and surreal, leading ultimately to more than some confidence that the methodology

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 19 Table 1 ———————————————------———————------—————— 20-year projection, Alcor Foundation, from January 1999. Based on birth dates of 426 members. Median age of new members: 40. ——————————————————------————------—————— Percent Annual Growth Rate During the 20-Year Period 0 3 6 10 20 30 Living members 338 641 1,173 2,523 14,848 74,639 as of 2019 Additional frozen 88 98 113 143 317 872 members by 2019 Average number of 4 5 6 7 16 44 cases per year Maximum cases in 10 11 13 18 51 196 any one year % chance of any 3 3 4 5 16 43 case occurring 2 days (or less) from another case

Table 2 ——————————————————————------—————— 40-year projection, Alcor Foundation, from January 1999. Based on birth dates of 426 members. Median age of new members: 40. ——————————————————————------—————— Percent Annual Growth Rate During the 40-Year Period 0 3 6 10 20 30 Living members 168 822 3,050 14,782 524,448 13,248,722 as of 2039 Additional frozen 258 351 525 1,058 10,878 150,488 members by 2039 Average number of 6 9 13 26 272 3,762 cases per year Maximum cases in 15 22 38 98 1,782 34,316 any one year % chance of any 5 7 12 27 85 99 case occurring 2 days (or less) from another case is correct.) For simplicity, the program QuickBASIC with minor modifications. was written in an extended version of I invite computer-literate Alcor mem- BASIC and is heavily annotated. It can bers to test my assumptions and sug- be recompiled under Microsoft gest revisions if necessary.

20 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 We saw in that fish were stuck and bound, But some of them then also came to life. by Mikhail Soloviev -- Ovid. Tristia (III:10) [1]

Introduction nate some of these deficiencies and of- anabiosis, while failing to comprehend Anabiosis[2] is a term for the full, fer a modern, brief review of the his- it real potential. reversible cessation of vital activity in a tory of anabiosis. living creature. Although the existence Anabiosis in an can oc- The 17th Century: Experiments of this state is now scientifically proven, cur through desiccation as well as freez- The rise of economics and culture the scientific community needed hun- ing, and also through [7]. during the Renaissance caused a revi- dreds of years and countless experi- Many authors don’t distinguish freez- sion of old philosophical and scientific ments to accept it. Aside from a general ing from supercooling; here, I consider dogma, and led to the rapid growth of lack of biological and biochemical supercooling a form of anabiosis, and experimental science. The experimen- knowledge through the ages, we may use the term “freezing” for any cooling tal approach was advocated by Francis attribute the slow progress of anabiosis below 0°C. Bacon, whose work inspired the cre- research to differing philosophical in- ation of the Royal Society in England, terpretations about the phenomenon of Antiquity: Observations with its motto “Nullis in Verba” (“Noth- life, as well as the conservatism and Certainly the ancients knew about ing in Words”). Besides Bacon, the occasional narrow-mindedness of sci- the effects of cold on living . works of Hobbes, Locke, Galileo, entists. (Intriguingly, the situations of Empedocles noted that the complete Descartes, Gassendi, and Spinoza fos- anabiosis and cryonics seem reversed: cooling of the blood causes death, and tered the material and atomistic inter- with anabiosis, a great deal of experi- Aristotle mentioned the winter “sleep” pretation of nature and life. But materi- mental proof existed, but it was re- of animals in his History of Animals alism was not the only philosophy of sisted for lack of theoretical grounds; [8]. scientific repute during that and subse- with cryonics, a great deal of theoreti- Later, in the early years and centu- quent centuries; many scientists were cal grounds support its feasibility, but ries A.D., observations on the reviving dualists [9] and vitalists [10], which relatively little experimental proof ex- of frozen fish were recorded by Ovid, prevented the general acceptance of ana- ists.) Pliny the Elder, and Athenaeus [4]. biosis for a long time [4,8,11]. The history of anabiosis research is These observations referred to northern Still, the experimental paradigm and dispersed and fragmented over many countries, usually around the Black Sea, associated technological progress (es- publications ranging back through many there being no heavy winters closer to pecially the improvement of the micro- centuries. The historical analysis of such the major centers of civilization of the scope and thermometer [12]) saw the publications [3] tends to be poorly con- Mediterranean. Even so, such records accumulation of genuine anabiosis-re- nected with the general development of suggest only that the ancients derived lated data, generally relating to research biology. In this article, I try to elimi- fascination from the phenomenon of on cold temperatures. This in turn was

Mikhail Soloviev is a cryonics and life-extension advocate living in St. Petersburg, Russia. He holds the Russian equivalent of a Masters degree in biophysics from St. Petersburg State University. Mr. Soloviev has also worked with design and development of models for neurocomputers, molecular computers, and complex biological systems.

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 21 stimulated by (A) the controversy on perimented with rotifers living in moss seemingly destroyed ... and yet, after a the essence of heat (the atomic motion on the roof of his house, preserving long while, life may begin anew to ac- theory of Bacon, who experimented them by drying. Leeuwenhoek found tuate the same body.” Even so, Baker much with cold, vying with Galileo’s that the tiny creatures could be revived remained philosophically confused attribution of heat to a mysterious warm by adding water, even after several years about the nature of life. At one point he fluid or “caloric”); (B) the wide use of in a desiccated state. However, he de- wrote that animals were suspended snow- mixtures for freezing [11]; cided that the creatures remained at least “without being deprived of their living and (C) the rise of scientific activity in partially hydrated; he didn’t realize that power” and then accepted that “What the Northern European countries, where their life was actually suspended. Al- life really is, seems as much too subtle cold was a common phenomenon. though Leeuwenhoek sent a letter about for our understanding to conceive or In 1664, Power detailed a series of this phenomenon to the British Royal define, as for our senses to discern and freezing experiments in his book Ex- Society, no one took any notice of his examine” [4,5]. perimental Philosophy. He successfully discovery at the time [4,5]. Many scientists still considered ex- froze vinegar eel-worms [13] in a mix- Meanwhile, scientific proof contin- periments with eel-worms either arti- ture of ice and salt for several hours, ued to mount in regard to the resuscita- facts or spontaneous generation of life. and kept them in frost overnight. Sig- tion of different animals after freezing This was not surprising — almost noth- nificantly, he considered the freezing and drying. In 1736, Reaumur published ing was known of eel-worm biology, nonlethal — the creatures weren’t dead. data about freezing butterfly pupae and and reviving them was a rather odd [4,5,6]. caterpillars down to -23°C. Since he practice. To improve the scientific evi- In 1677, Leeuwenhoek reported his found that they were incompletely fro- dence of anabiosis, in the 1770s Fontana observation that microscopic animals zen, however, he formulated no hypoth- and Roffredi conducted careful experi- (apparently rotifers [14]) appeared in esis about suspended animation [4,6]. ments on these animals. They confirmed water after it had been frozen and In 1743 Needham observed that the previous results — anabiosis did melted[6]. wheat-infesting eel-worms could be re- exist [4,5]. About the same time, Boyle ex- vived after two years of desiccation. Spallanzani, initially a skeptic, was perimented with the freezing of frogs Expressing a belief that the dried worms favorably impressed by these findings and fish, publishing his results in a book, were dead, he described them “taking and others, and in 1776 started his own New Experiments and Observations life” when rehydrated. Not surprisingly, experiments. After first repeating the Touching Cold (1683). Short-term this interpretation was disparaged by dehydration work with rotifers and eel- freezing could be successful, he con- most scientists of the day. So great was worms, he discovered another creature cluded, though long-term freezing killed the opposition, in fact, that Needham that survived drying: the [15]. the animals. Also, he expressed the opin- later changed his views, calling the dried In further pursuit of anabiosis, he went ion that, in principle, mammals could state a special “vitality.” Again he was on to freeze and revive rotifers (-24°C) be frozen safely [5,6]. criticized, this time by advocates of ana- and eel-worms (-18°C). However, he biosis, who were finally making them- found that although insects, frogs, and The 18th Century: Discovery selves heard! [4,5]. salamanders could be safely cooled to Despite these early successes, ex- In 1748, Buffon repeated high subfreezing temperatures, they perimentation didn’t give rise to any Needham’s experiments on eel-worms; were killed by deeper freezing. hypothesis that freezing “suspended” he too believed that they died and were Drying and freezing, Spallanzani life. This may be explained in part by reanimated. In his writing, he compared decided, were the same sort of phe- the still insufficient influence of mate- them to “machines” that began to move nomenon, both stopping life in a way rialism. Only further developments in when they were put into water [4]. (The that made true “resurrection” possible. the 18th century by the French materi- interpretation of animals and humans Since he was a priest, such an interpre- alists (Lamettrie, Diderot, Holbach, as machines was typical for French ma- tation put him into a theological bind. Helvetius) allowed this philosophy to terialism.) “An animal which revives after death is compete with vitalism in the interpreta- However, Baker was possibly the a phenomenon,” he wrote, “as incred- tion of life-related phenomena. Ad- first to understand the true nature of ible as it seems improbable and para- vanced scientists were then willing to anabiosis. In 1753, he repeated both doxical. It confounds the most accepted consider both reversible freezing and Needham’s desiccation experiments on ideas of animality; it creates new ideas.” drying as methods of suspending life. eel-worms (some he would revive after Although Spallanzani’s authority lent Leeuwenhoek is usually considered 27 years) and Leeuwenhoek’s on roti- new credibility to the potential of ana- the discoverer of anabiosis. At the very fers. Baker wrote: “We find an instance biosis, his views were not generally ac- beginning of the 18th century, he ex- here, that life may be suspended and cepted, partially because they lacked

22 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 A Who’s Who of Anabiosis philosophical and scientific explanation, partially because of the influence of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): Greek philosopher and scientist. spiritual and vitalistic concepts. Study Athenaeus Naucratita (2-3 cent. A.D.): Greek and Roman philosopher. of the problem was continued by his Baker, Henry (1698-1774): distinguished English naturalist and contemporaries and a generation of bi- microscopist. ologists who followed [4,5]. Bakhmetiev, Porfiry (1860-1913): Russian physicist and anabiosis Despite , the scientific researcher. community was gradually showing in- Becquerel, Paul (1879-1955): French biologist. terest in anabiosis. The significance of Bernard, Claude (1813-1878): French physiologist and pathologist. the preceding experiments was becom- Boyle, Robert (1627-1691): famous English chemist and physicist, one ing clear, both for biological and philo- of the founders of the Royal Society of London. sophical knowledge, and for possible Broca, Paul (1824-1880): distinguished French anatomist, surgeon, medical applications such life exten- anthropologist. He discovered the speech zone in the human brain named sion. This was reflected in the ideas of after him. Hunter, who published in 1778: “I had Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc de (1707-1788): French naturalist, author imagined that it might be possible to of comprehensive “Natural history.” prolong life to any period by freezing a Doyere, Louis-Michel-Francoise (1811-1863): French naturalist. person in the frigid zone, as I thought Empedocles of Acragas (about 490-430 B.C.): Greek (lived in Sicily) all action and waste would cease until philosopher (materialist and immortalist), poet, physician, and statesman the body was thawed. I thought that if a (democrat). man would give up the last ten years of Fontana, Felice (1720-1805): versatile Italian scientist. his life to this kind of alternate oblivion Hunter, John (1728-1793): prominent English surgeon and anatomist. and action, it might be prolonged to a Keilin, David (1887-1963): European (born in Polish family, lived in thousand years: and by getting himself Moscow, worked in England) biochemist and anabiosis researcher. thawed every hundred years, he might Kravkov, Nikolai (1865-1924): Russian physiologist and pharmacologist. learn what had happened during his fro- Leeuwenhoek, Anton van (1632-1723): Dutch naturalist, one of the zen condition.” Unfortunately, Hunter’s founders of microscopy and microbiology. experiments with fish were unsuccess- Lidforss, Bengt (1868-1913): Swedish botanist. ful, which possibly discouraged him Mantegazza, Paolo (1831-1910): Italian scientist. from developing these ideas fur- Maximov, Nikolai (1880-1952): Russian botanist, one of the founders ther[4,5]. of ecological physiology of plants. Mayakovsky, Vladimir (1893-1930): one of the best Russian poets, The 19th Century: Proof headed futurism (avant garde poetic movement). Progress in biological knowledge Needham, John Turberville (1713-1781): English Roman Catholic divine made the complexity of life increas- and researcher of microscopic organisms. ingly clear. At that time, materialism Ovid, or Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.-18 A.D.): Roman poet. was relatively primitive (in the form of Parkes, Alan Sterling (1900-1990): English cryobiologist. mechanicalism [16]), and many scien- Pictet, Raoul-Pierre (1846-1929): European (born in Switzerland, tists were not satisfied with how it ex- worked in France) physicist, low-temperature researcher. plained the aforementioned complexity Pliny the Elder, or Gaius Plinius Secundus (23 A.D.-79 A.D): Roman of life. As a consequence, vitalism was statesman, naturalist, writer and historian. dominant at the beginning of the cen- Pouchet, Felix-Archimede (1800-1872): French biologist. tury. Over decades, however, material- Power, Henry (1623-1668): English physician and scientist. ism developed into more progressive Preyer, Wilhelm (1841-1897): German physiologist. forms such as positivism and dialecti- Reaumur, Rene Antoine Ferchault de (1683-1757): French scientist, cal materialism, and after mid-century devised the Reaumur thermometric scale. The author of work on natural began to hold its own. history of insects. Initially, several factors conspired Rostand, Jean (1894-1977): French biologist. to hamper the credibility of anabiosis Schmidt, Petr (1872-1949): Russian zoologist and anabiosis researcher. research: imperfection of microscope Spallanzani, Lazzaro (1729-1799): Italian abbe, one of the foremost technique, insufficient knowledge about scientists of his time, studied reproduction, digestion, circulation. microorganisms, and lack of experience in some researchers. In 1860, the Bio-

