PUBLISHED BY THE CRYONICS INSTITUTE ISSUE 01 | 2016

Cryonics insights and information for members and friends of the Cryonics Institute NEWSLETTER

cryonics.org • [email protected] • 1 (866) 288-2796 CI BULLETIN A Great Start to 2016

phone be sure to say hello and welcome her aboard!

Hillary has been aggressively going through member files and updating paperwork such as contract funding and other important information, so don’t be surprised if you see her name in emails as well. If you want to help yourself and Hillary, please send in your proof of contract funding on an annual basis.

We have received some generous donations from David and Connie Ettinger to replace our entire roof and start some exciting new research. Thank you both for your level of commitment. There are too many other generous donors to mention here, but, rest assured, you all are making a noticeable difference and you have the gratitude of everyone in the organization. Dennis Kowalski - CI President We are launching a new Research Initiative focusing on the Hello everyone, and welcome to the first 2016 issue of the latest vitrification procedures in organ preservation. Recent CI Newsletter! There are a lot of exciting new things to report discoveries have shown dramatically improved tissue viability already this year. First, recognizing our increased growth and reduced toxicity. Our hopes are to use what we learn to and subsequent workload, we decided it was time to add directly improve our patient perfusions here at CI, giving our some depth at the CI Facility in terms of full-time staff. I am members the latest and best technology coming from the very happy to welcome Hillary McCauley as our newest cryobiology community. If you are interested in donating to employee. As of December of 2015, Hillary was hired as cryonics research you can either give now directly to CI at a Perfusion Specialist and Office Administrator. We have cryonics.org/donate, which frees up operational expenses worked with Hillary on several past occasions, including to invest in more research, or you can specify that you would the gold standard cryoperfusion of Aaron Winborn. She is like your money to go directly to research. We have full both experienced and licensed to surgically access and funding for our 2015 and 2016 research projects, but we perform patient perfusions. We’re confident Hillary will be are always taking donations for 2017 and beyond. Money a hardworking, intelligent and friendly asset to CI and our invested helps CI to bring the best service to you and your members. So if you see her at CI or speak with her on the families when you truly need it most.

CRYONICS INSTITUTE MAGAZINE ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS The digital newsletter of the Cryonics Institute Cryonics Institute or cryonics-related articles are 24355 Sorrentino Ct. welcome. Submissions: [email protected] Clinton Township, MI 48035-3239

Phone: 1 (586) 791-5961 Toll-free: 1 (866) 288-2796 (North America) E-SUBSCRIPTIONS FAX: 1 (586) 792-7062 * As a CI member, you are automatically added Email: [email protected] to our email reminder list. To unsubscribe, please use the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom © 2016 Cryonics Institute of your email.

2 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG CI BULLETIN

Great job and thanks to director Stephan Beauregard who members. High standard affordability translates potentially has helped to push our Facebook membership up past the into more lives saved. That’s not a trivial point. 10,000 mark. Kudos and thanks to member Shannon Blevins Many people are seeing and talking about the positive who has also helped our outreach efforts by growing CI’s Twitter account to over 900 followers. The new CI newsletter changes at CI and it is bringing in more donations and has reached past 1,400 subscribers and continues growing. noticeable growth in our membership. I am happy to announce that last year we hit record membership and the Reaching out to people with these social media venues has trend is increasing. Those numbers still seem small when you proved to be a very useful tool in our efforts to spread positive think of all the people of the world who are dying needlessly, news about cryonics and the Cryonics Institute. If you haven’t but it is empowering to see us heading in the right direction. joined our social media channels, please take some time to do so by following the links below. In short, we continue to improve our facility, our operation, and our staffing levels have increased. We have new research initiatives and both interest and membership are growing at a faster pace. I am very excited and happy about what I see.

As always, I encourage members to take an active role in I have received a few emails from concerned CI members volunteering for one of the many initiatives and projects who asked me to mention and/or make a correction to an we have on our “to do” list. If you have special skills in older reprint of a recently published article entitled “The Case programming, public relations, web development, science or for Whole body Cryopreservations” by Michael B. O’Neal, just a desire to help out, please sign up at our Volunteer Page. Ph.D. and Aschwin de Wolf. This is a new feature on the web site, so watch for updates on volunteer projects and opportunities online and in future While the article as titled makes a strong case for whole body issues of the CI Newsletter. cryopreservations, it also says that “the default procedure at the Cryonics Institute is to perform cryoprotective perfusion We need your help to make CI stronger and especially with a vitrification agent for the upper body and give the for members to pre-plan their suspension arrangements so rest of the body a straight freeze”. This has not been the that we all have the best possible chance at extended life. case for several years and our website has been corrected Remember, we are all part of a cooperative organization, to reflect the current standard, which is to perfuse the head and you have the opportunity and responsibility to improve and body at virtually the same time. This is important to your own suspension through the efforts you put forth in pre- clarify and could result in the implication that CI’s whole body planning. We have provided a suspension checklist for you cryopreservations are not being done to the highest current to follow and resources to help you prepare, so I urge you standard. I can attest that not only are our cryopreservations to take advantage of what we have available and start your performed to the highest standards, but that they are also suspension planning now. some of the most affordable in the industry. We take great pride in being able to delivery this type of quality to our Make the future yours!

3 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG CI NEWS What’s happening at the Cryonics Institute

2016 AGM Dates Announced 3 P.M. Sunday, September 11th, 2016

Make plans now for the Cryonics Institute’s 2016 Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Cryonics Institute will be held at 3PM on Sunday, September 11th, 2016 at the CI facility, 24355 Sorrentino Court, Clinton Township, Michigan 48035 (USA). The Immortalist Society’s annual meeting will be held after CI’s meeting. The two meet- ings generally last most of the afternoon.

A buffet dinner & social follow. The CI facility will be open to guests and visitors one hour before the meeting begins. Meetings offer an excellent opportunity to see the facility, meet other members, get a sense of the status of the Cryonics Institute & Immortalist Society and to see Officers, Directors & Staff. For those who come a day early, an informal dinner will be held on Saturday evening at a local restaurant.

Agenda items for the CI AGM will include the President’s Report, Treasurer’s Report and Investment report as well as busi- ness issues that arise. The winners of the 2016 CI Board of Director election will also be announced. Tours of the CI Facility will also be avalable for interested guests. There is no charge for the buffet dinner, but we need to know how much food to order. The Annual Meeting is open to the general public. We request that we be informed if you wish to attend. For driving directions, more meeting information and to confrm attendance, send e-mail to [email protected], phone (586) 791-5961 or visit Wherevent.com Night-Before Dinner

CI members & the public are welcome to join us the night before the offcial CI AGM at Ike’s restaurant for a casual dinner and drinks (all foods include Vegan options.) We will meet Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 6pm at Ike’s Restaurant, 38550 Van Dyke Avenue, Sterling Heights (MI) 48312, near the Cryonics Institute. For a complete menu and directions,please visit Ike’s Restaurant

4 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG MEMBERSHIP MILESTONE

We’re excited to report that CI is now represented on all 5 continents, having added two new members in Ghana, Africa. We also set a new record in 2015, adding 116 new members over the course of the year! Let’s keep up the positive momentum in 2016 and beyond - share this newsletter with your friends and family, participate in our social media forums and help spread the word about CI! Radical Life Extension Conference August 4-7, 2016 | San Diego, CA

RAAD Fest combines the energy and fun of a festival, the empowerment and interaction of personal development, with cutting edge science presented for a lay audience to cre- ate the “first and best holistic radical life extension event ever.”

Hear from top scientists, entrepreneurs and thought-leaders addressing every aspect of radical life extension, from nutrition and new gene therapies, to the power of personal intention, the sociology of immortality and advancement in artificial intel- ligence. You will also have the opportunity to interact with our experts as well as share your own views.To learn more, see the RAAD Festival ad later in this magazine or visit raadfest.com . SEVENTH ANNUAL TEENS AND TWENTIES EVENT

The Life Extension Foundation’s popular Teens and Twenties event for Young Cryonicists is scheduled for Fri-Sun, April 8-10, 2016 in Ontario, California. The event is open to fully signed up (financially covered and contracted) cryonics enthu- siats ages 18-30 or 13-17 accompanied by a parent or guardian (age as of April 10, 2016.) The event will give attendees the chance to network with current cryonics experts as well as the cryonics leaders of the future, all while being updated on the latest scientific research. There will be presentations, “get acquainted” activities and much more. Additonally, the Life Extension Foundation is offering 40 paid scholarships to attend the event. Applications must be received by March 4, 2016. For complete details, please visit: here, or download the complete event details here. CI Director Joe Kowalsky Speaks at Perpetual Life Meeting

CI’s own Joe Kowalsky was the feaured speaker at the Church of Perpetual Life onThursday, January 28 in Hollywood, Fla. Joe’s topic was “how will “being human” change when humans can change themselves?” View the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXUfKYHF220.

From the Perpetual Life website: “Perpetual Life is a science-based church that is open to people of all faiths. We are non-denominational and non- judgmental. We hold faith in the technologies and discoveries of humanity to end aging and defeat involuntary death within our lifetime. http://www. churchofperpetuallife.org/

5 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG Meet Hillary McCauley CI’s New Perfusion Specialist & Office Administrator

I grew up in Roseville, MI and moved to Clinton Township, MI just before I graduated from Roseville High School in 2009. My boyfriend’s name is Michael, we met in mortuary school. We have been together for over two years now and have plans to get married towards the end of 2017. I have no children and do not plan on having kids in the future.

Please explain your educational & professional background.

First, I attended the University of Detroit Mercy for their McAuley School of Nursing, which would have been a bachelor’s degree. I stopped half way through the program after getting a nurse technician job at a hospital and real- izing that was not the career I wanted.