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 23 logical Society of France decided to transplantation, artificial insemination gated by the “biocosmists” [21], who resolve the controversy over anabiosis etc); and hypothermia in mammals and espoused suspended animation through by some carefully controlled experi- humans [5]. Mantegazza addressed the drying (based on Kravkov’s experi- ments [17]. The project became a sci- latter issue in 1866, when he demon- ments on the storage of dried rabbit ear entific duel between two researchers strated that human spermatozoa could and human finger tissue [4]). The more with sharply opposing views. Doyere, survive freezing to -17°C [6]. Pictet familiar approach of resuscitating fro- an organicist [18], supported the idea (1893) successfully froze algae, roti- zen people through future medicine was that organisms were fully determined fers, frogs, snakes, and fish to subzero suggested by the plays of Mayakovsky, by the molecular composition and ar- temperatures, but failed with dogs and although political oppression in Russia rangement of their tissues; such orga- guinea pigs, which died when their tem- prevented any realization of anabiosis nized matter had the potential for life, peratures fell 10°C below normal [4,6]. there. Even so, Mayakovsky’s 1928 play even in a desiccated state, and could be Numerous polar expeditions provided “The Bedbug” did influence the origin restored to life by an appropriate physi- data about the reversible freezing of of cryonics in America, later inspiring cal process. Pouchet, a vitalist, held that animals (mainly fish and insects), and Evan Cooper [20], author of Immortal- “no organism can survive complete des- the technical feasibility of reaching ity: Physically, Scientifically, Now and iccation, nor return to life, once all life cryogenic temperatures helped to main- founder of the original Life Extension processes have been arrested.” tain interest in this direction. Society. Another indication of the Doyere conducted the first experi- worldwide popularity of the anabiosis ments, and Pouchet followed. Their re- The 20th Century: Applications idea was a 1931 science fiction story by sults were a resounding victory for ma- The rise of anabiosis research con- Neil Jones, “The Jameson Satellite,” terialism over vitalism. Anabiosis was tinued into the beginning of the 20th that fired the imagination of a youthful real. Desiccation under various harsh century. One of the foremost investi- [22]. conditions was reversible, even with gators in this field was Bakhmetiev, Despite ongoing scientific progress heating up to 100°C and high vacuum. who successfully froze butterfly pupae in anabiosis, doubts still arose about its The ample report from the special com- down to -10°C. Precise control of freez- reality. Experiments conducted by mission of the Biological Society of ing conditions allowed him to deter- Becquerel, 1904-50, and Rahm, 1919- France, headed by Broca, confirmed the mine that during freezing the pupae 26, helped to address such doubts [4,6]. possibility: “... animals ... reaching the crossed the boundary between a super- These researchers froze many small liv- most complete degree of desiccation cooled and fully frozen state (true ana- ing specimens (seeds, moss, bacteria, that can be realized ... with present sci- biosis). Based on this data, in 1901 mushroom spores, algae, rotifers, infu- entific techniques, may yet retain the Bakhmetiev hypothesized that man soria) to nearly absolute zero and suc- ability to revive in contact with water.” could be safely frozen for the purpose cessfully revived them. However, other This outcome signified a true sci- of life extension. He began promoting scientists’ concurrent experiments in entific understanding of anabiosis and this idea, and private donations allowed freezing larger animals encountered fun- an end to serious controversies over its him to start experiments on animals and damental difficulties. Multicellular or- possibility (though doubts would re- later organize a laboratory at ganisms the size of mice or rats could turn). Later, Broca’s report was im- Shanyavsky University in Moscow. not be frozen or desiccated quickly proved by Preyer’s book Research of Bakhmetiev achieved successful freez- enough to prevent physiological dam- Life, which cataloged data on previous ing of bats to below 0°C, but his un- age, and their cells had no built-in pro- experiments and introduced the term timely death in 1913 — as well as the tective mechanisms [23]. “anabiosis.” Further advances were beginning of the First World War — In answer to this, the protective ac- made in the works of Bernard [4,5]. interrupted further research [4,19,20]. tion of glycerol was discovered (anew, Interest in anabiosis developed rap- To some degree, others continued for animal tissues) by Rostand in 1946 idly in different fields of biology, stimu- the work of Bakhmetiev. In 1907, and independently by Parkes in 1948 lated by problems of both fundamental Lidforss discovered the cryoprotective [6]. (Thus glycerol protection was dis- and practical importance. Among the action of sugars and glycerol for plants. covered four times: by Lidforss, issues that attracted interest were: dis- The next year, this same discovery was Maximov, Rostand, and Parkes.) continuity of physiological processes made independently by Maximov, who Cryobiologists began extensive studies (or whether all life processes could be researched this problem in great detail of cryoprotective action from glycerol reversibly stopped); adaptations to sea- and published a book on the subject in and other substances. Among the im- sonal and climatic changes (i.e. hiber- 1913 [4]. portant discoveries of the time, rat gan- nation, anhydrobiosis, diapause etc); In 1920s Russia, the idea of life glia treated with 15% glycerol were suc- preservation of biological material (for extension through anabiosis was propa- cessfully frozen down to -76°C for 24

24 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 hours. Once other tissues and organs minority, as is still true. State of the Art: had been frozen reversibly, research- Anabiosis research during the 20th 20th Century Facts about ers began to consider medical appli- century echoed the work of the previ- cations of these techniques. ous eras: experiments demonstrated the Cryobiology Although successful freezing of possibility, doubts dominated, and then complete organisms remained elu- new proofs followed. The idea of freez- Many relatively large animals can sive, researchers managed to revive ing humans seems to have recurred tolerate different amounts of freezing. golden hamsters cooled to slightly again and again at roughly 100-year The most impressive examples are pu- below 0°C, and achieved similar re- intervals (Boyle, Hunter, Bakhmetiev, pae of the butterfly Cnidocampa sults with humans cooled to 9°C. With Ettinger), with each recurrence taking a flavescens that can be frozen down to - perfect glycerol perfusion, some sug- more extreme form. How will our lat- 180°C [6], and the Siberian newt [25] gested, a mammal might be frozen to est version of anabiosis fare, and what which tolerates -40. The latter, more- -70°C and stored for an extended pe- might replace it? over, can be revived after several years riod [6]. Many leading cryobiologists in permafrost. Data based on radiocar- spoke favorably about the possibility The 21st Century: Prospects bon dating suggests revival even after of someday safely freezing humans There is little doubt that the safe 90 years [26], which could furnish an [6, 23, 24]. freezing of humans will be realized in argument for permafrost . Progress in cryobiology and other the next century. Perhaps progress in The general explanation for freez- fields (especially technol- conventional cryobiological methods ing tolerance in animals appears to be ogy, molecular biology, and computer will make it possible. Perhaps some the following: science) lent further credibility to unexpected technology such as “ultra- (1) Extracellular ice-nucleating ideas about reanimation. Robert sound freezing” could emerge. Per- provide many centers for ice Ettinger’s 1964 book, The Prospect haps it may even require the fixation of formation. of Immortality, offered a scientific cell structure by artificially designed (2) The extracellular space also in- argument that human freezing for the molecular devices (as proposed by cludes antifreezing proteins and other purpose of life extension could be Drexler) [28]. freeze-resisting substances (e.g. glyc- realized immediately for the newly Or perhaps the problem requires a erol), which inhibit the growth of ice deceased, whose resuscitation would totally different approach: instead of . Jointly (1) and (2) provide the be carried out by future medicine [24]. freezing extent Homo sapiens, we might formation of many tiny, nondamaging Cryonics, the practice of freezing for use genetic engineering to convert hu- crystals that inhibit further crystalliza- this purpose, finally got its start. mans into a species more amenable to tion. Why didn’t cryonics appear ear- this state. Human cells have no mecha- (3) Certain intracellular substances lier? The technical, scientific, and nisms to tolerate freezing, and current like trehalose (a sugar) and proline (an philosophical foundations existed perfusion techniques do not provide suf- amino acid), increase the flexibility of long before the 1960s, as we have ficient cryoprotection; advanced genetic cell membranes. This provides protec- seen. (In retrospect, I believe that the engineering methods might offer us tion against the bending and stressing basic conditions necessary to prac- built-in cryoprotective mechanisms, that occurs when the cell loses its wa- tice cryonics may have existed as such as intracellular glycerol synthesis. ter during freezing and its volume de- early as the 1920s, especially in Rus- Such a characteristic incorporated into creases significantly. sia.) The idea first emerged decades the human genome could provide per- (4) Other intracellular substances, before and resurfaced repeatedly, but fect freezing preparation for the body if such as glycerol, sorbitol (an alcohol), somehow it never overcame the vari- the temperature should fall below, say, and glucose, substitute for water that ous unfavorable environments. Per- 15°C. A similar characteristic might leaves the cell during freezing. This haps too many qualifying factors were enable suitable fixation of body struc- maintains a minimal cell volume dur- necessary before the actual practice ture without freezing, or with freezing ing freezing and stabilizes the intracel- of cryonics could appear; consider at relatively high temperatures (e.g. at lular surroundings. that the U.S. of the ’60s offered espe- -79°C). Once such “cell programming” Mechanisms providing freezing tol- cially favorable conditions: a strong became possible, it might be applied at erance (including synthesis of the above economy, political freedom, and a any time before a person’s death. . . or substances) are launched in the organ- large educated class. Even when cry- maybe even afterward. ism by seasonal changes (e.g. the length onics organizations finally started of daylight) or by decreasing the body freezing people, this movement re- temperature below a certain limit [27]. mained the preoccupation of a tiny

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 25 References and Notes:

1. Probably the most ancient recorded ob- material and spiritual interpretations. Usually 18. Organicism: a material explanation of servation that frozen fish can become alive. Ovid the act of creation and/or the human conscious- life as the result of a certain organization of wrote his poem “Tristia” about 9 A.D. during ness/soul were interpreted spiritually. All other living beings, a simple manifestation of features his exile to the shore of the Black Sea (in Tomi, facts were viewed materially. In the 16th and of organized matter. now Constanta, Romania). The original Latin 17th centuries many scientists were dualists. 19. Chulkov, A., Azanov, V. Bakhmetiev’s reads: Vidimus in glacie pisces haerere ligatos, 10. Vitalism: the philosophies postulating Will (1980) [In Russian]. Sed pars ex illis tum quoque viva fuir. the existence of the special “force” (or soul) that 20. Soloviov, M. “The ‘Russian Trace’ in 2. Anabiosis originates from the Greek animates (or moves atoms in) living beings, the History of Cryonics” Cryonics, 16:4 (1995). words “ana” (up) and “bios” (life), and means distinguishing them from the non-living world. 21. Biocosmism: a movement in Russia in “return to life.” (Originally used for the “return Vitalists are the strongest opponents of the ana- the 1920s, originated from universalism (an an- to life” only, later extended to the suspended biosis idea. To them the lack of movement means archist movement). Its goals were cosmic flight, state too.) It is considered rather improper by the loss of this “vital force,” hence death. More- personal immortality, and resurrection of the many authors, and the synonymous terms “sus- over the acceptance of the mechanical character dead (i.e. the achievement of basic freedoms in pended animation,” “biostasis,” “,” of living processes, their full dependence on a time and in space). “abiosis,” “latent life,” “seeming death,” and material substrate and external conditions, means 22. Ettinger R. “The Past, the Present, the “lethargy” are often used instead. However the negating the soul entirely. Future, and Everything” Cryonics, 15:3 (1994). term “anabiosis” appeared when its possibility 11. Brodyansky, V. From Solid Water to 23. Lozina-Lozinsky L. Studies in Cryobi- was scientifically proven and then was used for Liquid Helium (History of Cold) (1995) [In Rus- ology (1972) [In Russian]. a long time (especially in Russia). Also, this sian]. 24. Ettinger, R. The Prospect of Immortal- term was used by early cryonicists [29]. More- 12. Indeed a simple thermoscope was known ity (1964). over, as it means both “return to life” by its to the ancient Greeks. It was only re-invented at 25. Siberian newt: an animal of the class name and “suspended life” by its usage, possi- the end of the 16th century by Galileo. Ther- Amphibia (Salamandrella keyserlingii bly one might consider it more proper for mometers were imperfect until the beginning of Dybowski, earlier named Hynobius keyserlingi). cryonicists than other terms. 18th century. It is usually accepted that the mi- It is similar to a salamander or to newt, and so 3. There are several approaches for the croscope was invented at the end of the 16th has this name in English translation, but has its analysis of history based on different interpreta- century (though some primitive one-lens con- own name in Russian: “uglozub” (angle-tooth). tions of motive forces for historical develop- structions were used earlier) and then was greatly It lives in the European part of Russia and in ment. Usually these forces are economical or improved by Leeuwenhoek. Siberia (including the permafrost area). Its length political, as suggested, for example, by Marx or 13. Eel-worm: small animal (several mm is about 5 cm, but can grow as long as 16 cm. Its Kuhn. Actually, I think human history is such a length) of class Nematoda, phylum Nemathelm- main cryoprotective substance is glycerol. complex (hence random and chaotic) thing that inthes (Turbatrix aceti, Anguillulina tritici, 26. Vorobieva E. (ed.) e.a. The Siberian the interpretations cannot be absolutely true, but Tylenchus tritici). Newt. Ecology, Behaviour, Conservation (1995) can still be useful as heuristics. Moreover, to my 14. Rotifer: small animal (several mm [In Russian]. mind, the history of science and technology re- length) of class Rotatoria, phylum Nemathelm- 27. Storey, K., Storey, J. “Frozen and Alive” sembles an heuristic search (with random ele- inthes (Callidina constricta, Philodina roseola). , Dec. (1990). ments) in the space of possible theories and 15. Tardigrade: small animal (length about 28. Drexler K.E. Engines of Creation technologies. Of course, the heuristics become 1 mm), separate type (Hypsibius oberhausteri, (1986). more and more powerful, and the size of unex- Milnesium tardigradum, Macrobiotus hufelandi). 29. Ryan, D. “The Prophet of Immortality plored space decreases. 16. Mechanicalism: a philosophy explain- (interview with R. Ettinger)” Cryonics, 16:3 4. Schmidt, P. Anabiosis (1955) [In Rus- ing the world through the mechanical movement (1995). sian]. of atoms. The early (16th-18th centuries) mate- 30. Generally known information (i.e. con- 5. Keilin, D. “The problem of anabiosis or rialists (as well as dualists) were mechanicalists, tained in encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks) latent life: history and current concept” Pro- following the ancient materialists and atomists. is not referenced. ceedings of the Royal Society B, 150:939 (1959). Industrial development stimulated technology, 6. Smith, A. Biological Effects of Freezing and the latter science. Mainly this science con- and Supercooling (1961). sisted of mechanics and the related fields of 7. Supercooling: decreasing the tempera- physics and mathematics, since these were im- ture of a liquid below its freezing point. As a portant for technology of the time. In its turn, rule the full (true) freezing (meaning all liquids the development of mechanics influenced phi- solidify) of living organisms occurs at about - losophy. MOVING? 150°C [23]. This value is considered the upper 17. Another reason for the Biological Soci- limit of cryogenic temperatures by low-tempera- ety of France’s interest in anabiosis was the ture physicists [11]. Thus the state before full controversy on spontaneous generation also cur- Let us know about it! freezing should be referred to as a “supercooled” rent at the time. These controversies were re- one. However, metabolism could be almost com- lated, since anabiosis was often explained through Call 1-602-905-1906 pletely arrested at much higher temperatures; spontaneous generation, and vitalists were both and ask for Joe Hovey. anabiosis can exist in the supercooled state, too the opponents of anabiosis and the advocates of [23]. spontaneous generation. Pouchet also was among 8. Mikulinsky, S. (ed) e.a. History of biol- the main proponents of spontaneous generation, ogy Vol. 1 (1972) [In Russian]. in which he was defeated by Pasteur in 1861 Don’t miss even one issue 9. Dualism: the philosophies combining [4,5]. of Cryonics!

26 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 Voluntary Biostasis? by Scott Badger, Ph.D.

once heard that there are over one she has outlived all of her siblings. My with patients who are terminally ill, but Imillion human beings dying every father and I are all she has left. Her not yet at death’s door. How would we day. Just now — just a second ago — burial will not be extravagant or cer- react to “healthy-appearing” individu- hundreds died. Some died of old age, emonial. Neither of us are religious als who wish to be cryonically sus- some were killed in accidents, some and neither of us honor her death. pended rather than go through an ex- were murdered, some starved, some lost My mother has made me think more pensive treatment regimen designed to their lives to cancer, and some commited about death, though. All of us recall slow the progress and minimize the pain . For most of us, the moment of our first experience (and perhaps our of what is undeniably a terminal dis- another person’s demise goes by and early fascination) with death. I remem- ease? These individuals may prefer to we go on, accepting this human death ber the moment as a young child when I avoid the burden placed on their fami- march as a natural and inevitable pro- fully comprehended the concept that I lies by what is often highly expensive cess. Meanwhile, an unfathomable would die someday. Alone in my room, palliative care designed to comfort but amount of information is lost as these I cried for a half-hour feeling bitterly not to cure. (Indeed, I suspect the cost people breathe their last and are rel- disappointed and afraid. Death has of palliative care typically exceeds the egated to their graves. Their lives were humbled us, frightened the hell out of cost of cryonic suspension.) rich with experiences, discoveries, in- us, intrigued us . . . and even tempted Every day, people discover that they sights, dreams, hopes, and much, much us. As a psychologist, I have listened have developed Parkinson’s, more. Only a small fraction of what to the suicidal ideations of many cli- Alzheimer’s, or some other DBD. Quite they learned was passed on to their chil- ents. Most of them have two psycho- likely, any structural information in the dren, their students, or their colleagues. logical elements in common; hopeless- brain (i.e. you) lost during the course of The rest of who they were, the majority ness and helplessness. They have de- such a disease will be irretrievable. In of the information that constituted their cided that life will only get worse and such a situation, devout cryonicists lives, is gone. worse, and they believe they are power- would want to take action to preserve One of these people who will dis- less to change things for the better. the integrity of their brains’ structure as appear in the next few months is my The great majority of people would well as to avoid compromising their mother. A little over three years ago, never approve of somone attempting to rational decision-making capacity. In she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s commit suicide. If asked why, most other words, such individuals would Disease. Since then, my father and I would probably say that the suicidal want to make arrangements to undergo have watched her mind gradually and person dosn’t understand that things can suspension well before they die. This agonizingly slip away. Today, there is get better and life is worth living. Our places the the cryonics facility in a very little left of my mother’s identity. When culture has, however, tempered its views difficult position. Although we as death comes to her, I will not grieve in toward , when the indi- cryonicists might not perceive this to the same way that I will for my father vidual has a terminal disease and is in be an act of suicide, the justice system when it is his turn (neither of my par- great pain. It is clear that the public would. ents have any interest in cryonics, by will only sanction assisted suicide if the A case has already come before the the way). The pain that will come when situation is truly hopeless and the vic- courts in California addressing this is- I lose my father will be relatively sud- tim is truly helpless. sue. An individual who had contracted den and sharply felt. The pain of wait- Assisted suicide is still a thorny a brain tumor wished to undergo cry- ing for my mother to succumb to this and controversial issue, an affront to onic suspension before any further dam- Degenerative Brain Disorder (DBD) has most religious doctrines. That contro- age occurred. The courts ruled against been more chronic and blunted. At 85, versy is compounded when we are faced him. [Long-time Cryonics readers will

Scott Badger is 48 years old and currently works as a school psychologist in the Dallas, Texas area. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and his MBA (marketing specialization) from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. After working in various business environments for several years, he returned to school and earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Oklahoma State University.

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 27 recognize the Thomas Donaldson case, on death-row wants to be cryonically Let me conclude by saying that for detailed by Mike Perry’s “For the suspended upon being executed? Or the last 30 years I have been complain- Record” column this month. --ed.] Al- what if the individual is no longer a ing about being born in 1949. I have though the justice system may have only prisoner, but has a history of violent been haunted by the morose suspicion intended to avoid legislating assisted crimes? As a private institution, a cry- that I may just miss the breakthroughs suicide, its legal definitions clearly pre- onics facility has every right to refuse that will allow for greatly extended life vented this person from choosing vol- services to anyone. But if cryonics spans. I look at today’s children and untary biostasis as an alternative to catches on and the cryonics industry wonder if they have any idea how much costly palliative care. Voluntary grows, then anyone will probably be closer to that reality they are than I am. biostasis remains in the same legal con- able to find a willing provider. If cry- My only chance is cryonic suspension, dition to this day. onics truly comes to be regarded as a and if that’s all I have, I want to be able I’m not a card-carrying Libertar- life-saving medical treatment, then it to take full advantage of the technique. ian, but if I am judged to be of sound will be increasingly difficult to refuse I want to have the legal right to undergo mind, as determined by a psychologist someone services. It would be like a voluntary biostasis. I do not want to be or psychiatrist, then I should be the mas- hospital emergency room turning a criti- constrained from exercising this right ter of my body and my fate. I feel that cal patient away. Will we, as a society, by laws born out of religious dogma. voluntary biostasis should be an option insist that all are provided for, or will To borrow a slogan from a completely for all mentally competent persons fac- we want to have some choice regarding unrelated social movement, “My body, ing a terminal disease or a non-terminal who is revived and who isn’t? Will my choice.” degenerative brain disorder. cryonic suspension become a service Of course there will be many di- that is awarded to those who meet cer- lemmas. What happens when prisoners tain social/political criteria?

Letters to the Editor Dear Cryonics, It’s not just the old timers who should Continued from page 4 be targeted — there must be many young I was watching a Sinatra yes- stars with an open mind who might be per- a bit less damaging to the structures of the terday. CNN quoted Ol’ Blue Eyes as hav- suaded that their only realistic chance of a brain. A further opportunity might be a ing said, “I’ve learned a lot in this life and I reunion with loved ones in a material rather much larger cryonics awareness in society. don’t want what I’ve learned to die with spiritual world is with us. Even if society still questions cryonics, it me.” might question it significantly less. Threats Though I think what he was referring D. Levine or challenges might be that new technolo- to had more to do with his legacy and those London gies along with understanding will under- who came after, building on his achieve- mine confidence in cryopreservation tech- ments rather than any physical attempts at niques used thus far. Another challenge immortality, an idea occurred to me... Brian Shock replies: might be that new and significantly better I would think that one celebrity en- cryopreservation techniques may become dorsement or even membership could do Back in the early 1960s, Robert Ettinger available at some uncertain time just a year more to raise Alcor’s profile than any num- tried to drum up interest among well-known or so down the road. What difficulties does ber of magazine advertisements could. authority figures by mailing out copies of this cause both for people who perform, Has Alcor ever attempted to target ce- his book Prospect of Immortality. In the and for people who undergo, cryonic pres- lebrities? One would think that we have a late 1970s, Mike Darwin and Steve Bridge ervation in the interim? product which would have a natural appeal offered noted science fiction writer Fred Generally, no one can predict exactly to individuals with limitless resources. Af- Pohl a free suspension (which Mr. Pohl did what a new environment will bring. But a ter all, Hollywood sorts often go in for not accept). Cryonicists put a great deal of primary component in preparing for change experimental medical procedures aimed at effort into recruiting the late Dr. Timothy is to develop a sound, full, forthright under- restoring youth, beauty, and vigor. Leary, but despite his many years of cryon- standing of a movement’s existing dynam- If we could perhaps choose a few dozen, ics arrangements, Dr. Leary eventually de- ics as well as its product and services. tailor a “Who We Are, What We Stand For, cided against suspension. Charles Platt’s article is a solid step in the and How We Can Help You” letter, and On the other hand, we have been suc- development of such an understanding, gar- then canvass them through their publicists cessful at drawing in scientific celebrities nered over years of experience. or whatever other access we can think of, such as Ralph Merkle, Eric Drexler, Marvin (Comments may be sent to my email this could be a very low cost operation Minsky, and others. address [email protected]) yielding potentially large dividends. (There could be many millions in bequests from a Sincerely yours, single success.) Robert Elschlager

28 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 For The Record

In the Name of Liberty: The Thomas Donaldson Case.

by R. Michael Perry, Ph.D.