I then transferred to Wayne State University and worked on some pre-requisite classes before being able to apply to the Mortuary Science program there. (I attribute my interest in that field to losing my mother to cancer when I was young. I CI is pleased to welcome Hillary McCauley to our team as a was 16 and she was 42. I wanted to help people get through Perfusion Specialist and Office Administrator working out of what I went through with my loss and grieving) I got accept- our Clinton Township Facility. ed into the program and began at the end of the summer in Hillary was born and raised in the Detroit area and is current- 2013. I graduated from the program in July of 2014 with my ly a resident of Clinton Township, Michigan. She graduated bachelor’s in mortuary science. (I chose to do the full time from Roseville High School in 2009 and began to attend program in order to finish in a year. The other option was a The University of Detroit Mercy’s Nursing Program until part time, two year program). I then had to take a national deciding to switch her major to Mortuary Science. She was board exam and a state board exam to become licensed. accepted into the Mortuary Science Program at Wayne State I am licensed in Michigan as a Funeral Director/Embalmer University and received her Bachelor of Science Degree in and have been for almost a year now. However, I have been 2014. Hillary is a Licensed Funeral Director/Mortician for the working in the funeral business for three years now and State of Michigan. Prior to working for the Cryonics Institute, worked for three different Metro-Detroit area funeral homes. she worked for several funeral homes in the Metro-Detroit How does working for CI fit with your chosen career path? area. She got involved with CI by assisting with multiple patient perfusions while working for Jim and Sara Walsh of CI fits with my career path quite well because I am still Faulmann & Walsh Funeral Home. Hillary now works for CI dealing with end of life matters, or maybe it would be more as a Perfusion Technician and Office Administrator. appropriate to say end of first life cycle matters. While it is certainly different than planning/running a funeral, there We had a chance to ask Hillary a few questions about her are similarities and I am able to apply what I have learned new role at CI. from previous jobs to my job here at CI. The perfusion of Can you tell us a little about yourself? the patients is very similar to the embalming process that I would perform on decedents while working at funeral

6 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG homes. Communicating with members or their families Faulmann & Walsh Funeral Home. Sara asked if I was inter- is also similar to how I would communicate with families ested in assisting her here as a contract worker if they ever at the funeral homes. The families of CI will be grieving a needed an extra set of hands for a perfusion. I was more loss when we receive a patient and I have a great amount than willing to help and was very interested in learning of experience handling those kind of situations. I think a about cryonics because I had not heard of it prior. I assisted very important matter is that while this is a very unique with several perfusions with Sara before I was hired here full disposition choice, it is a choice that should be taken seri- time. ously and be dealt with respectively. At the funeral homes, What is your overall impression of CI as an organization? people would choose either cremation or burial and I would respect that choice and do my best to uphold the wishes of I think CI is a great organization. One of the things I like most the deceased and their families. The same applies here at is how much pride our members take in belonging to the CI. I will do everything necessary to uphold the trust that our Cryonics Institute and how important it is to them. I think it’s members and their families place in us and work towards great that it’s a non-profit organization and is owned by its the best perfusion/suspension possible in each situation. I feel the same when it comes to dealing with pets as well. I assisted at a pet funeral home while working for Faulmann & Walsh funeral home and it is just as important to make sure the pet and their family are taken care of with dig- nity and empathy. The trust that members and their families place in us is something I take very seriously and gained a lot of experience with while working in the funeral business.

What are your responsibilities at CI?

The title I have been given is Perfusion Technician/Office Administrator. members. Members are given a chance to vote and have a My responsibilities include office administration procedures contribution to how things are run. I think that shows that such as maintaining/updating the database and files with CI has its members’ best interest in mind. If members are our members’ information, handling membership dues/ interested in volunteering time and would like to share their payments, preparing documents, etc. Another responsibil- skill sets they can Click Here to be entered in our volunteer ity is assisting during perfusions, both human and pet. This data base. includes being able to perform the surgery on the patient, operate the perfusion pump and operate the computer What are your thoughts about the cryonics movement and controlled cooling chamber. These are all things that I have being a part of it as a CI employee? become familiar with and I am capable of filling the position I think it is very exciting. I am happy and proud to be a part that is needed at the time. I can also take the readings for the of it. I am looking forward to what the future might hold for storage units to check the level of the liquid nitrogen and the science of cryonics. am able to fill the storage units when necessary. What are your impressions of the staff and other people How did you first become involved with the Cryonics you’re working with? Institute? So far I have had all good experiences with the people I first became involved with CI while I was working as an involved with CI. Many people have been very welcoming apprentice for Jim and Sara Walsh at their funeral home,

7 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG to me. I work most often with Andy and he is easy to get I am looking forward to hopefully meeting many members along with. Dennis has been very helpful to me. He has at the Annual General Meeting this year. been checking in on me regularly to see how things are What do you think is your biggest contribution to CI’s mis- going and answers any questions I have. My experiences sion? with Doug Golner and David Fulcher have been positive, as well. I think my experience as a funeral director and embalmer is a good contribution to CI on a few different levels. The How do you like working for CI so far? embalming experience could be very beneficial as it per- I very much enjoy working here. The only challenge I can tains to the surgical aspect of a perfusion. As a funeral foresee is the uncertainty of when we will receive patients, director, you have a lot of responsibilities and many people but there were situations like that at the funeral homes I relying on you during a stressful, difficult, and critical time. worked for, too. It is just a part of being in a business like this, The same things apply here at CI. I am here to work hard and dealing with death and time sensitive situations. I am dedicated to our members and will be just as dedicated to them when they become our patients.

Are there any special projects or initiatives you’re involved with or want to become involved with to help CI grow as an organization?

Currently, my focus is on training and learning the proce- dures so that I can offer advice and tips to try and make things more efficient or organized. Being new to the orga- nization, I have a fresh perspective and can offer different insight. I eventually would like to get involved in ways to make CI become more popular and widely known. I found it surprising that as a Mortuary Science student, I had never heard of cryonics. Many of my colleagues, family, and friends had also never heard of it until I became involved. Obviously, the more we can spread the word that this is an option, the better chance we have of growing as an orga- nization. Educating people about what we do here at CI is very important for our continual growth. The CI newsletter is a great source of education. If you are not subscribed to How do you like interacting with CI members? the CI newsletter please subscribe here. Working with the members is great. Most of the members Any advice or feedback you want to share with the member- I have had contact with have been very cooperative and ship? welcoming. Having experience with communicating pro- fessionally with consumers/clients at other jobs makes that Right now I am working on going through each individual part of this job relatively easy for me. As I learn more about member’s file to make sure we have all of the necessary CI, I will become even more confident interacting with the documents and current funding in place. It is very important members. I want to be able to be a helpful resource to them. that we are prepared for an emergency involving any one

8 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG of our members. I have been reaching out to members as I am trying to say is that communication is key. Cryonics is a go through each file in an attempt to get everything in place time-sensitive matter so every detail can make a difference for them so that the best cryonic suspension is possible. in whether a suspension is successful or not. Having help It is part of our contract that we require annual verification from our members in these areas would be wonderful and of a member’s funding. It is not an easy task to keep up on would help us to better serve them. So it really is a “help us these things for every member, and as our member count to help you” situation. Check here for suspension planning keeps growing, it will be an even harder job. My advice to tips and advice. members would be to help us keep up on things like this. As I mentioned before, being prepared is the best way to It will only benefit the member to help keep us up to date. ensure a successful cryonic suspension. That being said, I As we all know, very unexpected things happen in life and would have to encourage our members to take action any emergencies can happen to anyone. Being prepared is the way that they can. Whether it be signing up for standby best way to ensure that a member receives the best cry- services or establishing local standby, communicating your onic suspension possible. It is not just current funding that is wishes to those around you, wearing your CI identification important. Letting us know when there has been a change bracelet or necklace, carrying your CI wallet card, or having of address, phone number, email, or any other form of con- a prepared File of Life. Every little thing can help. tact information would be tremendously helpful and would allow us to better respond in an emergency. I guess what I

9 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG 605.83 Cryonics Ad1215.indd1 Extension products. Pricessubject tochange withoutnotice. Cannotbe combined withanyother o er. Extension Magazine ® subscriptions. LEDollarshavenocash valueandarenotredeemable forcash,transferable orassignableforany reason.O ernotavailable tointernationalcustomers servicedbydistributors ofLife purchase products, bloodtests,saleitems, andshippingfeesat therateof1LEDollarequal to$1U.S.Dollaratcheckout. LEDollarscannot beredeemedforCHOICE andPremierprogram feesortopurchasegift cards orLife *Earn LEDollarsonallLife Extensionpurchases(exceptshippingfees,LifeMagazine ® subscriptions,CHOICEand Premierprogramfees,andpurchasesmadewith LEDollarsorgiftcards).Redeemto FREE! ab one year & longevity for pro publication on Get the wo Life istheonlysupplement brand Extension® solelydedicated to helpingyou live a Stay supplements healthy money buy. can withthehighest-quality protocols, longer, healthierlife. are products basedonthelatest premium-quality clinical Our that’s awhopping living longer. Call now andgetaoneyear (12issues)absolutely subscription dosages usedinthosestudies. Your onLife thebest. Insist Extension. bodydeserves studies —madewithpure, potent ingredients at thesameclinicallyvalidated solutely longing youth C You mustmention Discount Code AVX625A all toll-free Magazine® istheultimate Magazine® resourceLife Extension onstaying healthy and rld’s premier $ you make.* Nomembershiprequired. For detailsvisit With ournewFREErewards pro purchasegram you valuable backonevery earn LEDollars moreGet with Your Healthy Rewards. team ofHealthAdvisors cananswer expert Our your health-related day of questionsevery Don’t justguesswhat your bodyneeds. the year. gladlycreate aregimen And they’ll supplements, ofnutritional diet, andexercise that’s customized for your needs.

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MKMCAD160203 New Caledonia-1 New Caledonia-1 New Caledonia-1 Hong Kong-1 Hong Kong-1 Hong Kong-1 Japan-4 Japan-4 Japan-4 TOTAL Singapore-2 Singapore-2 1,397 Singapore-2 New Zealand-1 New Zealand-1 New Zealand-1 Australia-50 Australia-50 Australia-50 Russia-1 Russia-1 China-2 China-2 Russia-1 China-2 India - 2 India - 2 India - 2 Switzerland-3 Switzerland-3 Switzerland-3 Pets...... 120 DNA/Tissue...... 226 Turkey-1 Turkey-1 Turkey-1 Romania-2 Romania-2 Romania-2 Hungary-1 Hungary-1 Hungary-1 Austria-3 Austria-3 Austria-3 Czech Republic-2 Czech Republic-2 Czech Republic-2 Poland-8 Poland-8 Poland-8 Lithuania-1 Lithuania-1 Lithuania-1 FEBRUARY 2016 FEBRUARY Greece-13 Greece-13 Greece-13 Sweden-5 Sweden-5 Sweden-5 Croatia-1 Croatia-1 Croatia-1 Norway-7 Norway-7 Norway-7 Malta-1 Malta-1 Malta-1 Italy-6 Italy-6 Italy-6 Ghana - 2 Ghana - 2 Ghana - 2 Denmark-1 Denmark-1 Denmark-1 Members ...... 1,261 SA ...... 188 Patients ...... 136 Netherlands-12 Netherlands-12 Netherlands-12 Belgium-10 Belgium-10 Belgium-10 UK-92 UK-92 UK-92 Portugal-4 Portugal-4 Spain-13 Spain-13 Portugal-4 Spain-13 France-8 France-8 France-8 Scotland- 1 Scotland- 1 Ireland-2 Ireland-2 Scotland- 1 Ireland-2 British Isles-2 British Isles-2 British Isles-2 Germany-36 Germany-36 Germany-36 Brazil-2 Brazil-2 Brazil-2 Luxembourg - 1 Luxembourg - 1 Luxembourg - 1 Argentina-1 Argentina-1 Argentina-1 Aruba-2 Aruba-2 Aruba-2 Canada-69 Canada-69 Costa Rica-2 Costa Rica-2 Canada-69 Costa Rica-2 United States-878 United States-878 Mexico-1 Mexico-1 Mexico-1 New MembersNew Country New CI MEMBERSHIP 11 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG CI Introduces New Inspection and Audit Procedures

Beginning this year, CI will be conducting regular formal audits and make all the information available for every- inspection audits and publishing the results in our maga- one’s external review. Any organization affiliated with zine and on our web site. These procedures are a routine CI or any member of CI is free to review these records part of our normal operations (checking and maintaining and reports. This method of inspection is efficient and equipment, cryostat levels, financial reporting, record- keeping, etc.) and have been for years. All this informa- tion has been available to members on a per-request basis, however, the process was time consuming and wasn’t readily available in one easy-to-review report. Our new Inspection Report now provides that service, giving our members easy public access to important organiza- tional and operational information they need to know.

We appreciate the need for protective procedures and open records to show that cryonics providers are hon- est and effectively delivering on their promises to their members. At CI, we have many internal methods of cost effective while providing pertinent and useful data. self-governance and built in checks and balances in Any additional requests of information beyond our own addition to our normal maintenance checks. We have inspection process will be reviewed and, if reasonable, our bylaws, our 12 directors, and many rules of opera- will be incorporated into our annual internal inspection. tion designed to keep everything on the up and up. For In this way, we can make sure all vested parties have a instance, we have CI directors with access to keys to say in our reviews and audits and that they are done in bank security boxes and different directors who hold the most efficient and useful fashion. In essence, every the exclusive signing authority for those security boxes. member provides a watch over our system. CI belongs to Therefore, we need all these people working together to all of us and we have a responsibility to keep it safe and move or shift funds. Fortunately, CI has never had any running at 100%. cases of embezzlement, because for that to happen we would need many directors working in collaboration to Our primary goal is to provide maximum security and overcome our built in checks. Our motto is redundancy transparency so that you can have complete faith and and we are careful to mentor and vet only the most reli- confidence in CI as your cryonics provider. We’re confi- able and honest people to control sensitive operations. dent this extra layer of protection will help to provide that.

A previous attempt at providing oversight for CI has been Full Report and Documentation Here through annual inspections. While these have served a positive purpose in the past, there have arisen some inefficiencies in these external inspections. As a result, we have decided to run our own internal inspection and

12 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG NEW CI RESEARCH INITIATIVE Reducing Toxicity During Cryopreservation of Organs

The protective effects of chemicals such as glycerol and to CPA toxicity. dimethyl sulfoxide have made it possible to successfully The second reason that toxicity is such an important prob- cryopreserve a variety of different living biological systems, lem for tissue and organ cryopreservation is that their large including embryos and stem cells. However, these chemi- size increases the time required for equilibration with CPA cals, known as cryoprotective agents (CPAs), can also be solutions. To achieve adequate protection, the CPAs much toxic, especially when administered in high doses. The tox- reach all areas of the sample, and the larger the sample the icity of CPAs is particularly problematic for cryopreservation of large samples such as tissues and organs. more time is required for CPA permeation. This longer expo- sure time also introduces a higher potential for damage due There are two reasons why CPA toxicity is such a significant to CPA toxicity. challenge for cryopreservation of tissues and organs. First, the three-dimensional structure is susceptible to damage The Cryonics Institute has provided funding to a leading caused by formation of extracellular ice, and as a result, the cryobiology researcher to investigate strategies for reduc- use of high CPA concentrations to suppress ice formation ing toxicity during cryopreservation of organs. The research appears to be the most promising cryopreservation strat- will be based on a recently developed a mathematical opti- egy. This approach is known as vitrification. There are two mization strategy, which was validated using experiments interrelated strategies for achieving vitrification, cooling and with endothelial cell monolayers, as described in a recent warming rapidly so that water molecules don’t have time issue of PLOS ONE. The optimization approach involves to rearrange into a crystalline structure, and adding CPAs cell membrane transport predictions of cell volume and to inhibit ice crystallization. Because of their size, organs intracellular CPA concentration, and estimation of CPA cannot be cooled and warmed very rapidly. As a result, toxicity using a mathematical model that accounts for the relatively high CPA concentrations are required to prevent effects of exposure time, concentration and temperature. ice formation. This increases the potential for damage due The optimization algorithm iteratively varies the procedural

13 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG details (solution composition, exposure time, temperature) loss of water from the cells (rather than the relatively slow to find the least toxic CPA equilibration method that does transport of CPA into the cells). However, it is unclear how not produce excessive cell volume changes. this would play out for loading CPAs into organs. There is evidence that water moves faster than CPA through the The resulting optimized procedures deviated substantially extracellular matrix, so it is quite possible that analogous from the conventional CPA equilibration approach. In par- results could be achieved in organs, but this needs to be ticular, the conventional approach is to gradually increase tested. the CPA concentration in multiple steps, in order to prevent excessive shrinkage during exposure to the hypertonic CPA The research funded by the Cryonics Institute will pursue solutions. The optimized methods, in contrast, emphasize two complimentary objectives to explore the potential for swelling during CPA addition. Swelling is achieved by adapting the key features of the mathematically optimized adding CPA to a hypotonic carrier medium, and cells are methods to organ perfusion: exposed to this CPA loading solution until they swell to the 1. Perfuse organs (heart, liver and kidney) with hypo- maximum volume limit. This approach is advantageous and hypertonic solutions (with various compositions) because it minimizes the CPA concentration required to and measure the pressure drop across the organ and achieve a given amount of intracellular CPA, and hence change in organ mass. This should allow detection of reduces CPA toxicity. Another key feature of the optimized impingement of blood vessels (which will manifest as methods is that the last step prior to vitrification primarily an increased pressure drop) and will also give useful involves cell shrinkage due to water efflux, rather than trans- information about how much organs swell in hypotonic port of additional CPA into the cells. This takes advantage conditions of the fact that water crosses the cell membrane much faster than CPA and reduces the time that the sample must be 2. Perfuse organs with CPA solutions in two steps – an exposed to the full strength vitrification solution. initial loading step that induces swelling and a final step that induces shrinkage in the full strength vitrification The experimental results with endothelial cell monolayers solution – and measure the composition as a function described in the PLOS ONE article show that the optimized of time at the outlet. The second step should allow the methods work much better than conventional methods, full strength CPA concentration to be achieved relative- enabling substantial improvements in recovery of metaboli- ly quickly because it should rely mainly on removal of cally active cells (81% vs. 10%). Funding from the Cryonics water from the tissue rather than CPA transport into the Institute will allow initial steps to be taken toward applying tissue. These results will be compared to a more con- these methods to perfusion of organs with CPA solutions. ventional CPA loading process. The conventional CPA One of the key observations made in experiments with loading process is expected to take longer to achieve endothelial monolayers was that causing cell swelling dur- the full strength CPA concentration at the outlet. ing CPA loading is advantageous. However, it is not known Completion of these preliminary studies will establish the whether or not a similar approach could be used during feasibility of adapting the key features of the mathemati- organ perfusion because cell swelling could impinge blood cally optimized procedures described in the PLOS ONE vessels and impair perfusion. Another key feature of the study to organ perfusion and lay the groundwork for future optimized procedures for endothelial cells was that the studies to more rigorously design and test minimally toxic procedures take advantage of the fact the water crosses the methods for organ cryopreservation. cell membrane much faster than CPA. This allowed the final vitrification solution concentration to be achieved rapidly by

14 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG STANDBY WORKBOOK Preparations for an Optimal Suspension

STANDBY TASK: INSURANCE UPDATE  Difficulty Level: Easy Time: 15 minutes

Most CI Members have arrangements in place for insurance to fund their suspension contracts. However, you may not be aware this funding needs to be verified with CI on an annual basis to avoid any delays when the time comes for your suspension. Right now, many members have not updated their insurance or sent their proof of insurance to CI. We strongly recom- ACTION STEPS: mend if you are in this category, you take action to resolve this immediately. • Make a copy of the annual statement you receive from If we don’t have your information on file, but your policy is, in fact, active and your insurance company. in force when it’s time for your suspension, we may still be able to verify the policy independently and move ahead with your suspension. But why add • Mail, FAX or email the an avoidable delay to such a critically time-sensitive process? Standby plan- statement to CI. ning can be simple or more inclusive, but either way at some point we all need to do things for ourselves that no cryonics organization can do for us.

The lesson to learn from past case reports of both great and not so great If you don’t receive an suspensions is to start planning now even if you are just doing small things annual statement from your like making sure your insurance funding has been updated with CI. If this is a insurance company: burden, one recommendation would be to sign over your life insurance pol- • Contact your insurance icy to make CI the owner. You still maintain control of the policy and can still company to request a let- cancel the policy or change it back. Simply let us know your wishes. If you ter verifying your policy. want your CI-owned life insurance to go away, all you have to do is to stop The letter should include: paying on it or request us to transfer ownership back to you. If we own your policy, CI will not need to be notified on an annual basis because your insur- • Statement the pol- ance company will do this for you. All you have to do is make your payments icy is in force to keep the policy in place. An added benefit to having CI as an owner also • Policy Number ensures that it would be much harder for an anti-cryonics family member to make changes if you became sick and couldn’t speak for yourself. • Beneficiaries and Amounts

Either way, take this important step today and ensure that you have submit- • Mail, FAX or email ted proof of insurance funding making CI the beneficiary to your policy. You the letter to CI. must do this on a yearly basis or switch ownership of your policy to CI. For more information on other steps you can take to improve your chances of survival, please see our Next Steps for Cryonics page.

15 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG Who will be there for YOU?

Don’t wait to make your plans. Your life may depend on it.

Suspended Animation fields teams of specially trained cardio-thoracic surgeons, cardiac perfusionists and other medical professionals with state-of-the-art equipment to provide stabilization care for Cryonics Institute members in the continental U.S. Cryonics Institute members can contract with Suspended Animation for comprehensive standby, stabilization and transport services using life insurance or other payment options.