“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.” —J.S. Mill1

s cryonicists, we are well aware of Emigrating to Australia soon afterward, he astounded by anything. They were inter- Ahow certain outsiders would seek to then made an excursion to New Guinea ested.” limit our freedom to act, purely “for our where an encounter with a primitive cul- Thomas had earlier learned about cry- own good.” For example, we wish to be ture, the Chimbu, opened his eyes to new onics, and now found his interest growing. frozen under the best possible conditions, facets of human thought and behavior. “I remember reading Ettinger’s book [The when the time comes. This would often call The Chimbu thought the airplane in Prospect of Immortality]. And when I came for starting suspension procedures before which Thomas arrived must be a living back from New Guinea, I said, Gee, these death, a practice that is not yet recognized creature and wanted to know where its geni- people have come from twenty thousand as legal. For many of us, this issue is an tals were. “They were not used to the idea years ago. Where will we be twenty thou- academic one for now; we are in good health of people actually being able to build some- sand years in the future? And so I was even and our suspension is not imminent. Others thing like that,” Thomas later reported. But more interested. And, I was beginning to are not so lucky. the Chimbu were eager to learn about West- understand that ... I had the death problem Thomas Donaldson, a Ph.D. mathema- ern culture. “They had a lot of misconcep- too.” tician and long-time cryonics activist, was tions as to how things worked, but in their Thomas started corresponding with diagnosed with a brain tumor in August, terms, they were actually being very logi- other cryonics enthusiasts, and by the late 1988. The tumor, an astrocytoma, was a cal.” Thomas was impressed by “the very ’70s was writing articles for Long Life particularly dangerous sort that usually re- matter-of-fact way in which these people Magazine, then the leading publication in sulted in death within a few years. By the responded [to new things] ... they were not the field. In 1975 he signed up for cryonic time this fatality occurred, however, suspension; in 1985 he came back to the Donaldson would suffer substantial brain U.S. In the ’80s he started writing science damage. To avoid this, the freezing proce- articles and book reviews for Cryonics, a dure would have to begin while he was still practice that continues today. alive. By legal criteria it would be “assisted Then, in 1988, came the brain tumor. suicide” at best and “first-degree ” Suddenly, time seemed short and options at worst. Donaldson sought relief in the narrow. There were three basic alternatives. California courts, and his case was sup- One was that it would turn out to be a false ported financially by his cryonics organiza- alarm: the tumor would go into permanent tion, Alcor. remission or otherwise become manage- The Donaldson case was not simply able. (This in fact is what has happened — the instant product of a medical emergency, the tumor is still in remission, thanks in no but had a long gestation.2 Thomas was born small part to the expert treatments Thomas in Kentucky in 1944, and attended the Uni- received at the time — but the benign out- versity of Kentucky before moving on to come did not seem likely.) The second al- Illinois and the University of Chicago. Al- ternative was a grim and cruel one of allow- though he found the Chicago atmosphere ing the disease to run its course without depressing, darkened as it was by the Viet- intervention, damaging or destroying the nam War and by people who were “very brain of the patient until, when death finally negative about the future,” he managed to intervened, there might be little left that earn his Ph.D. in mathematics there in 1969. was worth suspending. The third was to

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 29 wait until the time seemed right, then has- ried stories ranging from a brief announce- physician-assisted suicide and by implica- ten one’s death to escape brain destruction. ment of the suit to in-depth four-part re- tion, premortem cryonic suspension. The problem with hastening one’s death, ports.”4 “You’re looking for something,” he told which legally amounted to suicide, was that Perhaps the high-water mark was the Thomas, “which to me is pie in the sky.” an was required in most cases. The Phil Donahue Show which was taped May But again, the issue was one of rights, not main method that would not require au- 19 and aired a few weeks later. In addition whether one believed in an option that was topsy was self-starvation and dehydration. to Thomas, the show featured Mike Darwin being sought by someone else. Again, the That was a tough proposition — one of and Carlos Mondragón who at the time audience seemed to understand and to sym- Alcor’s patients, for example, had taken were, respectively, Alcor’s Director of Re- pathize more with Thomas than his uncom- over ten days to die by that route3 — but it search and its President. At first there were fortable opponent. would be the best way out under the cir- awkward moments while Donahue, an ob- What followed after this — the actual cumstances. The time seemed right to try viously bright but not too informed host, court case — seemed by comparison anti- for something better. struggled to understand the essence of this climactic. Ashworth did his best, yet the On April 30, 1990 Thomas Donaldson case. law was the law. Thomas was asking for filed suit in Santa Barbara Superior Court That done, however, Donahue easily physician-assisted suicide, under the nar- for the right to have cryonic suspension sympathized with Thomas, inasmuch as the row legal definition, something that had not started before his legal death. Assisting him basic issue was one of rights — not whether been legislated in California or anywhere was Christopher Ashworth, a talented Con- cryonics was a good or bad idea, or would else at the time. An initial, unfavorable rul- stitutional lawyer who had helped save or wouldn’t work, but whether someone ing September 14, 1990 was upheld in the Alcor in the crisis. Still, it was an should have the freedom to choose this op- California Appeals court January 29, 1992 uphill battle, as everyone realized. Mean- tion in the manner Thomas wanted. Mike — Thomas lost his case.5, 6 With insuffi- while this suit attracted the media like bees and Carlos did an able job describing how cient funds to pursue it any further, there to honey, and they converged on the Alcor and why cryonics might work, and how the matter rested. facility, then in Riverside, California. Mike one’s arrangements were handled financially Yet this tactical defeat was, I think, a Darwin reported “an unprecedented wave at Alcor. Thomas came across as a rather strategic victory for the cause of cryonics. of media attention, like nothing we’ve ever nerdy egghead (baldness enhanced by his This is not to pretend that things were just experienced before. In the space of 14 days radiation treatments) who nevertheless had as we’d like. Later in 1992, for example, a we had 31 film and TV crews, print report- a point worth making — and he did make brain tumor victim would be frozen by ers, and other assorted journalists through effectively. The general audience reaction Alcor, without the benefit of a premortem here. There were major stories on the front showed a healthy amount of doubt and skep- suspension.7 But I think we can temper our pages and first sections of hundreds of daily ticism about cryonics, yet considerable sym- unhappiness with some optimism. The and weekly newspapers across the nation. pathy for Thomas, too. When pressed, al- Donaldson case did generate a lot of favor- The Washington Post featured a major, most everyone seemed to agree that, yes, able publicity. Arguably, this more than thoughtful, and very well done article on one should at least have the right to choose offset the cost of the unsuccessful outcome. the Donaldson case, cryonics, and Alcor, the freezing option, and even to have the It can also be seen in a larger context, as a and Time, Insight, and other magazines fea- procedure started before death, if one were significant milestone in a generally favor- tured shorter articles describing the suit. terminally ill and wanted it done that way. able, developing trend. There is widespread CNN and a number of news stations in Interests of the State were represented feeling now that individuals do have the large local markets (L.A., San Francisco, by Alan L. Lasnover, M.D., of the Califor- right to make choices affecting their own Minneapolis, Seattle, and New York) car- nia Medical Society, with its opposition to life and death, and that current laws are too restrictive and should be modified. Modifi- cations, though contested desperately by certain conservative groups, are finally ap- pearing, as in the recent legalization of phy- sician-assisted dying in Oregon. Video capture scene Laws allowing physician-assisted sui- from the Phil cide might help cryonicists eventually, Donahue show. Left though there are still many obstacles to over- come. Cryonics, however, is not about sui- to right: Thomas cide, but instead about saving and continu- Donaldson, Carlos ing one’s life. (This point indeed was made Mondragon, Mike with some vehemence by Thomas on the Darwin, Phil Donahue show, in his confrontation with Donahue. Dr. Lasnover.) It will take research for cry- onics to be seen by the public, and legisla- tures and bureaucrats in particular, as any- thing more than a treatment for dead bodies — whatever its present prospects may be. If

30 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 REFERENCES:

1. Mill, J.S. On Liberty Introductory 342-6.

2. Background information on Thomas Donaldson is based on Whelan, R. “The Donaldson Perspective,” Cryonics (Jan. 1992) 12ff.

3. Darwin, M. Cryonics (Jan. 1991) 17.

4. Darwin, M. “What’s New,” Cryonics (Jun. 1990) 2.

5. Mondragón, C. “Donaldson Gets His (First) Day in Court,” Cryonics (Oct. 1990) 6.

6. Whelan, R. ed. “Appellate Decision on Donaldson,” Cryonics (Mar. 1992) 1.

7. Glennie, M.M. “A Well-loved Man,” Cryonics Thomas Donaldson, Gregory Benford (science fiction author), and (Sep. 1992) 8-9; also see Jones, T. “More on Jim’s Christopher Ashworth (attorney) at the December, 1990 Donaldson Journey,” ibid. 10-13.

Legal Defense Fund Dinner. (Photo: Steve Harris) I thank Thomas Donaldson for reviewing this article and making useful suggestions. I am also indebted to we can demonstrate reversible suspended Jerry Searcy for supplying information on the Phil animation, then we can hope to see cryonic Donahue Show that featured Thomas Donaldson. And credit is due our Editor, Brian Shock, as it often is, for suspension accepted as a medical proce- his work on the text leading to further improvements. dure, one to be applied, when needed, to MP save a life and not simply to end it.

Errata: Span facility in West Babylon, New York, New York gets very cold. Then too, the where her father was stored in suspension). Cryo-Span facility was unheated. Last quarter, in “For The Record,” I All of this sounds highly suggestive of car- Death records could perhaps settle reported on the case of Beverly bon monoxide poisoning, and in fact two this question. Unfortunately, when I re- Greenberg, a young cryonics activist who individuals I talked to, both longtime cently contacted the New York State died under tragic circumstances in 1973. cryonicists who had, years ago, indepen- Dept. of Health, Vital Records Section, Written documentation from the period dently spoken to Mike Darwin about this they told me the records would be sealed, is hard to obtain, and I had to rely some- case, reported him telling them it was car- for privacy reasons, for another 25 years. what on an “oral tradition” which, I now bon monoxide. (One of them even recalled There is another error I made in this have good reason to think, had two sig- him saying her face was cherry red.) With article. Perhaps I misunderstood Curtis nificant errors, though the overall gist of both of these seemingly reliable sources Henderson, but I thought he meant that what happened is still pretty much the saying the same thing, I didn’t consider it CSNY froze “Frank Riley.” No, Mike same. an urgent matter to check with Mike first- Darwin tells me it was he and “Corey First, Beverly probably did not die hand — until too late. As for the gas tank Noble” who carried out the initial freez- of carbon monoxide poisoning. This in- being “empty,” Mike said that at the time ing to dry ice temperature. Riley, how- formation comes from Mike Darwin, who Beverly’s funds were meager and she tended ever, had been a Trans Time case from saw the body in the Suffolk County (NY) to run her car nearly empty much of the the beginning, and was never in New shortly after death. Her face, he time. York nor “placed on dry ice by CSNY.” emphasized, was chalky white, not the So what did Beverly really die of? In Curtis did go out to the Trans Time facil- cherry red usually observed in victims the first place, with carbon monoxide prob- ity in California and assist with the later who breathed the deadly gas. (Carbon ably ruled out, there is no particular reason stages of the cooldown, and helped get a monoxide, when breathed in, produces to suspect suicide either. A more likely cause capsule for the patient. Most importantly carboxyhemoglobin which gives blood a of death was simple, accidental hypother- at least, Riley’s suspension does con- bright red color but is metabolically use- mia, something to which some are more tinue to this day. less, so that poisoning victims generally susceptible than others. It could have been Sorry about the errors — history can have a flushed or rosy appearance.) True, aggravated by such factors as hunger, be a tricky business — but it’s an inter- she was found in her car, the gas tank valium (she was taking this at the time), and esting one too. read empty, the keys were in the ignition, possibly alcohol. The date of her death, we and it was in a closed space (in the Cryo- recall, was the middle of November, when

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 31 Cryonics Interview: Eric Drexler The author of Engines of Creation discusses nanotechnology, cryonics, and the future. Part II of II by Russell Cheney

Eric Drexler (ED): Regarding the ef- signed up today in the US would be in RC: (More chuckles.) I hope there’s fects on expected time of realization: the millions. some easy way to clearly designate fa- my sense is that to the extent that there cetious comments in the final written are some individuals with a vision of Russell Cheney (RC): Right. article of this interview. where this [] can go and concern for it that in part ED: So what this obviously shows is ED: “With his tongue in his cheek, he come from their desire to see a really that cryonics is preying on the gullible remarked...” advanced and capable medical technol- and the ignorant. ogy — to the extent that those individu- RC: I think so, something like that. als become involved in making things RC: (Chuckles.) How do you see the relationship happen on the path — yes, there will be between molecular nanotechnology and a substantial effect. But nothing that I ED: People who don’t know much the molecular biology disciplines that see in the structure of the US research about the brain, you know, people like are currently able to create designed community today suggests that having Marvin Minsky [7]. proteins, etc.; is molecular biology a clearer scenarios of the down-stream subset of molecular nanotechnology; do phase that starts to look less like wet you envision that both will be critical to chemistry or biology, would have much cryonics, and why? effect on speed. Though it might have a tremendous effect on people’s percep- ED: Historically it’s clear that molecu- tion of the practicality of the long-term lar biology has been the main inspira- goal. Or it might have a tremendous tion for the idea of building artificial effect on the extent to which people molecular-machine systems, because sign up for cryonic suspension to- nature just provides all these striking day. examples and to anyone with an engi- I would note, in that regard, that neering background it practically if you look at the US population to- screams out the challenge, “Hey, day, what fraction are signed up for dummy, you know about atoms and cryonic suspension? A little bit better molecules, why can’t you make things than one in a million. If the fraction like this?” signed up were the same as the As we proceed toward fraction of Silicon Valley this kind of technology programmers, or of base, it will probably in people who have put part be supported by in some time as re- developments from searchers at Xerox molecular biology, PARC in the last ten though in many years, then what you cases it will be would just naively more a expect is that the matter number of people Photos by Tanya Jones of

32 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 Russell Cheney is a retired Northrop Aviation computer analyst and active marathon runner. He is also an Alcor suspension member, a certified Alcor CryoTransport Technician and frequent contributor to Cryonics Magazine.