Speak to a nurse today about how to sign up. Call 1-949-482-2150

or email [email protected] MKMCAD160205 21 6

605.83A SuspendAnim_Ad_1115.indd 1 11/12/15 4:42 PM Worldwide Cryonics Groups AUSTRALIA: The Cryonics Association of Australasia FINLAND: The Finnish Cryonics Society, (KRYOFIN) is offers support and information for Australia & nearby countries. a new organization that will be working closely with KrioRus. [email protected]. They would like to hear from fellow cryonicists. Contact them at: Their Public Relations Officer is Philip Rhoades. [email protected] GPO Box 3411, Sydney, NSW 2001 Australia. kryoniikka.fi Their President is Antti Peltonen. Phone: +6128001 6204 (office) or +61 2 99226979 (home.) FRANCE: SOCIETE CRYONICS de FRANCE Roland BELGIUM: Cryonics Belgium is an organisation that exists Missionnier would like to hear from cryonicists in Switzerland, to inform interested parties and, if desired, can assist with han- Luxembourg and Monte Carlo, CELL: (0033) 6 64 90 98 41, FAX: dling the paperwork for a cryonic suspension. The website can be found at www.cryonicsbelgium.com. To get in touch, please send (0033) 477 46 9612 or [email protected] an email to [email protected]. Can help Cryonics Institute Members who need help for the BHUTAN: Can help Cryonics Institute Members who transport & hospital explication about the cryonics procedure need help for the transport & hospital explanation about the to the Dr and authority in Toulouse Area. Contact : Gregory cryonics procedure to the Dr and authorities in Thimphou & Gossellin de Bénicourt / Email : [email protected] Phone Paro. Contacts : Jamyang Palden & Tenzin Rabgay / Emails : [email protected] or [email protected] Phones : Jamyang : 09.52.05.40.15 / 975-2-32-66-50 & Tenzin / 975-2-77-21-01-87 GERMANY: There are a number of cryonicists in Germany. CANADA: This is a very active group that participated in Their homepage is: www.biostase.de (English version in prepara- Toronto’s first cryopreservation. President, Christine Gaspar; Vice tion.) if there are further questions, contact Prof. Klaus Sames: President, Gary Tripp. Visit them at: http://www.cryocdn.org/. There is a subgroup called the Toronto Local Group. Meeting [email protected]. dates and other conversations are held via the Yahoo group. This INDIA: Can help Cryonics Institute Members who need is a closed group. To join write: [email protected] help for the transport & hospital explication about the cryon- QUEBEC: Contact: Stephan Beauregard, C.I. Director & ics procedure to the Dr and authority in Bangalore & Vellore Official Administrator of the Cryonics Institute Facebook Page. Area. Contacts : Br Sankeerth & Bioster Vignesh / Email : Information about Cryonics & perfusion services in Montreal [email protected] Phones : Bioster / 918148049058 for all cryonicicts. Services available in French & English: [email protected] & Br Sankeerth / 917795115939

1 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG ITALY: The Italian Cryonics Group (inside the Life Extension SPAIN: Giulio Prisco is Secretary of the Spanish Cryonics Research Group (LIFEXT Research Group)) www.lifext.org and Society. Website is http://www.crionica.org.sec. He lives in Madrid relative forum: forum.lifext.org. The founder is Bruno Lenzi, and he’s a life member of CI and is willing to serve as a contact contact him at [email protected] or Giovanni Ranzo at: point for Europeans. He can be contacted at: cell phone (34)610 [email protected] 536144 or [email protected] JAPAN: Hikaru Midorikawa is President Japan Cryonics SWITZERLAND: Association. Formed in 1998, our goals are to disseminate cryon- www.CryonicsSwitzerland.com or www.ria.edu/cs ics information in Japan, to provide cryonics services in Japan, CRYOSUISSE The Swiss Society for Cryonics. and eventually, to allow cryonics to take root in the Japanese soci- cryosuisse.ch To join, email [email protected] ety. Contact [email protected] or http://www.cryonics.jp/ UNITED KINGDOM: Cryonics UK is a nonprofit Can help Cryonics Institute Members who need help NEPAL: UK based standby group. www.cryonics-uk.org Cryonics for the transport & hospital explanation about the cryonics pro- UK can be contacted via the following people: Tim Gibson: cedure to the Dr and authorities in Kathmandu. Contact : Suresh phone: 07905 371495, email: [email protected]. K. Shrestha / Email : [email protected] Phone : 977-985- Victoria Stevens: phone: 01287 669201, 1071364 / PO Box 14480 Kathmandu. email: [email protected]. Graham Hipkiss: phone: NETHERLANDS: The Dutch Cryonics Organization 0115 8492179 / 07752 251 564, email: ghipkiss@hotmail. (http://www.cryonisme.nl) is the local standby group and wel- com. Alan Sinclair: phone: 01273 587 660 / 07719 820715, comes new enthusiasts. Contact Secretary Japie Hoekstra at email: [email protected] +31(0)653213893 or email: [email protected] Can help Cryonics Institute Members who need help, funeral * Can help Cryonics Institute Members who need help, funeral home, transport at London. Contact : F.A. Albin & Sons / Arthur home, transport & hospital explication about the cryonics proce- Stanley House Phone : 020-7237-3637 dure to the Dr and authority at Amsterdam with branches in other INTERNATIONAL: The Cryonics Society is a global cities. Contact : Koos Van Daalen / Phone (24 Hours) +31-20- cryonics advocacy organization. www.CryonicsSociety.org. They 646-0606 or +31-70-345-4810 publish an e-newsletter FutureNews. Phone: 1-585-643-1167. NORWAY : Can help Cryonics Institute Members who need help for the transport & hospital explication about the cryonics procedure to the Dr, funeral home and authority at Sandvika. Contacts : Gunnar Hammersmark Sandvika Begegravelsesbyraa / Phones : 011-47-2279-7736 RUSSIA: KrioRus is a Russian cryonics organization operating in Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe that exists to help arrange cryo- preservation and longterm suspension locally, or with CI or Alcor. Please contact kriorus@mail.ru or [email protected] for additional information or visit http://www.kriorus.ru. Phone: 79057680457

HELP US STAY UP-TO-DATE! JOIN A CRYONICS GROUP!

If you live in one of the countries listed, The Cryonics Institute encourages mem- we’d appreciate of you would please take bers to join, or form, local cryonics standby, a moment to contact the groups listed in support and social groups. If you’re inter- your country to confirm their details. Also, ested in joining or forming a group of your if you know of, or are considering starting a own, please check upcoming issues of the support, standby or other cryonics-related CI Newsletter to learn more about CI’s new group in your area, please send details to Cryonics Groups program.. [email protected].

2 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG Dr. Robin Hanson Announced as Keynote Speaker for CI’s 2016 AGM

by Stephan Beauregard- CI Director: Communication & Social Media

The Cryonics Institute is pleased to announce Dr. Robin Hanson as a guest speaker for our 40th Anniversary AGM in September. Dr. Hanson is a Professor of Economics at the George Mason University in the United States and a researcher with the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. He is an expert on prediction markets, the social implications of future technologies, nano- technology and how these technologies influence the economy and society. Politically he supports futarchy, a society where policy decisions are made based on open prediction markets. He has a doctorate in social science from the California Institute of Technology, master’s degrees in physics and philosophy from the University of Chicago, and nine years experience as a research programmer at Lockheed & NASA.

Professor Hanson has over 2,800 citations, with a citation h-index of 25, and over sixty academic with Kevin Simler, in spring 2017. Professor Hanson has publications, including in Algorithmica, Applied had over four hundred media mentions, given over two Optics, Communications of the ACM, Economics hundred invited talks, and his blog overcomingbias. Letters, Economica, Econometrica, Economics of com has had over eight million visits. Governance, Foundations of Physics, IEEE Intelligent Systems, Information Systems Frontiers, Innovations, Professor Hanson has pioneered prediction markets, International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, also known as information markets and idea futures, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, since 1988. He was the first to write in detail about cre- Journal of Evolution and Technology, Journal of Law ating and subsidizing markets to gain better estimates Economics and Policy, Journal of Political Philosophy, on a wide variety of important topics. He was a princi- Journal of Prediction Markets, Journal of Public pal architect of the first internal corporate markets, at Economics, Maximum Entropy and Bayesian Methods, Xanadu in 1990, of the first web markets, the Foresight Medical Hypotheses, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Exchange since 1994, of DARPA’s Policy Analysis Public Choice, Science, Social Epistemology, Social Market, from 2001 to 2003, and of IARPA™’s combinato- Philosophy and Policy, and Theory and Decision. rial markets DAGGRE and SCICAST from 2010 to 2015. Professor Hanson developed new technologies for Oxford University Press will publish his book The Age conditional, combinatorial, and intermediated trading, of Em: Work, Love & Life When Robots Rule the Earth in and studied insider trading, manipulation, and other June 2016, and The Elephant in the Brain, co-authored foul play. He has written and spoken widely on the

19 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG application of idea futures to business and policy, and ity, very long term economic growth, growth given has advised many ventures. machine intelligence, and interstellar colonization.

Dr Hanson has diverse research interests, with papers Dr Hanson has a diverse background: he has a on spatial product competition, health incentive con- Bachelor’s & Master’s degree in physics but a PhD in tracts, group insurance, product bans, evolutionary social sciences. Robin’s ideas often cause controversial psychology and bioethics of health care, voter informa- reactions and he wishes to find ways to more effectively tion incentives, incentives to fake expertise, Bayesian decentralize the government’s tasks. classification, agreeing to disagree, self-deception in Don’t miss the chance to see him ** LIVE ** at the disagreement, probability elicitation, wiretaps, image Cryonics Institute, Sept 11, 2016. reconstruction, the history of science prizes, reversible computation, the origin of life, the survival of human-

Cryoprize Launches New Online Promotions

The Immortalist Society is promoting their Organ Cryopreservation Prize (the “Cryoprize”) with a new website, Facebook page and a special video by internet Vine celebrity Evan Breen.

Proposed several months ago, the purpose of the prize will be to award a minimum of fifty thousand dollars to any individual or group of individuals who are able to place certain mammalian organs at cryogenic temperatures and to transplant those organs for a period of nine months and to show, during that time period, proper clinical function of them. The organs in question are the heart, lung, kidney, liver and pancreas. Other organs may be the subject of research leading to the awarding of the prize if pre-approved by the Immortalist Society.

Fundraising is underway now.To donate to the Cryoprize fund or for more details please visit cryoprize.com.

20 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG The revolution against aging & death (RAAD) starts with you

JOIN US FOR THIS HISTORIC RADICAL LIFE EXTENSION EVENT. August 4-7, 2016, San Diego, CA Town and Country, Resort & Convention Center Information. Inspiration. Celebration. • Learn the latest scientific advancements. • Gain vital insights to extend your health and well-being. • Connect with like-minded people and scientists. • Enjoy live music and performances.

Aubrey Ray Joe Numerous de Grey, Ph.D. Kurzweil Mercola, M.D. presenters

include: Bill Mark William Andrews, Ph.D. Gordon, M.D. Faloon

Take advantage of the early registration special until February 29th. $897 reduced to $347*— when using Promo Code: LEF *includes: Healthy Lunch and Dinner, Friday and Saturday Register now at: www.raadfest.com CRYONICS Science, Technology and NEWS Medicine for Cryonics

New cryopreservation procedure wins Brain Preservation Prize First preservation of the connectome demonstrated in a whole brain

The Brain Preservation Foundation (BPF) has announced that a team at 21st Century Medicine led by Robert McIntyre, PhD., has won the Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize, which carries an award of $26,735. The Small Mammalian Brain Preservation Prize was awarded after the determination that the protocol developed by McIntyre, termed Aldehyde-Stabilized Cryopreservation, was able to preserve an entire rabbit brain with well-preserved ultrastructure, including cell membranes, synapses, and intracellular structures such as synaptic vesicles. Read the full story at Kurzweilai.net

Impact of automation puts up to 85% of jobs in developing countries at risk The Brain Preservation Foundation (BPF) has announced that a team at 21st Century Medicine led by Robert McIntyre, PhD., has won the Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize, which carries an award of $26,735.

The Small Mammalian Brain Preservation Prize was awarded after the determination that the protocol developed by McIntyre, termed Aldehyde-Stabilized Cryopreservation, was able to preserve an entire rabbit brain with well-preserved ultrastructure, including cell membranes, synapses, and intracellular structures such as synaptic vesicles. Read the full story at Kurzweilai.net

Mitochondria trigger cell aging, researchers discover How to rejuvenate or prevent aging in human and mice cells

An international team of scientists led by João Passos at Newcastle University has for the first time shown that mitochondria (the “batteries” of the cells) are major triggers for aging, and eliminating them upon the induction of senescence prevents senescence in the aging mouse liver. As we grow old, cells in our bodies accumulate different types of damage and have increased inflammation, factors that are thought to contribute to the aging process.. Read the full story at Kurzweilai.net

22 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG CRYONICS NEWS

CMU announces research project to reverse-engineer brain algorithms, funded by IARPA A Human Genome Project-level plan to make computers learn like humans

Carnegie Mellon University is embarking on a five-year, $12 million research effort to reverse-engineer the brain and “make computers think more like humans,” funded by the U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). The research is led by Tai Sing Lee, a professor in the Computer Science Department and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC). The research effort, through IARPA’s Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks (MICrONS) research program, is part of the U.S. BRAIN Initiative to revolutionize the understanding of the human brain. Read the full story at Kurzweilai.net

New acoustic-tweezer design allows for 3D bioprinting

A team of researchers at three universities has developed a way to use “acoustic tweezers” (which use ultrasonic surface acoustic waves, or SAWs, to trap and manipulate micrometer-scale particles and biological cells — see “Acoustic tweezers manipulate cellular-scale objects with ultrasound“) to non-invasively pick up and move single cells in three mutually orthogonal axes of motion (three dimensions). The new 3D acoustic tweezers can pick up single cells or entire cell assemblies and deliver them to desired locations to create 2D and 3D cell patterns, or print* the cells into complex shapes — a promising new method for “3D bioprinting” in biological tissues, the researchers say in an open- access paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Read the full story at Kurzweilai.net

Scientists decode brain signals to recognize images in real time

Using electrodes implanted in the temporal lobes of seven awake epilepsy patients, University of Washington scientists have decoded brain signals (representing images) at nearly the speed of perception for the first time* — enabling the scientists to predict in real time which images of faces and houses the patients were viewing and when, and with better than 95 percent accuracy. The research, published Jan. 28 in open-access PLOS Computational Biology, may lead to an effective way to help locked-in patients (who were paralyzed or have had a stroke) communicate, the scientists suggest. Read the full story at Kurzweilai.net

Brain Preservation Foundation project thaws without damage rabbit’s brain frozen using cryogenics

The success of cryogenics in freezing the human body and later reviving the person when there is a technology available appears to move closer to reality. The Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize, a challenge to thaw a brain without damage to its component neurons, was successfully completed after five years. The prize, won by a team called 21st Century Medicine, involved the storage of a rabbit brain in a deep-frozen state and thawed with no damage, reports Nature World News. To prevent damaging the brain due to ice crystals, which happens when traditional freezing methods are used, the researchers used vitrification. The process uses cryoprotectants to stop neuron damaged during the cooling and thawing stages. Read the full story at ibtimes.com.au

23 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG Suspension Checklist You’ve signed up for cryonics - what are the next steps? Welcome Aboard! You have taken the first critical step in preparing for the future and possibly ensur- ing your own survival. Now what should you do? People often ask “What can I do to make sure I have an optimal suspension?” Here’s a checklist of important steps to consider.

 Become a fully funded member through life insurance or easy pre-payments

Some members use term life and invest or pay off the difference at regular intervals. Some use whole life or just prepay the costs outright. You have to decide what is best for you, but it is best to act sooner rather then later as insurance prices tend to rise as you get older and some people become uninsurable because of unforeseen health issues. You may even consider making CI the owner of your life insurance policy.

 Keep CI informed on a regular basis about your health status or address changes. Make sure your CI paperwork and funding are always up to date. CI cannot help you if we do not know you need help.

 Keep your family and friends up to date on your wishes to be cryopreserved. Being reclusive about cryonics can be costly and cause catastrophic results.

 Keep your doctor, lawyer, and funeral director up to date on your wishes to be cryopreserved. The right approach to the right professionals can be an asset.

 Prepare and execute a Living Will and Power of Attorney for Health Care that reflects your cryonics- related wishes. Make sure that CI is updated at regular intervals as well.

 Consider joining or forming a local standby group to support your cryonics wishes. This may be one of the most important decisions you can make after you are fully funded. As they say-”Failing to plan is planning to fail”.

 Always wear your cryonics bracelet or necklace identifying your wishes should you become incapacitated. Keep a wallet card as well. If you aren’t around people who support your wishes and you can’t speak for yourself a medical bracelet can help save you.

 Get involved! If you can, donate time and money. Cryonics is not a turnkey operation. Pay attention and look for further tips and advice to make both your personal arrangements and cryonics as a whole a success.

 Keep up to date! Read CI Magazine and follow the simple “STANDBY WORKBOOK” exercise in each issue.

24 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG Membership Benefits Why join the Cryonics Institute?

1) Cryonic Preservation 7) Funding Programs Membership qualifies you to arrange and fund a vitrification Cryopreservation with CI can be funded through life (anti-crystallization) perfusion and cooling upon legal insurance policies issued in the USA or other countries. death, followed by long-term storage in liquid nitrogen. Prepayment and other options for funding are also available Instead of certain death, you and your loved ones could to CI members. have a chance at rejuvenated, healthy physical revival. 8) Cutting-Edge Cryonics Information 2) Affordable Cryopreservation Members have access to both the Cryonics Institute The Cryonics Institute (CI) offers full-body cryopreservation Newsletter and Long Life Magazine online, as well as our for as little as $28,000. Facebook page, an official members-only forum (coming soon) and more. 3) Affordable Membership Become a Lifetime Member for a one-time payment of only 9) Additional Preservation Services $1,250, with no dues to pay. Or join as a Yearly Member with CI offers a sampling kit, shipping and long-term liquid a $75 inititation fee and dues of just $120 per year, payable nitrogen storage of tissues and DNA from members, their by check, credit card or PayPal. families or pets for just $98. 4) Lower Prices for Spouses and Children 10) Support Education and Research The cost of a Lifetime Membership for a spouse of a Membership fees help CI to fund important cryonics Lifetime Member is half-price and minor children of a research and public outreach, education and information Lifetime Member receive membership free of charge. programs to advance the science of cryonics. 5) Quality of Treatment 11) Member Ownership and Control CI employed a Ph.D level cryobiologist to develop CI-VM-1, CI Members are the ultimate authority in the organization CI’s vitrification mixture which can help prevent crystalline and own all CI assets. They elect the Board of Directors, formation at cryogenic temperatures. from whom are chosen our officers. CI members also can change the Bylaws of the organization (except for 6) Locally-Trained Funeral Directors corporate purposes). CI’s use of Locally-Trained Funeral Directors means that our members can get knowledgeable, licensed care. Or The choice is clear: Irreversible physical death, dissolution members can arrange for professional cryonics standby and and decay, or the possibility of a vibrant and joyful renewed transport by subcontracting with Suspended Animation, life. Don’t you want that chance for yourself, your spouse, Inc. parents and children?

CI is the world’s leading non-profit cryonics organization, bringing state-of- the-art cryonic suspensions to the public at the most affordable price. CI was founded in 1976 by the “father of cryonics,” Robert C.W. Ettinger as a means to preserve life at liquid nitrogen temperatures. As the future unveils newer and more sophisticated medical nanotechnology, it is our hope that the people preserved by CI may be restored to youth and health.

To get started, contact us at: (586) 791-5961 • email: [email protected] Visit us online at www.cryonics.org Call for Volunteers FREE Memberships?!! Did you know the Cryonics Institute CI is always looking for volunteers offers FREE LIFETIME Memberships to help with our many projects and for minor children of paid Lifetime initiatives. If you have skills in design, Members? Any minor children programming, writing, marketing, (under the age of 18) of fully-paid public relations, science or simply Lifetime Members are eligible for a have enthusiasm and energy to permanent Lifetime Membership of their own. If you’d like to give your contribute, you can make a differ- children the priceless gift of a second ence at the Cryonics Institute! chance of life with you in the future, please contact us at 1 (586) 791-5961 VOLUNTEER NOW and ask about Lifetime Membership Benefits.

Letters Welcome One of our goals for the CI Newsletter is to provide a forum for member out- Writers Wanted reach and opinion in addition to the Got something to say? existing online forums. If you have The CI Newsletter is looking for comments to share, feel free to write submissions from our readers! us at [email protected]. We If you’ve got a great idea for a story, please forward it to: may introduce a letters column if [email protected] response is favorable, so if you do write, please indicate if your letter is approved for publication or not. Letters

Hello,

It is summer time here and the activity at my university slows down substantially. So I profited of the peace of mind I enjoy during this period and wrote a short text that I would like to submit to the CI Newsletter to be considered for publication.

Best regards,

Rudy Goya

29 January, 2016 REFLECTING ON MAN AND IMMORTALITY

Life seems to be a highly infrequent phenomenon in the Cosmos, and more so the emergence of technol- ogy-creating species. Indeed, the idea that Earth might be one of a very few planets in the Universe where a technology-creating civilization has arisen, does not seem inconceivable to me. The first unicellular organisms appeared on our planet some 4 billion years ago and evolved at a very slow pace. It took evolu- tion 3.5 billion years to give rise to the first multicellular animals endowed with a complex nervous system. Technology-creating intelligence emerged with the genus Homo, some 2.7 million years ago, the blink of an eye in the cosmic calendar. This remarkable achievement of evolution required that during a very long time (4 billion years) our planet kept its exceptionally favorable life-supporting conditions. Even so, the modest, by cosmic standards, changes that took place on Earth throughout that time span caused the extinction of over 97% of all the species that ever lived on the planet. One particular species, Homo sapiens, that repre- sents a tiny fraction of the surviving 3%, throve and dominated the planet to an extent that no other species achieved before, not even the dinosaurs, who ruled Earth for 150 million years. Indeed, being a member of the human species is an almost unimaginable privilege. Everything within us is a coincidence bordering on the impossible. The atoms of our bodies were created thousands of millions of years ago in the heart of ancestral stars, millions of light years away. We are a portion of the Cosmos that has become conscious and can know itself, marveling at what it sees through our eyes. We could go on with this kind of considerations and everything will take us to the growing certainty that being alive is a unique and unrepeatable occur- rence. This is why death is a tragedy for the individual; it dispels the miracle of our existence, consciousness and memories lost forever.