people learning lessons there and ap- understanding of cells that I think James I certainly expect to see enormous plying them to different physical sys- Watson was saying was impossible in contributions to molecular biology, and tems. -like molecules that aren’t his second edition of The Molecular part of what makes the cryonics reani- proteins are starting to become popular. Biology of the Gene; he makes some mation scenario a reasonable one is that As was suggested some years ago, statement to the effect that we’ll never in the future we’re going to have enor- there’s no particular reason to think that really be able to understand the mo- mously better tools for characterizing biology has come up with the optimum lecular-detailed picture of the structure biological structures, both healthy tis- polymer for engineering of protein-like of a cell and of DNA [8]. sue and frozen tissue, and the relation- molecules. And lo and behold, research- Here’s a scenario: you do what ships between healthy tissue and frozen ers are now concretely coming up with people can do in the laboratory today, tissue. And you’ll be able to make examples of things that hold more stable which is take cells and put them in a 50,000 identical blocks of one cubic and predictable patterns. little droplet of water and if you want to millimeter of healthily-structured neu- So that’s proceeding. It’s in some add a little bit of glycerol that helps, but ral-tissue, and freeze them under 50,000 sense an outgrowth of molecular biol- in this particular case you don’t need it. different conditions and look at the re- ogy, but it’s also starting to move away And you take the droplet of water and sults in molecular detail and see what from molecular biology. Ultimately I you slam it into some very conductive the correspondence is between the re- think that the big intersection will be in material, copper if you’re feeling poor, sults and previous conditions, and do the application of new molecular de- a chunk of diamond if you make the just such an exquisite job! vices and sensors to molecular biology. investment, which is not that big an Already the progress that’s been made investment because we don’t need that RC: It will become practical to do that. in the understanding of the biology at big a chip to use as a heat sink. the cellular molecular levels is note- In any case, you have your conduc- ED: Yes; the bulk of what I’m describ- worthy. Which often from a distance tive material at liquid helium tempera- ing would not necessarily require seems kind of puzzling; I mean, how ture, and the droplet of water splats anybody’s attention; it’s people’s at- can they tell all these things about these onto it, and cools so rapidly that you tention that would be expensive. little tiny structures? don’t get formation of ice. That’s not Much of the information is gained an effective technique for biological RC: Could you share your current by indirect paths that lead through the purposes and preserving cells, but on thoughts on the specifics of the reani- use of other molecules as tools. For the other hand it does a marvelous job mation process, and the role molecular example, the polymerase chain reac- of keeping everything almost exactly nanotechnology and other technologies tion, which has been so important in where it was while you then, with mo- and sciences might encompass? DNA work in recent years, uses mo- lecular machines that can work at very lecular machines borrowed from bacte- low temperatures, go in and take apart ED: I will just say in outline that if I ria that live at high temperatures, to the structure, roughly speaking, one had to sit down and sketch out a reason- duplicate DNA in the test tube, and do molecular layer at a time, keeping notes ably detailed technology scenario for that for us. on what was where. And if you do that, how, given a lot of technology base, So already we’re making heavy use you have a really complete map of given a lot of knowledge in place, how of molecular machines borrowed from something that’s a reasonably good ap- would one go in and effect repair in a nature, and recently tinkered with a little proximation to a snapshot of a normally- particular clinical case: I would say that, bit, to learn about biological systems. functioning cell. Now do that for enough roughly speaking, first you start by not What we’ll be able to do in the future is different cells, and abstract the patterns causing any thawing injury, sort of like to have non-biological devices that can from that and you’ve got a reasonably reperfusion injury only much worse. So be used to study biological systems and good idea of what’s going on in bio- you would stay at liquid nitrogen tem- do so in enormously more detail than is logical systems that’s not the kind of perature, or even below; it might be possible today. Just for a concrete pic- data you could get today, by a long that there is an advantage to additional ture of how one could get the kind of shot.

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 33 stabilization during some of these pro- by an actual freezing process. subset of the enzymes and active trans- cesses. The naive idea of what freezing port mechanisms in the cells, and keep There’s a lot of ice in the tissue; I would do in an ideal world is that it them in that state until you’re up in think a good first move is to remove makes everything just sort of stop, and some reasonable temperature regime, that ice, by a sort of mining operation. maybe you get little microscopic bits of like 98 or so degrees. Have structures that would go in and crystallization, but they don’t really do say, “Ah. yes, there’s an icy surface much and everything is reasonably in RC: And you’re envisioning that inhi- and we’ll remove a little bit of this place. Part of what Greg Fahy has been bition might be done by means other material and yes, that’s ice, a little bit doing with vitrification [9] shows that than temperature? of this.” And say, “Ah, this here is stuck we are able to come increasingly close in place, this isn’t ice; this is a protein, to that ideal with actual technologies of ED: Yes, the inhibition is initially done OK.” Once you had removed the ice perfusion and cooling. But here you’re by temperature. You substitute a non- and the ice crystals, keeping track of not doing it by perfusion and cooling, thermal mechanism for inhibition, sta- course of how much sodium and chlo- but by construction, if your aim is to bilize, warm, and then after making sure rine and potassium, and so on, were construct an ideal frozen state. What that things are where they ought to be, lodged in the in different places, would a perfectly cryo-preserved tissue and the concentrations of the various you’d find that you had a whole lot of look like if you didn’t have the nasty, substances are what they ought to be, to working room and not a whole lot that’s concentrated in there, be ready to roll. You then remove the terribly blocking access to surfaces but you had all the effects you wanted blocks from the wheels and let her go. worth working on. on the ice? Given the robustness of biological Where I think the scenario would Then, given that we already know systems, that scenario probably actu- proceed from there is essentially to mov- that so many biological materials can ally is a little bit more careful and cau- ing things around so that they’re in the tolerate thawing injury from accessible tious than is necessary. But on the other right locations. OK, there’s been dehy- frozen states, it would seem that thaw- hand, why not? dration and some tissue’s been com- ing from an idealized frozen state, that pressed. As a next step you do some you can’t get to by a real freezing pro- RC: This approach guarantees that, cell stabilization. At some point here you cess, would be pretty much a piece of by cell, the organism is reconstructed. probably want to raise the temperature cake, especially if you still have de- so that various materials are a bit more vices in there to do on-going adjust- ED: Yes, if all the cells have been de- pliable and flexible and not brittle. So ment of this and that. Presumably you’d crumpled and de-torn, by our conserva- now you have what in effect is a struc- like to have the right ion concentrations tors, then the entire fabric of the organ- ture that is sort of cross-linked, but it’s and the right ATP concentrations, and ism is in good healthy shape. not by chemical reactions that just oc- there’s some little corner where there I would contrast the above scenario curred haphazardly, maybe not chemi- are some stray molecules or something to the image of cryogenically preserv- cal reactions per se at all, but rather that wasn’t convenient to mess with ing and recovering someone without there’re a whole lot of little links hold- until there was a water phase for them molecular machine technology. They ing things in place. to diffuse in, so you’d wait for the wa- start in some medical condition that Now you can, at a gross morpho- ter phase to happen, then you’d catch made it possible to label them as dead logical level, put things back where they them as they diffused. (a legal convenience). They are then belong. And at a finer scale move in Probably what you’d like to do is to subjected to freezing injury, thawing and put things back where they belong. be sure you had enough mechanisms in injury, and finally something perhaps Once you’ve put everything back where place to prevent any metabolic activity. close to current conventional medicine. it belongs and gone back to a lower Although it’s hard to say how the de- It seems to me if you were very very temperature, you would put water back tails will work out in practice, I think very successful, you’d still have a very in. But now you put the water in with- the sensible thing to do might well be to very very sick mammal. Whereas, on out all the disturbances that are caused inhibit a large portion or some crucial the other side of this technology transi-

“I would contrast the [molecular machine-based repair] scenario to the image of cryogenically preserving and recovering someone with- out molecular machine technology. ...”

34 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 tion, there’s no particular reason why pension methods to improve suspen- stitutes damage?” What are we talking anyone should be left in some semi- sions today, compared with supporting about here? If tearing and crumpling is functional state. research on the longer-term problems regarded as fatal damage, then it’s not of repair and revival? clear that you’re going to be paying RC: Right. So if I’m understanding your adequate attention (in the earlier anal- vision here correctly, we’re not just ED: I would say that for the cryonics ogy) to fire prevention. And I’m more refabricating the cells to the condition community, the importance of support- concerned with the fire prevention as- that they were in at the time of ing research on longer-term problems pect than the disruptions which merely cryopreservation, but we may be actu- of repair and revival is very slight ex- make it obviously impossible to warm ally passing a judgment on each cell as cept for the value of having a better up the organism and have the organism to whether it needs to be refurbished in concrete scenario to present, to explain go scampering off and be happy. Until some way. to people why it is that one should ex- someone has a really credible scenario pect the procedures to work. So again, for taking a patient who is currently in ED: The conservative thing to do would the main value of a better understand- need of suspension services and putting be to be restored to a healthy condition ing of what kinds of techniques could them through a process that does not that’s not terribly unlike the condition be used in the future isn’t to make the involve molecular repair systems, and that they were in before suspension, but techniques happen faster — it isn’t to having them be healthy at the other enough different that they obviously predict what they will be, because you end, then I don’t know what one is don’t need suspension -- to what is by would probably be wrong if you were talking about. I don’t know what’s worth present standards considered healthy. making that prediction — but rather to discussing. Then if people would like to arrange for get a clearer picture of the kinds of Now in fact it’s hard for me to imag- a little bit more work so that they don’t things that will be possible and to have ine such a procedure, even a halfway look quite so wretchedly unhealthy by that picture be an active picture in the reasonable procedure, being thoroughly the standards at the time of repair, then minds of people living and making de- worked out, tested on small animals, that would be a matter for voluntary cisions today. scaled up to large animals, and gotten choice, one would hope. That’s what I see as the relevance to the point of FDA approval, or some So in an era in which medicine has of research or kind of wide-spread acceptance any- a very broad ability to bring about de- in the longer-term problems. The total way, such that one could perform it on sired outcomes, it seems that the con- amount of effort that can reasonably go people who are not in dire need of sus- servative approach for patients in sus- into that is fairly modest, but I think pension, in less time than it will prob- pension is to assume that the desired somebody putting in another block or ably take to get to the technology tran- outcome is, as I was saying, much like two of time on that, and doing some sition that we’re looking forward to. where they were before they needed good write-ups, with particular atten- There are a lot of people who are suspension, so that then they can decide tion to not trying to guess what will working on the molecular machine prob- what they would desire as a later out- happen, but rather trying to see what lem, and it seems to be just of a straight- come. you can make a plausible case for: what forward-work nature; it’s not a matter Basically there’s a big issue of pa- sounds sensible today and is sensible of taking a very complicated physical tient consent in these procedures, and given our best present knowledge — system, like the human body, and doing you’d like to get your patient into a does the job, is attractive, and not need- something simultaneously to all the cells condition where the patient can be in- lessly peculiar in some fashion. So that’s in all the organ systems that is way formed and pass judgment while rais- what I see as the issues there. outside what they were evolved to cope ing as few ethical questions as possible With respect to finding less-dam- with, and having everything come out along the way. aging suspension methods, I know that’s OK at the other end. That seems very currently a contentious issue, and it hard, if your idea of everything coming RC: How much importance should be seems to me that a crucial question here out OK at the other end is, “Warm her placed on finding less-damaging sus- is, “What are the criteria for what con- up and shake hands.”

“ It seems to me if you were very very very successful, you’d still have a very very very sick mammal.”

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 35 works before it happens, because you’re not interested after that, roughly. OK, “So from that point of view, what we have is so that’s one problem with the standard a conservative medical procedure. And I medical model viewed as one kind of conservative clinical approach. think that it’s important to present cryonics There’s a more fundamental notion that way. Not to say, ‘This is weird and radi- of conservatism in medicine which I cal,’ but to say, ‘Here’s the idea, here’s how it was outlining to the last Extropian Con- works, here’s why it’s conservative.’” ference; they had me in as keynote speaker so I gave a talk on “How to be Cautious and Conservative” [10]. What I argued is, among other things, that suspension is obviously a cautious and conservative medical procedure. Look So I think that research that’s aimed tion. And then there is a new perspec- at the outcomes; look at the outcomes at minimizing damage by the conven- tive that focuses on structure and infor- of alternatives. Anyone with any sense tional criteria of viability is good to the mation content and future repair capa- can, I think, decide which procedure is extent that it tends to also deal with bilities. And there’s a lot of overlap; if more conservative in the sense of con- what are, from the point of view of the you succeed by the first you’ve surely serving and maintaining and preserv- molecular repair scenario, the real prob- succeeded by the second. But the re- ing. So from that point of view, what lems of taking pieces of tissue and ho- verse is not true. we have is a conservative medical pro- mogenizing them and obliterating in- And if anyone would like to argue cedure. And I think that it’s important formation in them. Clearly if your tis- that a suspension performed under fa- to present cryonics that way. Not to sue is viable, you have not done very vorable circumstances today is to be say, “This is weird and radical,” but to much that’s equivalent to burning things regarded as a failure or a fatality for say, “Here’s the idea, here’s how it and blowing away the ash. In fact you’re some reasons of cryobiology, then I works, here’s why it’s conservative.” probably not even doing much tearing would like to hear that person explain As to being successful, which is and you’ve got it down into the crum- how it is that freezing under good con- where we started here. By standard pling range or less. ditions is like burning and blowing away medical criteria, I think it’s obvious If you can meet that very high ob- the ash, rather than like crumpling and that if patients make it to the future, if jective, you’ve made progress. On the tearing. I’ve heard no such explanation. the world doesn’t fall down around our other hand, if you say that that very ears, if the cryonics care is as continu- high and desirable objective is neces- RC: Do you have a probability you ous for the next few decades as it has sary for success, then to the extent that would assign to the successful revival been for in the past [11], you persuade anyone and as a conse- of those patients currently suspended? that the patients will get to this kind of quence they don’t sign up for suspen- What factors should be considered when medical capability — the type of medi- sion when they would have otherwise, developing such a probability? cal capability in which these sorts of and they in fact needed to be signed up, medical procedures are cheap and easy. then you have a death on your hands, ED: The probability of successful re- And they’ll be revived, and it will be and I think your conscience should not vival: let me move to what I think is a successful. What does that mean? If perhaps be feeling quite as comfortable second crucial conceptual issue in this their patient gets up and walks out of as it might otherwise. area. That is the application of the stan- the hospital, doctors say, “Hey, it’s a I think that the question of what the dard medical model, in which you do success.” Clearly these patients will be criteria are for a successful procedure is an experiment with a control group and able to get up and walk out of the hospi- crucial, and there are at present two an experimental group, and you see what tal. paradigms, if you will, loose in the the outcome is. I think the standard Somewhere in the back of our world. One paradigm comes out of bi- medical model is both a good thing and minds, if we’ve been reading the cryon- ology and has a continuity that stretches a bad thing. It’s a bad thing, as Ralph ics literature over the last decade and back to the roots of biology and Merkle likes to say, for an experiment half or more, we might ask, “What about Aristotle, based on observing organisms like a suspension: you have to wait personal identity?” Here’s where I think and the distinction between plants and awhile, then when you have the data, the standard medical model is excel- animals, and living things and dead it’s no longer of much use to people. lent. Medical doctors never talk about things, and all sort of mobility and func- You want to figure out whether it personal identity that I’ve noticed. And