If we lived indefinitely, we would not be immutable as stones, we would steadily change and our view of the universe would continuously evolve. But we would keep our identity and memories. It would be like when we transitioned from childhood to adulthood. We remember our childish ideas about the world with tenderness and a smile. Our perception of reality was simple and naïve, very different from our adult views. We evolved yes, but there is an unbroken continuity between us and that child; our sense of identity remains unchanged. In contrast, death terminates that identity, dissolves our mind and brings an irreversible decay to our bodies.

The longing of Man for immortality and eternal youth is universal and time immemorial. It is in our nature and we will always seek to defeat death or at least postpone it indefinitely. In the past, men hoped to live forever through religion; now we are beginning to undertake the conquest of immortality through technol- ogy, the hallmark of our species.

Rudy Goya

27 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG Thank you so much! I just downloaded the newsletter and checked out the section with me in it. It’s perfect!

I wonder how coincidental it is that I met Aubrey DeGrey yesterday, the day before the newsletter is published. I attached a picture.

Besides that, please feel free to include my questionnaire answers in the next newsletter.

You can also mention that I wrote a book about cryonics that illustrates all of the sug- gestions I mention in the questionnaire portion.

About volunteering, I am happy to help with anything you guys need! Something I’ve already been doing is make the cooling curves for all the new patients. Here’s a sample

Sincerely

Nicholas Van Der Muelen

28 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG 29 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG CI Reading Room Serializing essential works on cryonics

R.C.W. ETTINGER MAN INTO SUPERMAN After immortality...... comes transhumanity. And OUR generation can be part of it.

Robert C.W. Ettinger’s ”Man into Superman” Part 4

30 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG 4 Changes in the Chassis

The word “superman” is laden with emotional Superman does not have to be invented. We reject, freight, clouded with semantic confusion and dis- as a trivial example, the “Superman” of the comics, torted by childish romanticism. To some, it im- the “man of steel” who is “more powerful than a mediately conjures up specters of the Master Race locomotive” and “can leap tall buildings at a single and the Nazis, a connotation of arrogance and bound.” We reject not his banality but his dishon- coldness, if not brutality, To others, the word is ob- esty; barring super-flatulence, for example, there is jectionable because it suggests accentuation, rather no apparent way for him to alter course or main- than transcendence, of human qualities. tain thrust in midair.

I will retain the word in spite of these handicaps, We likewise reject the super-powers of most he- and indeed partly because of its shock value. I want roes of science fiction, who have the magical abil- to take by the scruff of the neck the dainty, the tim- ity to exert direct control over other minds, over id and the supercilious, and rub their noses in it; matter, or over space and time-the dealers in telep- we must aspire to be, and intend to become, supe- athy, psychokinesis, teleportation, precognition, rior to mankind and to all its past heroes, individ- etc., who beat the game by changing the rules. It is ually and collectively, and in all aspects--physical, true that we don’t yet know all the rules, and we are intellectual, emotional and moral. probably mistaken about some we think we know; nevertheless, it is more honest, and will probably The most difficult and disturbing questions con- be more fruitful, if we give our superman briefly cern superman’s mentality and personality, and those powers that are extensions of reasonably these are deferred to later chapters. Less fright- well-established phenomena. As we shall see, this ening-if often startling-are the physical options, will still provide immense scope for quantitative those of anatomy and physiology in the narrow and qualitative improvement. sense, which will now be investigated. Instead of inventing superman, we can assemble I shall not attempt to conceptualize superman as him. We already have examples of all the traits and a single, integrated entity; not only would that be abilities required for a very respectable superman beyond the scope of this essay and the skill of the indeed. New ideas will undoubtedly occur, but we writer, but it would be false to the spirit of the im- need postulate no more than already exist, their mortalist, who sees everything as open-ended, ten- sources being: (1) rare human talents, (2) talents tative and incomplete. Rather, I shall select certain of other species, and (3) machine talents. After traits for attention, without implying that these are this, we can build speculation on flimsier hints and necessarily the best or most important, and with- clues-in fact, we must, since long-range develop- out fixing the date at which their implementation ment will surely dwarf our boldest imaginings. might become feasible. I am dealing here only in conjectures and suggestions, although it is hoped In the first category, there are several subdivi- that the guesses are shrewd and the suggestions sions. First, there is the obvious lode of variance reasonable. among men. Most races need warm beds, but the Indians of Tierra del Fuego sleep nude in a climate Assembly vs. Invention worse than Chicago’s. Most of us just want to lie down, but now and then we notice a Jim Ryun or

31 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG a Dick Fosbury. And by far the majority of men be doubted that we will do it, if we wish. It is only can function in bed at most once a day, but Dr. and always a question of effort, money and time. Kinsey assures us there are those who can jump in and out like jackrabbits, several times a day, week The third category is really bluesky, because in in and week out. (Or so they say.) (9) Since such principle a machine can be made to do anything capacities are known to exist, they must have some that is physically possible; and if we envision the anatomical and physiological basis, which can be human brain coupled to a machine or complex of discovered and (eventually) duplicated by vari- machines-so that the machines are extensions of ous means, including not only genetic manipula- the person then, with only modest reservations to tion but also treatment of the mature individual by be noted later, we can do anything, which means chemistry, surgery, special virus inoculations, and we can be anything. other means. Feasibility and Credibility This is not exactly self-evident, and it is conceiv- able that certain traits tend to be mutually exclu- Before jumping into the jam-pot, a further word sive, making it difficult for a single individual to is in order about how serious the ensuing sugges- embrace them all, even if desired; but the over- tions may be, and how much evidence exists that riding presumption is that, once we thoroughly such things will be possible. understand something, we can duplicate its effects sooner or later, and even improve on them. As su- Specific references to current art will be sprinkled permen, all of us will have the important talents lightly throughout, but most of the book avoids of the best of us, and anyone who doesn’t like the technology and addresses itself to the lay reader. monotony can choose to remain inferior. An Appendix is provided with selected references to and excerpts from the technical literature, pro- In the category of “rare human talents” I include viding some specific support for some of the con- not only the fairly constant talents of exceptional jectures. people, but also the occasional creative successes of more ordinary people. All of us, at times, have But useful as particular detailed hints may be, a performed “over our heads,” reaching a peak not mere generalized optimism, a hopeful reading of matched before or after. There was some reason history, is even more useful. From the amount and why we could do it, and it should be possible to rate of recent progress, surely it is pikestaffplain make such ability routinely available. Again, chil- that, at the very least, we shall eventually be able to dren have certain capacities that are often gradu- imitate nearly every existing life process. ally lost as they grow older; in particular, the young have acute senses. Their hearing everything is not For example, suppose we want to give our super- just nosiness, but sharp ears; their finickiness man the ability to hibernate (and we do). It isn’t about food is not just temperament, but sensitive necessary to know anything whatever about the taste. Still again, systems such as yoga and hypno- mechanism of hibernation in order to predict a hi- sis seem able to unlock hidden stores of perception bernating superman; it is only necessary to know and control, stores which will inevitably be made that hibernation exists-for instance, in bears. Since public. it exists, it can be studied, understood and imitated or improved upon. It is not self-evident that hiber- A little more difficult, perhaps, will be the appro- nation can be made compatible with the totality priation of the skills of other species, because of of other physiological processes in man, but pre- the greater likelihood of incompatibility. Never- sumptively it can. At the worst, the ability to hiber- theless, the hybridization of animals, including nate will require the sacrifice of some other ability, man, through artificial means has been predicted or some loss of efficiency in other capacities, or a by competent biologists, based on work already in larger body size. progress. (44) If some animal is doing it, then it can be done; and if it can be done, it can scarcely At this point it is also necessary to beat a little on a

32 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG horse that not everyone realizes is dead. There are still too few who appreciate how far the facts have Possibly, then, we can get some notions about su- outrun the judgement and imagination of experts perman by looking at unusually successful humans and seers. Consider that Vannevar Busha brilliant, and analyzing their virtues. creative scientist-testified that an intercontinen- tal missile was far in the future; and this virtually As a first approximation, by general agreement, while the Russians were building one. Add that H. the main factors in personal success, under present G. Wells, in reaching for an example of the ridicu- conditions, are energy, talent and luck-in that or- lous, cast his scorn on the “2,000 mile an hour air- der, if we are speaking of moderate success. Energy plane”. (178) And that Britain’s Astronomer Royal is by far the most important requirement, if you called space travel “utter bilge” in 1956, one year hope to become moderately rich or gain fairly rap- before the first sputnik.” Consider that Auguste id advancement in your vocation or employment. Comte in 1835 said that man could never know What counts is the marginal or extra performance anything about the chemical composition of the you can turn in, above that required to get by or stars-just a couple of decades before Kirchhoff in- to satisfy standard demands. Every “premium” in- vented the spectroscope, which told us more about crement becomes very important: if your output, the chemistry of stars than we knew about the by some appropriate measure, rises from 110% of chemistry of the earth. . . the list could be extended standard to 120% of standard, then your premium almost indefinitely. (See also Chapter 11.) output has doubled.

It is unimportant that optimists have also been If we measure success by the crassest but readiest wrong, because the failures of optimism pertain criterion-money-then the picture is plain. If you mainly-perhaps entirely-to details and time scales. increase your earnings, by overtime or moonlight- Sometimes a particular means has proven imprac- ing, from 110% of your living cost to 120%, your tical (think of the dirigible), but the end (in this savings are doubled, (Better yet, reduce expen- case, comfortable air travel) has nevertheless been ditures 10%; because of the income tax, a penny attained. Often a road proves much longer than ex- saved is more than a penny earned.) pected, full of twists and obstacles; but superman’s development is not dependent on any timetable. At this point, someone may object impatiently: What do these hum-drum, workaday notions have If we think of superman as our remote descendant, to do with superman? Surely a superman is not just then time scales are unimportant. If we think of someone who can work a little harder! Besides, if superhumanity as our own condition, after freez- everyone had this capacity, the competitive edge ing and resuscitation, then again we have plenty of would be lost. Furthermore, has the number of su- time; no one gets impatient in the freezer. In either permen increased markedly since the use of stimu- case, the usual “practical” considerations dwindle lants became common coffee in seventeenth-cen- to almost nothing, and we can focus chiefly on tury Europe, amphetamines in twentieth-century what is possible in principle. America, etc.?