36 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 likewise I don’t hear educators talking page, and you rip it into four quarters inclined to do an interview with you about it, or bartenders, who give you and crumple it, and hand it to an art here than talk to somebody from Time mind-altering substances, talking about conservator, “How many words will it Magazine. it. Brain surgeons certainly don’t want forget?” Answer, “None.” to talk about it. Maybe they do a little If it’s a photograph, a half-tone pho- RC: When you say real consequences bit on occasion, but it isn’t a central tograph reproduction, you’re probably for the future, you’re referring to impli- conceptual issue in medicine. Rather going to lose a few half-tone dots, but I cations of these technologies for our the question is: the patient has come in don’t think anybody cares about a few entire culture? the door, we do a procedure; can the half-tone dots in a page of print. Par- patient get up and walk out, can the ticularly since you can tell what the ED: There remains a staggering gap patient hold a job afterward, talk to color was from either side in almost all between the picture of the future that friends and family? Have we damaged cases. So, if one isn’t concerned about informs today’s ethical decisions, de- the patient’s memory? Has the patient learning something new, or forgetting bates on Social Security, discussions of forgotten the last few days before the the telephone number that you had when global warming, resources, population, procedure? (With some procedures, or you were in dormitory in college, or the on down a list of concerns and issues -- some accidents, certainly.) Does the effect of a glass of wine, or the effects a staggering gap between the frame- patient remember his or her name? How of living for the next five years — if work that’s behind those discussions, much amnesia are we talking about in those aren’t terrifying things that you and anything that strikes me or anyone neurological cases? Ah, virtually none, feel threaten your personal identity — I know well and have serious discus- or none detectable? Great! then I basically would say, again pre- sions with, as being at all reasonable. But that’s the framework in which mised on suspension under good condi- It’s as though . . . oh I don’t have a good these things are discussed. So, will re- tions, forget the problem. Unless some- comparison here . . . animation be successful? By medical one has something new to say that’s criteria, yes. By more general functional negative, it’s not a problem. I don’t RC: You’re saying, at all reasonable in criteria and so on, since physical health know any reason to think it’s a prob- the context of the inevitability of the is not an issue with this kind of medical lem, except the habit that people have development of molecular technology in place, the only remaining of talking about it as though it is. The nanotechnology? question is, are we talking about no brain does not seem to be some delicate amnesia or a little amnesia? And I think ethereal thing that evaporates when you ED: Yes. We’re in the middle of a tech- the answer there, in cases of suspen- chill it, or even freeze it. nology explosion: a whole set of more sions performed using present tech- One could actually argue that one or less exponential trends that have been niques under good conditions as best I purpose of medicine based on molecu- rolling along for quite some time now. can judge from what I see in Greg lar nanotechnology is to make cryonics The basic physical capabilities of mo- Fahy’s electron micrographs and dis- obsolete. lecular nanotechnology actually fit cussions, and from what I understand pretty well, as Ralph Merkle found, on from paying attention to the neurobiol- RC: What new horizons is Eric Drexler the trend lines for miniaturization in ogy literature for the last twenty years currently pursuing? the semiconductor field. If you just ex- with this question in mind, is that: yes, trapolate their lines, they actually ex- we should be fine! ED: I’ll remind you I’m not giving very pect to be hitting the atomic scale in the many interviews these days; this is the early 21st century; before 2020. So all RC: In your judgment patients will not first one I can recall having given in this is going on, and the discussions only be able to walk away, but will be months. For awhile I was talking to the that occur in society mostly seem to be able to remember. media because I wanted to get some premised on nothing much happening. basic ideas out there. And now it seems ED: The patient will not regard this as to me that the time has come to look RC: As though the future is just the being a whole lot different from having more seriously at the real consequences same as today. been wheeled into a time machine, with- for the future, which are a little bit more out any intervening freeze and repair complex, a little bit more radical than ED: Yes. One little symptom of that: process. I say that simply because of one can talk about in today’s press. And have you heard of the Millennium Clock what the structure of memory seems to so, is concentrating Project? be, and what the nature of the perturba- more on the Web, improved technolo- tions caused by freezing seem to be. gies for critical discussion, and ex- RC: No. It’s like asking, if you take a written change and refining of ideas. I’m more

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 37 ED: Well, consider yourself lucky. basic misconception about the advance They’re a group of people actually led of technology in that they think that it’s Biography: K. Eric Drexler by the highly respected and respectable a delicate process that could go wrong, and imaginative Danny Hillis [12], with and going wrong means that it would Dr. K. Eric Drexler is a researcher con- various people from the future-oriented stop. The bad scenarios have plenty of cerned with emerging technologies and their consequences for the future. This interest led Global Business Network involved, who “progress,” but it’s misapplied, or the him to initiate studies in “molecular are working on building a clock which social framework goes sideways in some nanotechnology,” an anticipated field based on the manipulation and construction of pre- is supposed to operate for the next unpleasant way. cise molecular-scale objects. Among his vari- 10,000 years. ous ideas, Dr. Drexler has outlined the possi- RC: Right, but the fundamental bilities of diamond-based structural materials, computers more than a thousand times smaller RC: A clock, OK. progress is almost inevitable. than those currently available, and medical devices capable of repairing individual cells. ED: A big clock. And as nearly as I can ED: Yes. Once the Cambrian explo- He received his Bachelor’s degree from M.I.T. in Interdisciplinary Science, a Master’s tell it’s being designed to survive for sion was underway, it didn’t really mat- from M.I.T. in Engineering (while a National 10,000 years not into the future, but ter how many organisms refrained from Science Foundation Graduate Fellow), and a Ph.D. from M.I.T. in Molecular into the past; one of the design criterion developing legs, refrained from devel- Nanotechnology. Formerly a Research Affili- is that it be maintainable with bronze- oping eyes, and just remained as worms. ate of the M.I.T. Space Systems Laboratory and age technology. Now I’ve heard many There were still legged, flying creatures the M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, he is currently a Research Fellow of the Institute serious discussions that take for granted that would swoop down and pluck them for Molecular Manufacturing. He has served the idea that civilization will collapse from the grass and take them back to on the Board of Directors of the National Space and will return to the bronze age, or the nest. Competitive evolutionary pres- Society and is a member of the American Vacuum Society, the Protein Society, and the something like that, by people who sures did a fine job of producing robins. American Chemical Society. would dismiss the notion that say 200 And I think that the difficulty of getting To help in coping with the opportunities and dangers presented by molecular years from now we’ll be in the middle things to happen in concrete ways in nanotechnology, he founded the M.I.T. of an interstellar sphere of influence concrete places tends to confuse people Nanotechnology Study Group, and now serves that is 200 light-years wide, roughly about the reliability and the robustness as Chairman of the Foresight Institute, a non- profit educational organization created to help the distance light will have traveled be- of advances around the world. If you prepare for advanced technologies. In spring tween now and then. try to do something really new, most of 1988 he taught (while a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University) the first formal course on Let’s say civilization is going to the time it fails. If there are a thousand nanotechnology and exploratory engineering. collapse on the East coast, yes, and the researchers, you can have almost all of He chaired the first and second Foresight Con- West coast, and in South America, and them be intensely frustrated, and yet ferences on Nanotechnology (1989, 1991) and co-chaired the third (1993). Australia, and New Zealand, and Ko- have great breakthrough advances come Through 1995, Eric Drexler’s publications rea, and Japan, and Mongolia, and Eu- poring forth and fill the journals, and list included over thirty articles (published in rope. Is it going to stay that way for that is somewhat of the situation that periodicals ranging from the Smithsonian to the CoEvolution Quarterly) as well as three long, despite people knowing how to we’re in. I think it’s responsible for books: Engines of Creation (1986), Unbounding build something like the sailing ships some of the misperceptions. the Future (1991, with Chris Peterson and Gayle Pergamit), and Nanosystems: Molecular Ma- that the Europeans used to kick the rest chinery, Manufacturing, and Computation of the world into competitive economic RC: Thank you so much with sharing (1992). Among his awards are the annual As- and technological action very recently? your insights with us. sociation of American Publishers award for best computer science book (Nanosystems), I don’t know even of any attempt to and the 1993 Kilby Young Innovator Award, construct plausible scenario for the long- ED: My pleasure. named for Jack Kilby, inventor of the inte- term fall of civilization, and yet be- grated circuit. cause that collapse resembles the past Acknowledgements: and people are fixated on the past, that’s The material for this biography was obtained regarded as a much more serious con- from the Foresight Institute and is used with their kind permission: http:// sideration than how to manage a world www.foresight.org/FI/Drexler.html (Biog- with machine intelligence and rapid in- raphy of K. Eric Drexler) and http:// terstellar expansion, which gets one one- www.imm.org/DrexlerCV.html (Curricu- thousandth or one one-millionth of the lum Vitae: K. Eric Drexler). attention, even though it’s hard for me to construct a scenario in which that does not happen. I think that many people have a

38 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 NOTES: James Lewis, xviii + 297 pages, and The Turing Option; The Internet Home John Wiles & Son, Inc., NY, 1995. Page: http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/minsky/ minsky. The Society of the Mind provides [1] Special appreciation is given in recog- The Foresight Institute: Mission and funda- an abstract model of how the human mind nizing the following individuals for their in- mental goal is to guide emerging technol- may really work: as an aggregation of inter- spiration and invaluable assistance: Hugh ogy to improve the human condition. Fore- acting pieces (agents) that evolved to per- Hixon, Mary Margaret Glennie, and Steve sight focuses its efforts upon molecular form highly specific tasks; published 1988. Bridge for their thoughts on the right ques- nanotechnology, the coming ability to build tions to ask; Bradley Cheney for his contin- materials and products with atomic preci- [8] James Watson, The Molecular Biology ued and successful determination to resolve sion, and upon systems that will enhance of the Gene, co-authors: Jeffrey W Roberts, all hardware / software problems; Chris knowledge exchange and critical discussion, Nancy H Hopkins; editors: Joan A Steitz, Peterson and Tanya Jones for their splendid thus improving public and private policy Alan M Weiner. arrangements at the Foresight Institute; and decisions. Write to: Box 61058, Palo Alto, [9] Gregory M Fahy: Recent organ vitrifica- Brian Shock who wields one of the world’s CA, 94306; Telephone: 650 / 917-1122; Web tion research: “Advances in Anti-Aging most efficacious and inspirational cat-o- site: http://www.foresight.org. nine-tails. Medicine, Volume I,” Ronald M Klutz, ed, [5] The original article containing interview Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, Larchmont, NY, [2] Robert C.W. Ettinger, The Prospect of material: Gary Stix, “Waiting for Break- 1996, 249-55. Immortality, Doubleday & Company, Gar- throughs,” Scientific American, 274:4, 4/96, Additional vitrification background: Gre- den City, New York, 1964. pp 94-99. Also, most of the original article gory M Fahy: “Vitrification: A New Ap- is available at www.sciam.com/exhibit/ [3] K. Eric Dexler, “Molecular Engineering: proach to Organ Cryopreservation,” 040000trends.html. An Approach to the Development of Gen- Progress in Clinical and Biological Re- eral Capabilities for Molecular Manipula- Related letters to the editor by Eric Drexler, search, 1986, 224:305-35; Gregory M Fahy, tion,” Proceedings of the National Academy Carl Feynman (son of Nobelist Richard P. DR MacFarlane, CA Angell, HT Meryman: of Science USA, 78:9, 9/81, pp 5275-5278. Feynman), Ed Reitman and Haw: “Mega- “Vitrification as an Approach to [4] The Foresight Institute Conference Se- Discord Over Nanotech,” Scientific Ameri- Cryopreservation,” Cryobiology, 1984 Aug, ries: can, 8/96, p 8. Also available at 21(4):407-26. www.sciam.com/0896issue/ Technical Conferences on Molecular [10] Extropian Conference III (EXTRO-3), 0896letters.html. Nanotechnology: San Jose, California, August 9-10, 1997, First: 1989 A Scientific American retraction?: Related “The Future of the Body and Brain / Future Second: 1991 in-depth article which appears to contradict Infrastructures”: K. Eric Drexler, Keynote Third: 1993 many of the 4/96 article’s conclusions: “A Speaker, “How to be Cautious and Conser- Fourth: 1995 Turn of the Gear”: www.sciam.com/exhibit/ vative.” : The philosophy that Fifth: 1997 (Keynote speaker: 042897gear/042897nano.html. Also see seeks to increase extropy. Extropy: A mea- Chemistry Nobel Laureate www.sciam.com/exhibit/ sure of intelligence, information, energy, vi- Richard Smalley) 052796exhibit.html. tality, experience, diversity, opportunity and Sixth: 1998 (scheduled for growth. November; details available at A considered analysis of the original inter- the Foresight’s Web site) view article: Ralph Merkle: www.foresight. [11] Dr. James Bedford, a psychology pro- org/SciAmDebate/SciAmResponse.html. fessor from Glendale, California, was origi- First Foresight General Conference on nally suspended January 12, 1967, has ex- [6] Ralph Merkle: For molecular Molecular Nanotechnology: 1992 perienced over thirty years of uninterrupted nanotechnology designs and related ideas, cryonic suspension. Dr. Bedford was trans- Senior Associates Gathering (Foresight, see Web site: http://www.merkle.com. Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, and ferred to Alcor’s care in 1982, and since then CCIT): 10/18-20/96 Available at this Web site: has remained resident with Alcor. For his- “It’s a Small, Small, Small World” torical details, see Cryonics Magazine July Conference Publications: (1997) MIT’s Technology Review 1991, Volume 12(7), pages 15-22, and Au- First Foresight Technical Conference on “A Brief Introduction to the Core gust 1991, Volume 12(8), pages 17-24. Molecular Nanotechnology (1989): Concepts of Molecular [12] Danny Hillis: A technology scholar, Nanotechnology: Research and Nanotechnology” Perspectives,ed BC Crandall engineer, Disney employee, and, “One of the and James Lewis, ix + 381 [7] Marvin Minsky: Donner Professor of nation’s leading thinkers on technology,” per pages, MIT Press, Cambridge, Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ABC News and Starwave. Advisory Board MA, London, England, 1992. ogy; of Artificial Intelligence (AI) renown of ALife Conference, UCLA, June 1998. First General Conference on (one of the undisputed fathers of AI), and “The best way to design a thinking machine Nanotechnology (1992): author of Society of the Mind, Perceptions: is to evolve one . . . It’s now possible to copy Prospects in Nanotechnology: Introduction to Computational Geometry, the basic rules of evolution inside a com- Toward Molecular Manufacturing, Robotics, Semantic Information Processing, puter.” ed Markus Krummenacker and Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines,