Energy and Success The last question is complex, and as far as I know the correlation has not been studied extensively. As One definition of a superman would be “someone for the rest, bear with me a while. with more than human potential for success.” We cannot say, with any confidence, what constitutes Explicitly, if you were a plumber in 1968, earn- success until we know much more about our- ing $4 per hour, and you doubled your savings selves and the universe, but we can tentatively as- by increasing your output from 110% to 120% of sume that “success” refers to survival and security, standard, this would mean a yearly added saving and possibly dominion, along with the learning, of perhaps $800; if for simplicity we disregard ad- growth and development that make these possible, vances in earning power and inflation, and com- and such subjective criteria as comfort and joy. pound this at 6% for 40 years, it would come to a

33 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG grand total extra saving of over $130,000. having an IQ greater than 130. (These are more or less typical figures.) If you are an academic, the results are nearly as ob- vious. If you work 10% longer or faster each day Now, if the average could be increased to 110, and double your output of pedestrian scholarly with the shape of the distribution curve almost papers (or committee reports, etc.) you will have unaffected (roughly 10 points added to each indi- a high probability of tangible reward. In business vidual’s IQ), then, the mathematicians tell us, the management, the situation is similar. number of “gifted” people would jump up to about 9 %! Keeping the distribution curve, an increase of In fact, an hypothesis suggests itself about the re- only 10% in the average intelligence would multi- markable correlation between scientific achieve- ply the number of “gifted” people by about 4.5 or ment and youth. (Most of the important advances 450%. In the “genius” range the effect is even more in physics and mathematics have been made by pronounced. young men.) Perhaps it is not originality or creativ- ity or insight which diminishes with age, but just In general, then, a shift of a few points in the aver- energy and available time. The older man has less age will sharply affect the number of very bright- physical strength and more family and administra- and very dull--people. In particular, a modest im- tive responsibilities; he just can’t devote long hours provement in the average may result in a startling to taxing work of his own choice. It may be partly increase in wheel-horses, those key people whose a matter of energy in the literal, physical sense, a efforts are most important for quality and prog- question of body metabolism; and there may also ress. (These observations apply irrespective of any be an alteration of “physic” energy, of motivation reservations one may have about the usefulness of and life style. particular tests, and those who dislike the words “bright” and “gifted” may use the word “effective” Needless to say, this hypothesis cannot be the com- instead.) plete explanation of the correlation of genius with youth, since it does not readily interpret the varia- Now,.one can also examine the productivity of the tions with different professions; but if it has any va- individual in the same way. There is-I believe-a lidity, it offers another very striking instance of the similar statistical variation in the individual’s pro- way in which modest quantitative differences can ductivity, measured against time. We work “over become critically important qualitative differenc- our heads” only occasionally, and we really tran- es. In order for the potential genius to function as a scend ourselves only rarely; yet it may be just those genius, i.e. to produce works of genius, he requires times of transcendence on which we rely for ex- that little extra strength and drive. Since major ceptional ideas or perceptions. Thus, a relatively works are rare, a slightly reduced store of energy small increase in energy may multiply several-fold is likely to mean not just fewer works, but none at our times of transcendence and our major works. all. In other words, there is a kind of threshold ef- It follows that a functional superman might re- fect, a small gain in energy being translated into a sult from something so modest and simple as an quantum jump in productivity. improvement in the glandular system, producing more energetic people. As introduction to a slightly different view of the same phenomenon, consider the effect of a slight Admittedly, energy is only one factor in success, increase in the intelligence of a population. The and it depends partly on competition-it is partly a distribution of intelligence in a population seems relative rather than an absolute factor. When ma- to follow nearly the bell-shaped “normal” curve, chines do almost all the physical work and much with the greatest number of individuals near aver- of the thinking, and when every-body can be opti- age, and smaller numbers above and below. mized, a moderate boost in the individual’s energy may count for little. But that time is well in the fu- Let us suppose that for a certain sub-population ture, and the early versions of superman may quite the average IQ is 100, and about 2% are “gifted”, possibly center on physical and psychic energy.

34 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG races, in some of their traits, are either more or less “Can the Ethiopian Change His Skin?” beautiful than others, even in their own view.

... or the leopard his spots?” This was Jeremiah’s The fact that, in the past, many American Negroes question, and he thought the answer negative. have tried to lighten their skins and straighten In these latter days, however, skin and other out- their hair proves nothing, because their psyches ward changes promise to become relatively trivial, may have been twisted by the prevalent culture. quick, and cheap, and it is of some mild interest The fact that many Caucasians like to darken their to wonder whether the Ethiopians, and the Orien- skins by exposure to the sun also proves nothing, tals, as well as the Caucasians, will choose cosmetic because the urge to be “different’ can take many changes on any substantial scale. forms. But careful introspection can provide some clues--however unreliable-to our feelings on these Before very long, the Negro will be able to whiten matters. his skin if he wishes-or blacken it to ebony, as seems more likely if the “black is beautiful” trend persists. At risk of being obnoxious as well as wrong, let me Because moods and fashions change rapidly and make a few guesses. First, I think that skin color with unpredictable vagaries, no one can say with has no absolute aesthetic value, although texture confidence what the trends will be, or what effects, and highlights may. Ivory, ruddy, brown, ebony-all if any, they will have on race relations, but one can, can be delightful. Likewise, hair color is equally at- as usual, speculate. tractive in all shades; at least much more depends on texture and subtleties of reflectance than on The whole question of race relations is a very mi- simple hue. But hairiness of body (until and unless nor one in the long view: expanding opportunities we consider actual fur) is a negative factor, and in and multiplying options will make diversity both this the Caucasians are the main losers. Frizzy hair inevitable and acceptable, in all areas where choic- on the head is also a debit, and here the Negroids es depend primarily on taste or caprice. In those suffer. The black, straight hair of the Orientals is at- areas where clear-cut differences in quality or val- tractive enough, but as a racial trait it suffers from ue can be shown, there will be uniformity, since too much uniformity, lacking variation for inter- everyone will choose the best. But we will surely esting individuality. encounter some surprises in the revelation of what is arbitrary and what is not. It may be that even if absolute criteria of beauty do exist, their application may take a variety of forms, Aesthetic questions will often be found to have depending on the training and sophistication of surprising answers. To what extent is beauty truly the viewer; we think, for example, of the different in the eye of the beholder, and to what extent is forms and styles of music. In any case, there will be it absolute? At present, we can only surmise, but a protracted period of experimentation with hectic I dare say most people feel there are absolute ele- flutters of fashion. ments of beauty. It is difficult to imagine a point of view from which a wart hog, say, is lovelier than At first the new opportunities may evoke defensive an antelope. Will there ever be a culture which re- psychological reactions in some quarters, some gards a scaly skin-a blotchy, irregularly scaly skin- people choosing to leave their appearance alone, or as more attractive than a smooth one? And so on. even to accentuate existing traits, merely to prove One might be tempted to retort that the wart hog that they were proud of themselves all along. And thinks itself more gracious than the antelope, but I there will be, indeed, a tendency to respect the oth- do not concede the point. After all, the average is er fellow’s appearance more than previously, since not our ideal of beauty, nor are these ideals species- it will be a matter of choice: he looks the way he specific. A man might easily decide that a peacock, wants to look, not the way his accident of birth or a panther, is more beautiful than a woman-not forced him to. But very soon, in most quarters, the more desirable, of course, but more beautiful. In new cosmetics will become big business and the the same way, it is entirely possible that certain center of high fashion.

35 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG case, urination and defecation as we know them Not only changes in skin and hair color and tex- will be only disgusting footnotes to ancient history, ture, but even changes in physiognomy, eye color which we will read about (or remember) with re- and size, and eventually even bodily contours will mote distaste, as we now read about birds disgorg- become relatively easy to perform and inexpen- ing food for their young. sive matters of choice. One year in London the ideal man may be covered with silky blue fur. The Is such daintiness normal or necessary? Certainly next year in Paris a fashionable woman may have we get along now with little distress in these ar- small breasts and no pubic hair. After her trip to eas--but so did our lice-picking ancestors. We are the beauty shop, you may actually not recognize highly adaptable, and can put up with a lot. But your wife. Life, yet once again, will become more lice, nevertheless, are incompatible with the better complicated, with still more avenues to good or ill. life, and so is the toilet. One of the benefits, perhaps, will be easier mari- tal fidelity: with so much spice of variety in one’s The Graceful Glutton wife or husband, will not the temptation to wander be reduced? In a life of centuries or millenia, such Gluttony has usually been considered a vice, or novelties may become more important. even a sin; and indeed it is a sin against oneself to weaken the body with fat, serum cholesterol, and The Elimination of Elimination other present consequences of overeating. There are also Freudian allusions often made against If cleanliness is next to godliness, then a superman those who love to eat, shaming or at least worrying must be cleaner than a man, and cleanliness is only them about hidden motives of guilt, inadequacy, partly a matter of money. etc. At the very least, there is a tendency to ques- tion the strength of character, if not the moral out- In the Middle Ages, one of the distinctions be- look, of one who indulges himself freely in food. tween rich and poor was that the former were not quite so lousy; the poor, often unable to keep them- It will certainly become possible to eliminate the selves, their clothes and their dwellings clean, had uphappy physical consequences of overeating, in to resign themselves to lice and bedbugs. Because many ways. Foods may be produced that will have of the cost of soap and perfume, people could then all the requisite texture, taste, appearance and aro- say, quite literally, “Poverty stinks.” ma of natural foods, but no food value whatever; they will go through you quickly and cleanly-no In fact, it still does. With the possible exception of muss, no fuss, no bother. (Perhaps they will even a Howard Hughes, even the wealthiest of us must be eliminated by evaporation, with no indigni- sometimes mingle with malodorous crowds and ties.) Then again, your own metabolism may be inhale the bad breath of passersby or co-workers, improved so that ordinary foods will be processed not to mention the grime of the gutter blowing in more sensibly, extracting only those nutritional el- our faces with every gust of wind. And even How- ements that are actually needed at the time, and ef- ard Hughes cannot escape the stench and indignity ficiently disposing of the rest. Special groups of en- of his own elimination. zymes may be designed; or, if necessary, Symbiotic organisms may dwell in your gut-something like In the future, our plumbing (of the thawed as well an improved tapeworm, but perhaps microscopic as the newborn) will be more hygienic and seemly. for aesthetic and other reasons-which will process Those who choose will consume only zero-residue the food as needed. The Romans, usually referred foods, with excess water all evaporating via the to as “decadent,” were said sometimes to continue pores. Alternatively, modified organs may occa- banqueting for many hours, renewing their capaci- sionally expel small, dry, compact residues. In any ties by occasional regurgitation; we will acquire the