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 39 Review: Nonfiction

Journey to the Centers of the Mind by Susan Greenfield, WH Freeman and Co, 1995 Circuits of the Mind by Leslie G. Valient, Oxford University Press, 1994

Reviewed by Thomas Donaldson, PhD

hese books differ from one another like idea that some special small group of neu- their cortex and their lower brain; their cor- Tplants differ from animals, but still de- rons causes our awareness. (In its original tex, however, may be far smaller than ours, serve to be reviewed together, if only be- form 300 years ago this idea really just put both relatively and absolutely. cause each one raises important points which the problem of how awareness worked onto Greenfield’s book is actually an easy the other ignores. that small group of neurons rather than the read, requiring no special background in Greenfield discusses the problem of entire brain. Amendments, such as the idea neuroscience. I would have preferred a more just how our brains produce consciousness, that some small group of neurons in our technical appendix discussing anatomy in a subject which only recently has attracted lower brainstem might play a critical role, more detail, but certainly recommend her the interest of neuroscientists. After discus- have much more merit — loss of some book for anyone interested in conscious- sion of the problem, she argues for her own areas by injury or stroke can cause perma- ness and how it may work (after all, she theory. It’s important to understand that her nent unconsciousness.) presents a theory only; we’ll need many ideas remain a hypothesis only, although When Greenfield discusses how arousal more experiments to really answer the ques- she uses both psychological observations works, she points out that a variety of neu- tion). I must also say that perhaps she did and neurobiological observations to sup- rons from our lower brainstem have projec- not discuss details of anatomy because they port it. One major feature of her proposal is tions widely spread throughout our brain. may well point to particular special areas very interesting: essentially she suggests These neurons use substances such as (“only a few cells”) from which all the that consciousness must involve some kind dopamine, acetylcholine, epinephrine, and arousal neurons might come. of arousal. Essentially this says that any others; we now know that none of these The second book, Circuits of the Mind, device or person capable only of pure substances plays a direct role in memory is in computer science, with only a few knowledge or computation (whatever “pure” (for which glutamate is the main transmit- bows to neuroscience and neuroanatomy. may mean!) cannot be conscious. ter). However, they do tend to activate not Its author, Valiant, basically tries to work However arousal alone isn’t sufficient only the neurons to which they connect but out how the neural nets which constitute for consciousness. Basically, her idea is that those nearby. Neurologists using trans- our memory can work so very quickly, es- we continually have groups of neurons planted neurons have even noted that most pecially given that they consist of neurons forming and producing electrical signals in of the effect of such neurons comes from which act very slowly compared to present synchrony. These groups each consist of their output of acetylcholine or their other electrical components. neurons related in terms of the memories transmitters. They actually require no neu- My own major criticism is that this and actions they support. (There is no re- ral connection at all to work, though in author spent much less time on neuroscience quirement that these groups must be physi- uninjured brains they usually do connect to than he should have. His assumptions about cally contiguous). Formation of such groups particular neurons. how brains work are false or strongly ques- involves some degree of arousal (and in It’s important here that neurons in our tionable. First, by ignoring one major class return, arousal can cause formation of some cortex also send projections down to our of neuron (interneurons in our cortex, which groups). Consciousness occurs when one brainstem. This is a constantly acting feed- tend to suppress activity rather than pro- of these groups becomes dominant; that back loop. As to the exact anatomy of these mote it), his ideas about the dynamics of dominance adds further neurons to the loops, Greenfield does not commit herself. our brain’s neural nets require much more group. When we are awake, these dominant (Given the relatively large size of our brain discussion than he gives, and may turn out groups change over time, as our thoughts cortex, we may find that the source of these too wrong for any simple repair. Second, he and perceptions change. The interplay be- activator neurons is actually relatively also ignores the possibility of change in tween arousal and awareness goes on con- small.) One major consequence of her ideas, neural connectivity (which many neurosci- stantly. which she states clearly, is that many verte- entists believe certainly happens in chil- One major problem that Greenfield tries brates are aware in the same way we are, dren, who should not be ignored in any to avoid is an error which neuroscientists but not to the same degree. They all have study of memory and brain activity), and so have come to call the Cartesian Error: the the same kind of feedback loop between his computer model of a brain neural net

40 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 begins with yet another faulty assumption. on some problems; Valiant designed his to solution of a differential equation from a The merit of his study comes directly do problems of the sort brains might do. computer database, either. from the fact that he does indeed provide Though his ideas of how brains work Valiant’s book should be accessible to one means by which a properly designed do have faults, modifications may well give anyone with reasonable knowledge of com- neural net, even with very slow processors, us a better idea of brain processing. More- puters. Just don’t confuse his ideas with a can act much faster than any present com- over, databases are constantly needed, and real statement of how our brains might work puter. It’s important to understand that the his ideas may also suggest means to use — though he does have worthwhile insights activity here is that of a database, not an neural nets much more deeply in construc- in that direction. engine to compute scientific problems, and tion of many computer databases. As for his idea of our brains as a database with how our brains work, the simple idea of a very large capacity and very swift retrieval database is much more specific. Few people fits real brains a lot more specifically than can really do mental calculations well at all, the notion of a general computer. Neural and no one can solve complex differential nets are a major example of parallel com- equations in their head alone. But that is not puters, which can reach very high speeds a criticism of brains: I’d hardly demand the

Alcor Member Profile

Gordon Shippey

Profile Editor: Russell Cheney

Date joined Alcor: April 9th, 1997

Place of birth: Birmingham, Michigan (just outside of Detroit)

City and state of current residence: Atlanta, Georgia

Date of birth: 12/15/71

Occupation: Currently earning my Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech.

Marital status: Married July 24, 1995

Children: None.

Educational background: Graduated with highest honors from Emory University in 1994, majoring in Psychology and Computer Science/Mathematics.

Height: 6’1"

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 41 Best feature: My height.

Favorite author: Robert A. Heinlein

Favorite book: Time Enough for Love, by Robert A. Heinlein. (A book about an immortal, not surprisingly).

Book you are currently reading: The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand.

Favorite non-cryonics magazine: I don’t have time for magazines outside of AI journals I read for work, but when I had the time, I used to really enjoy WiReD.

Favorite movie: 2010.

Favorite TV show: Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was to me the height of the Star Trek universe and the Star Trek concept as Gene Roddenbury envisioned it. Whether aliens exist or faster-than-light travel is possible, those things aren’t nearly as relevant as the fact that humanity has a bright future ahead of it if we just play our cards right.

Favorite artist: MC Escher.

Hobbies: Science, science fiction, philosophy and political science. Japanese animation (anime). I jog with a friend as time allows and am slowly working my way into strength training.

Make of car you drive: Toyota Celica convertible.

Make of car you’d like to drive: Mitsubishi 3000GT convertible (no longer in production).

Greatest adventure: When I was sixteen, I wanted to get my pilot’s license, to my parents’ objections. They relented and I spent many happy hours (and a few scary moments) up in the air, learning to fly. I had to earn all the money for this by flipping burgers and later working in a one-hour film processing lab. The work wasn’t rewarding but the cause was, so I had no trouble sticking with it. Due to logistics, I was never able to get my license, but it was a great time all the same. When time permits, I’ll go back and get my rating eventually.

Favorite vacation destinations: Beaches. My favorite is at Destin on the Florida panhandle.

Political affiliation: Officially none. None of the typical labels really fit, but “libertarian” might be the closest. I’m a rabid individualist. I believe in laissez-faire capitalism, minimizing government cost and control, maximizing everyone’s individual rights up to the limit where they interfere with another individual’s rights. Some especially important rights that tend be threatened or ignored: the right to keep earned wealth, the right to trade freely, the right to private property, the (suspended or otherwise), the right to choose medical treatments or practitioners not recognized by the government.

Religion: None. I was raised Methodist, but it never “took.” I’m agnostic only because I can’t prove a negative: that god (or gods) doesn’t exist.

Most-prized possession: I’m a materialist, in that I think wealth is important, but I don’t tend to attach great meaning to individual items. Right now I’m very fond of my new Celica, but it’s a mass-produced item and if something happened to it, another one just like it would be just as good. I value the ideas and skill that went into building it more than the object itself. This is the same way I’d value a well-written [computer program] subroutine. This ties right into cryonics philosophy, too. Before I’m reanimated, if I have to be downloaded, transcribed, whatever, as long as they don’t change the way that my mind works, I’m still me, no matter what bits of matter happen to embody my identity at the moment.

42 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 Most-prized possession you’ve arranged to have upon reanimation: My body expects to have certain objects on it right now: my watch, my wedding ring, and lately my Alcor wrist tag. As a neuro patient, even if my body is restored to look and work just like the old one (with lots of little corrections...I’m making a list), will the old expectations for certain ornaments remain? If not, the old familiar sights will still provide me a little continuity.

Personal hero: John Waszak is a very personal hero to me: he was my sixth-grade teacher. I spent exactly one year in a crummy southern public school. I was having what was probably the worst year of my life. He wasn’t just a good instructor. He was a great person and he taught by example more often than even he may have recognized. I learned a lot, and I think that’s what turned me around.

On the first day of school I didn’t know anyone; the question of the day was “who’s your teacher?” A lot of kids didn’t know who Waszak was but the ones who did said the same thing: “oooh...he’s weird .” And just before classes started, I saw this very distinctive, young, tall fellow with glasses and a beard walking down one of the breezeways. He was not at all like the old ladies that had taught me since kindergarten. “Could that be him?” I thought. I walked into the classroom and there he was. From him I learned that being different isn’t just okay, it’s necessary. If the world isn’t the way you want it to be, and yet you’re trying to blend into it, then you’re becoming something you don’t like. That’s an unacceptable compromise.

Favorite famous quote: “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” —Arthur C. Clarke.

Another favorite quote: “No mysteries are sacrosanct, no limits unquestionable; the unknown will yield to the ingenious mind.” —from the Extropian Principles, v2.6

Personal philosophy: Life’s meaning is what you make it. Think of yourself as an artist and the universe is your canvas. Paint something beautiful.

Short-term goal: Finish my Ph.D. and get started on a productive career building intelligent systems.

Long-term goal: Build a machine that’s capable of passing the Turing test — a machine that can think with the skill and flexibility of a human mind.

Immediate goals upon reanimation: For neuro patients, I’m guessing there’s going to be a ton of physical therapy required to get the old brain on speaking terms with a new body. Once I have control of my internal environment, I’ll have to learn how to communicate again (or find a good interpreter system), because I seriously doubt that English as we know it will be the last and only language of humanity. I’ll want to catch up on history, travel and get myself reintegrated into society. Hopefully the Life-Pact folks will be there to help me out with this one.

Longer-term goal(s) after reanimation: Help reanimate other suspendees, then find something worth doing in the world that I can do—and then do it. Being more specific than that would probably be foolish.

Achievements for which you are most proud: Graduating from Emory, marrying the love of my life, and building two small AI systems as part of my graduate work.

Pet peeve: Ignorance, failure to think, or worse not thinking on purpose.

Greatest fear: Humanity won’t make it. We’ll do something very stupid, and go out with a bang. Or we’ll fail to make the right decisions and just fade into mediocrity.

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 43 Happiest memory: Falling in love with my wife. It’s a memory that’s still being made.

Secret ambition / fantasy: Living forever doesn’t count anymore, does it? I’ve always wanted to travel in space. It’s hard to predict whether I’ll get that chance in my natural lifetime, but a suspension gives me a second chance at it.

First choice to share your dewar: If I can convince my wife to sign up, I’d like for us to be in the same dewar in the hope that we might be reanimated at the same time.

First became interested in life extension: My first exposure to the suspension idea came by watching an old Twilight Zone episode. I might have been eight at the time. Later, I kept bumping into Alcor through subtle references on TV and on the WWW.

Who was most instrumental in your sign-up and why: Mary Naples, my life insurance agent. For reasons beyond her control, it took several months to get some lab work done. Mary was unflappable and kept on working until things were sorted out.

Sign-up administrator: Brian Shock

Most effective thing you do to promote your own longevity (other than being an Alcor member): Taking good care of my body. I’ve been jogging on a regular basis and eating more fruit and vegetables and less fat.

Least: Getting too much into my work and not enjoying life enough. Making it into a second life cycle requires you to want to live and have the mental flexibility to adapt to whatever happens. If you do just one thing, even if you love it, someday that activity isn’t going to have the same importance in society, and then what will you do? Cultivate mental flexibility now.

Biggest surprise since becoming a member: Nobody asks me about my tag. During sign-up, I had nightmares of having to try and explain cryonics to every Tom, Dick and Harry who saw the tag on my wrist. But I’ve never had a question about it from anyone who didn’t already know my plans for suspension.

Cryonics idol(s) and why: Robert Ettinger, since he’s one of the people who first thought seriously about the problem and had the belief that suspension was really workable technology. Being first counts a lot in my book. Similar kudos go to K. Eric Drexler, one of the few people who got a Ph.D. in the field of study he founded (nanotechnology).

Why are you a cryonicist: It’s a bit more complex than just wanting to live forever. Since I don’t have religious faith, it helps to have something to fill the gap. Being a cryonicist is about daring to expect much more from this life than anyone has expected before and then taking steps to make it real. Even if my suspension were to fail completely, choosing to be suspended is worth it because of the heightened sense of hope and possibility I have right now.

Advice would you have for other cryonicists:

1. If you’re not signed up, but know you should be, do it now. Life is unpredictable. You and I will probably live to a ripe old age, but getting affordable life insurance requires you to be in good health, which isn’t nearly so certain. Unless you’re loaded, lock in a good rate on whole-life (not term) insurance now while you can.

2. Once you’ve signed up: Work all the time to find more and stronger reasons for living. Lately we’ve seen that very serious cryonicists lose their resolve when health and social support systems collapse. So start now. Make friends who understand what you want to do with the rest of this life and make promises to them that you won’t change your mind later, no matter how bad things seem at the moment.

44 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 The Donaldson Perspective

Death?

by Thomas Donaldson, Ph.D.

n 1975 I was in the United States death to people unaware that any special It may be a very useful (but large) project to Iwhen a passenger airplane crashed into definition is needed. The notion is perfectly update this work; if anything, due to the Potomac during very cold weather. For clear, yes? Well, perhaps not. To see just medicine’s greater ability to keep people a while the news was full of reports of dead how unclear it is, even now, requires that “alive,” the notion of “death” has become bodies found in the river; the death rate you think seriously about many cases of even more confused. Not only might such from this crash was reported as high. Ever “death,” something few people want to do. an updated study help us plan just what our afterwards I have wondered just how many If many believe that death occurs suspension teams need, but we could publi- victims of that crash might have been saved quickly, the difficulties faced by a suspen- cize the fact that we had such an objective if knowledge of the effects of cold on our sion team will seem much more important study. survivability had been known much more than they actually are. If I’m just going to Most of all, we should not ourselves widely. drop dead someday, then how could a cry- become beguiled by popular thinking into This crash and many other incidents onics team reach me in time? Clearly (so making plans which fail to fit reality. Right raise one major problem, not just for goes such thinking) if the cryonics team now many cryonicists are involved, if only cryonicists but for many rescue teams not takes hours to reach me, my brain will prob- as contributors, in an effort to improve sus- involved with cryonics at all: death is not ably be mush. Why should I bother? pension methods to the point where we can simple. It is complex, and it has been com- The other case, of someone dying while actually reverse suspensions of brains (in plex ever since the first intimations of the in full possession of his mental abilities, experimental animals). I personally think 18th Century (and perhaps even before) raises another kind of problem. Why should that such work not only stands a good chance that death could sometimes be reversed. a person bother about signing up now if he of success, but has been badly needed for In films and television, death comes in can wait to do so just before he dies? (When years. two forms. In one, it’s very quick and to- we describe the problems such a strategy Yet for cryonics, this work will also tally unexpected. In the other, the person will have, we are treated skeptically, as if raise a major question: just when do we dying is generally old and retains his men- we were salesmen pushing for immediate suspend someone? If we ourselves pay close tal abilities completely, calling together the profit.) attention to the real cases of “death,” we family to give his last words, then dying So what do we do for cryonics? can rationally decide just when we want with a turn of his head. Both kinds do hap- I am suggesting that popular ideas about suspension for ourselves. Others, who in- pen, but only to a small minority. death provide one more motivation for sist on reversibility while not understand- Often we do not die suddenly, but only people to avoid thinking about cryonics. ing “death,” just might cause even more after an extended period in which doctors You can almost hear them saying to them- problems for us than they do now. We do everything they can to keep us breath- selves, “Why should I bother worrying about should require, then, that anyone who joins ing, even at the cost of damaging our brains. death until I must?” To combat this mind a cryonics society must become conversant When death comes slowly, it brings with it set, I would suggest that at every instance in with death as it really happens, not as it is a slow loss of any ability to comprehend which such ideas are raised, we describe portrayed in myth. just what is happening. This feature in par- just what really happens: how vague the ticular already causes a great deal of trouble standard criteria for death really are. How- for doctors, who are not oblivious to the ever, given that most people take offense at possibility that a body capable of heartbeat being confused by the facts, we should not and breathing may survive while the person raise these issues directly. Rather, we should who used to inhabit that body is gone. try to make it clear that the popular picture Misconceptions about what really hap- of death simply isn’t true. pens have also raised many problems for us Years ago I reviewed a book in Cryon- as cryonicists. In the first place, we find ics which described the actual circumstances ourselves trying to explain the definition of of death. That book will now be out of date.

3rd Qtr, 1998 • Cryonics 45 TechNews

Small Steps

by Stephen J. Van Sickle

Cardiac Arrest in Rats tions declined even more dramatically, from “complement cascade.” In heart surgery, Recent experiments at the Centre Na- 21.9 per 100 person-years to 3.7 per per- complement cascade is believed to be caused tional de la Recherche Scientifique in France son-years. The greatest reduction was most by blood circulating through the heart-lung have demonstrated the recovery of “cell strongly associated with use of the newer machine. A similar cascade is involved in activity and functional long-range synaptic anti-retroviral drug combinations, which damage from ischemia and reperfusion. connections” after up to 6 hours of cardiac were even more effective when used with Since cryonics patients are (ideally) placed arrest. Both slices from the brain’s hippoc- protease inhibitors. AIDS seems to be in on heart-lung machines, and all too often ampus (which is particularly sensitive to retreat, at least among those nations that suffer extreme ischemic and reperfusion ischemic damage) and whole brain prepa- can afford high tech treatment. Declining damage, sCR1 may have potential use for rations were restored when reperfused with Morbidity and Mortality Among Patients our purposes. One caveat: this drug may an oxygenated solution. “Reactivated brain with Advanced Human Immunodeficiency suppress the immune system’s healing abil- tissue appears indistinguishable from stan- Virus Infection, New England Journal of ity. Since our patients are going to spend a dard tissue prepared immediately after death Medicine, March 26, 1998, p853. while in liquid nitrogen first, I somehow as far as the behavior of membrane chan- don’t think this is much of a problem for us. nels and synaptic release machinery are con- Carbon Nanotube Transistor New Scientist, April 25, 1998. cerned.” Molecular computers, and the increased Sounds good, huh? Well, not so fast. computational power implied by them, are What do Blood Vessels and Neurons The preparations were allowed to cool to one of the most important (and potentially Have in Common? room temperature naturally, which for some- lucrative) tools of molecular manufactur- A new receptor has been discovered in thing as small as a rat brain can be pretty ing. Researchers at Delft University of Tech- the blood vessel-lining endothelial cells that fast. Slices in the experiments reached 20- nology in the Netherlands came one step control the grow of new blood vessels (an- 24 degrees C in about 25 minutes, much closer to that goal by demonstrating a room- giogenesis). Call neuropilin, this receptor faster than a human brain does after cardiac temperature transistor constructed from one responds to a protein produced by tissues arrest. Even very small reductions in brain single-walled carbon nanotube. While simi- (and tumors) that need a greater blood sup- temperature have enormous effects on the lar devices have been demonstrated at cryo- ply. Rather than simply growing at random, degree of ischemic damage. So, while the genic temperatures, these are the first to new vessels are carefully steered. The in- report does provide evidence for better than operated at more practical temperatures. triguing thing is that this is the same recep- expected preservation of neurons after car- Since carbon nanotubes can be manufac- tor used to detect a protein that helps steer diac arrest, it also once again underlines the tured in bulk, this represents a possible tech- axons to their destinations in the nervous huge importance of rapidly reducing brain nology with which we can bootstrap to true system. Growth of nervous system tissue temperature. Cardiac Arrest in Rodents: molecular manufacturing. Room Tempera- and the blood vessels that feed it are more Maximal Duration Compatible with a Re- ture Transistor Based on a Single Carbon coordinated than previously thought. The covery of Neuronal Activity, Proc. Natl. Nanotube, Nature, May 7, 1998, p49. possibility of new cancer drugs based on Acad. Sci., April 1998, p 4748. blocking this angiogenesis system (to stop Engineered Protein Protects the growth of tumors) is obvious. But it Large Decline in AIDS Mortality from Immune Reaction also raises another question: could this pro- According to a report in the New En- A new drug protein discovered by Doug vide another molecular clue to the original gland Journal of Medicine, mortality among Fearon of Cambridge University and pro- structure of a freeze-damaged brain? Re- patients infected with advanced HIV infec- duced by T Cell Sciences of Needham, Mas- ceptor Links Blood Vessels, Axons, Sci- tion has declined from 29.4 per 100 person- sachusetts has significantly improved the ence, March 27, 1998, p2042. years in 1995 to 8.8 per 100 person-years in recovery of pigs from heart bypass surgery. the second quarter of 1997. Rates of infec- Called sCR1, it works by blocking a key tion with three major opportunistic infec- glycoprotein in the immune reaction called

46 Cryonics • 3rd Qtr, 1998 Cryonics Sign-Up Party in Northern California! A cryonics sign-up party will be held in Sunnyvale, California on Sunday, September 20, 1998, 2:00-4:00 PM, with food and socializing afterwards. Food will be provided by the hosts. n Alcor's Membership Manager, Brian Shock, will be available to answer questions. n Learn how to fund cryonics with life insurance. n Sign your cryonics documents in front of witnesses and a notary public (small fee for notary). n If you fill out an application form ahead of time, then Alcor can prepare your paperwork and have it ready for you to sign at the sign-up party. Phone Alcor at 602-905-1906 for more information. Address: Carol Shaw and Ralph Merkle's home 1134 Pimento Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94087 Carol and Ralph's phone: 408-730-5224. E-mail: [email protected] Directions: Take Highway 85 to Sunnyvale. Take the Fremont Ave. exit and go east on Fremont Ave. Go a couple of blocks and turn left (north) on Mary at the traffic light. Take the first right on Ticonderoga. Take the first left on Pimento. 1134 Pimento is the yellow house on the right near the end of the street.

Cryonics magazine reserves the right to accept or reject ads at our own discretion, and assumes no responsibility for their content or the consequences of answering these Advertisements advertisements. The rate is $8.00 per line per issue (our lines are considered to be 66 columns wide). Tip-in rates per sheet are $140 (printed one side) or $180 (printed both sides), from camera-ready copy. NanoTechnology Magazine Fund Cryonic Suspension NanoTechnology Magazine is your window Affordably wih Life Insurance into the emerging technology whose awe- some power mankind will acquire, for good or evil, very early in the next century. Every- thing will change radically...the industrial Rudi Hoffman revolution was just a preview. Find out about Certified Financial Planner the millions already spent by government and private labs on the atomic manipulation of matter. Follow monthly discoveries toward Alcor member since 1994 the evolution of the technology sure to domi- nate the 21st. century. Prepare yourself men- tally with NanoTechnology Magazine. CRYONICS Investments, Financial Services, Mutual 1-year subscription: $38.40 Funds, Insurance, Annuities, Living Trusts INSURANCE (check, M.O., or Credit Card). SPECIALIST NanoTechnology Magazine $120,000 20 Year Level, Renewable Term 4451 Sierra Dr. For over 12 years, Mary Naples Honolulu, HI 96816 Age 35 $16.30 per month (808) 737-0628 fax (808) 739-5145 Age 45 $29.26 per month has underwritten more insurance http://planet-hawaii.com/nanozine Age 55 $60.26 per month policies for cryonics funding than

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