36 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG same capacity without the indelicacy. center has neither communication nor control: the whole muddles through, more or less, through the But is not such a notion, indeed, decadent? Who creaky operation of custom and tradition, but with knows? Certainly there have been good and even frequent breakdowns and low general efficiency. great men who loved their food and drink, and Far from the seat of empire, many of our tissues showed it-Winston Churchill, for instance. Huge and organs carry on trade with the “outer” world, numbers of people depend on a nervous habit- but have scarcely heard of government, while their smoking, or chewing gum-which is hardly more individual citizens, the cells, are totally parochial. dainty than eating. Surely a normal person will not need to glut himself; at the same time, why should The possibility for improvement exists, even prior he not have the means to do so, if be sometimes to genetic tailoring. Unusual individuals and spe- wishes? Or even if he often wishes? Why should cial techniques have long been known to be associ- this be regarded as more than a minor idiosyncra- ated with astonishing powers: we think especially sy, like an addiction to crossword puzzles? of yoga and hypnotism, as well as congenital talent. The yogis, it is well known, often learn to exercise Various retorts suggest themselves. For instance, surprising control over “involuntary” functions, if someone craves such massive animal satisfac- such as heartbeat, slowing or speeding it at will and tion, why not eliminate the middleman and use beyond the ordinary range. electronic stimulation of the brain? To this ques- tion, there is a fairly easy answer: one does not The dentist can use hypnosis or teach the patient desire, for example, sexual orgasm alone, but the to use autohypnosis-to interfere with normally un- whole ritual of lovemaking, with its nuances and governable pain signals (or with their interpreta- subtleties; analogously, one desires not just to slake tion or processing) to eliminate the annoyance. I his thirst, but to clink the goblet and admire the can wiggle my ears, individually. J. B. S. Haldane sparkle; and in the case of food, one may well wish claimed he could detect the opening of his pylo- not just to achieve satiety, but to eat, or dine, or rus, and the passage of waste materials along his banquet. sigmoid flexure-a sensation not unlike a “belly full of snakes.” (64) Whether meals will be more or less important in various eras of the future, no one can yet say. But The afferent nerve supply is especially rich from our general rule is to leave our options open, and the skin, special sense organs, joints, and com- try to assure that what we want will be there when monly-used muscles-it also exists from the other we want it. We shall grow in many directions, and organs-and there seem to be many possibilities some of us will grow in gluttony. for outbound communication as well. (64) Thus we see the physical basis of these unusual abilities. Integrated Man Why they are so unusual is not easy to say: one is tempted to guess that they have low marginal sur- The integration efforts of the future will, of course, vival value, and thus low priority in evolutionary not concern anything so trivial as social amal- selection. However that may be, we are sure to find gamation of the human races, but will be of two good uses for all of them. kinds. First, we must achieve the integration of the individual’s own body. Second, we will consider Turning to the adoption of the talents of other the incorporation of genetic traits of other species species, the field is even richer. It may not be pos- into our own heredity. sible, or at least it may not be practically feasible, to incorporate every animal ability into superman’s The human body at present is not so much an en- body; it is clear that some functions and capacities tity as a kind of loose alliance or empire. The brain may derive from the total organization, or from dominates the body, and the conscious center the interaction of major subsystems that are in- dominates the brain, but very imperfectly. In many compatible with our basic plan. For example, we locations and functions, the nominal command can hardly expect, by strictly biological means, to

37 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG acquire the hovering ability of a hummingbird or to enjoy the view. a bee. But only a small fraction of the possibilities seem even tentatively ruled out. Cold, Heat, and Drought Resistance

A simple, but extremely useful improvement, on Any self-respecting superman should be able, at which animals may provide some clues, concerns the very least, to endure the worst conditions his muscular coordination. The seal can balance balls native planet can threaten. Dandridge Cole pic- on his nose, perhaps the result of fine coordination tured an early-model superman as running tire- of the neck muscles useful in catching fish. (Some lessly through the snow, virtually naked, disdain- human acrobats, after training, can do almost as ing to use a vehicle for trips of a few miles or even a well.) Cats are noted for agility. Bears, clumsy as few dozen miles.26 This would save a good deal on they look and awkward as their paws are, can scoop road taxes and car payments, but presumably the fish out of water, a feat few humans seem able to main motive would be the sheer fun of it, the joy of learn easily. All such talents surely depend on rela- exercising one’s (super) faculties, just as a healthy tively small differences in anatomy and physiology, person now enjoys a brisk walk in crisp weather. since the animals named are all mammals; hence Weather resistance would also, once more, provide it seems nearly certain we can incorporate all such an extra margin for survival in emergencies or un- abilities into superman. And it goes without saying usual contingencies. that every superman will also have the maximum talents of every human, including, for example, the The first modification could be to speed up the ac- finger coordination demanded for concert-caliber climatization that most of us already exhibit. In piano playing. It seems unlikely that these several one test of this adaptability, several city-bred men talents will prove mutually exclusive to any impor- were subjected to six weeks in the open, sleeping at tant extent. night with only one army blanket in 37 F tempera- ture. Measurable physical changes included meta- The nose of the bloodhound will be ours, and the bolic rate and changes in the blood vessels which ears of the snake; ours also will be the navigational provided better circulation in the hands and feet. abilities of certain flying insects, which use vibrat- Our first model outdoorsman will be able to make ing fibers in place of gyros. We will have adapta- the metabolic change almost instantaneously, and tions of the sonar of the bat and the porpoise. The will have variable and controllable vascular param- eye of the eagle may present problems, since its eters. function must presumably be combined with nor- mal human appearance; yet a betting man would More striking adaptations are shown by certain have to guess that superman’s sight will be better aborigines in Australia and by Alacaluf Indians in than the eagle’s at any range, since our larger size South America. The Australians can sleep naked permits larger lens aperture, hence finer possible in 39 F temperatures; their skin and outer body resolution. temperatures fall substantially, but they ignore this and sleep without shivering, while the internal or- The advantages of many of these adaptations will gans remain at normal body heat.” The Alacalufs not merely concern efficiency; subjective vistas of Tierra del Fuego, on the other hand, who also will be opened. For example, the dog has relatively sleep naked in miserable weather-even in sleet or poor vision and is color-blind besides; it seems snow-show an increased metabolic rate, and shiver rather plain, to anyone who has observed dogs that to generate heat, although without awakening.” their keen sense of smell affords a rich variety of subjective connotations and appreciations; similar While no humans can live unprotected in Antarc- remarks can be made about blind species. When tica, penguins can do so, even enduring a bowling a species finds some of the windows on the world wind at 80 F below zero; in fact, they can do this shut or narrowed, it tends to open wider the re- for months at a time, without food! Part of this ca- maining ones. Superman would have all his win- pacity depends on a special network of blood ves- dows opened wide, and be able not only to use, but sels in the feet, with arteries close to veins, so that

38 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG warm outgoing blood in the arteries takes the chill ample; agility is more important than a tough hide. off incoming blood in the veins. As already noted, Furthermore, the availability of artificial armor- the out-doorsman will have variable vascular fea- clothing and vehicles of various kinds-might make tures. it seem rather silly to grow our own. But there are possibilities only recently recognized. Instead of the penguin’s feathers, our snow man may have the hair of the yak or the yeti. Domes- A few years ago a Long Island company reported tic animals, such as some varieties of dogs and development of a new nylon body armor for sol- horses, grow thicker hair when the weather gets diers and police-a one-eighth-inch fabric of special colder, and perhaps superman will be able to grow weave that works by “diverting the impact energy hair in hours instead of weeks. If it isn’t feasible to from the impact point.” The threads “pull together grow hair that quickly, he might burrow into the and tighten up when struck by a bullet, force it to snow and hibernate for a few days while the fur is wobble, then actually pucker around the projec- sprouting. tile and Stop it.” (170) A bayonet is said scarcely to dent it. Heat is potentially much more dangerous to life than cold. Living tissue can freeze and live-some- Perhaps this material did not fulfill its promise or times even near zero-but.it cannot boil and live, advertising, since I have found no more recent re- even though some microbes can endure many port; but the idea may have some merit. If it does, minutes in boiling water, and there are organisms then a special kind of hair, trained to grow in the which thrive in hot springs at a temperature not necessary patterns, might fulfill the function of the far below boiling. But there are animals, including nylon. Or there might be a subcutaneous layer, a mammals, that can live in the hottest deserts. web of thin, tough ligaments cunningly woven, which would tend to prevent any deep penetrat- The camel, of course, is the prime example-an ing wounds. After all, many creatures have layers amazing animal. Not only is it a mammal, but it of protective fat under the skin. If the volume and is a sweating mammal, yet it can go without wa- mass requirements of the armor layer and its ser- ter for days in the Sahara. Part of its adaptation is vice tissues are substantial, then our armored man the tolerance of a wide range of blood tempera- will just have to be a little bigger, but that’s no prob- ture: in the cold desert night, it cools down to the lem. low nineties, and next day it can slowly warm up to 105 F, absorbing a great deal of heat in its mas- Imagine the chagrin of a lion who tries to take a sive body, before beginning to sweat. Then when it bite out of this model of man. The poor beastie perspires, water is drawn from the tissue spaces of would think itself up against Clark Kent in person. the body, the blood remaining normal; it can lose more than 30 gallons of water and over 25% of its Stinking, Shocking, and Breathing Fire body weight without harm-and then restore itself with a half hour’s drinking! (The hump stores fat, What about a biological repertory of active de- not water.) These should be relatively easy tricks to fense? As usual, the presumption is that it isn’t learn, and modified man will wander in comfort, worth the trouble, but again-who knows? Built-in naked, almost anywhere on earth. biological weapons would be relatively puny, but Body Armor they are also cheap and convenient. There may be periods and philosophies in which the selfcon- The notion of a man with natural armor seems ri- tained man is idealized, external appurtenances diculous at first. We usually associate such armor are scorned, and frontiersmen will have to deal with the chitinous exoskeletons of insects, or the with hostile life-forms on strange planets. horny plates or scales of reptiles, and not with mammals. We also have been taught that over-spe- If so, we can design quite a versatile active defense cialization is the biological road to ruin, with the system into a body just a little bigger than present disappearance of the giant reptiles as the prime ex- man’s, with a few specialized glands and other or-

39 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG gans. In this way, we could secrete poisons of many furniture and clothing. To fly is splendid, but to kinds, and deliver them by fang or claw or spray: perch is ridiculous, and furniture to accommodate the formic acid of the ant, the venom of the cobra wings may require tricky design. But all this is sec- or black widow, etc. (“Let’s get married, Honey.” ondary to the feasibility of flying. “We can’t-you’re poisonous and I’m not.”) Icarus could never have gotten off the ground. Chemical active defense is not limited to poisons, Many studies have shown that man is simply too but also includes stenches, such as those of skunks heavy to fly under his own power. Given earth’s and certain beetles. It could also include smoke gravity and atmosphere, the power and wing sur- screens-the cuttlefish uses an inky smoke screen face requirements seem to rule out a flyer the size under water-and it should be possible to develop of a man. The largest flying bird, the condor, has one for use in air. a wing spread of nine feet but a weight of only about twenty-two pounds. The largest animals We could also imitate the electric eel, and acquire ever known to have flown, certain pteranodons of the ability to deliver a thousand-volt jolt at will. the cretaceous, had wing spreads of twenty feet but weights, it is believed, of only about twenty-five An even more delightful trait would be the ability pounds; and they were probably soaring creatures to blow flames, which is actually possible with no primarily, rather than wing flappers. great difficulty, even though so far only mythologi- cal creatures have done so, The idea occurred to This is one of the key words: soar. It is obvious that me when I saw some undergraduates display an men can fly without engines, because they have engaging trick: they would pass gas (flatulence), done so: sail-planes can carry men for hours, if the hold a lighted match near the rear end, and there pilot is skillful in finding updrafts of air to ride. would be a marvelous puff of flame. (The gas con- If we add the ability to flap one’s wings for added tains combustible hydrocarbons.) For a dragon-or upthrust and forward thrust, then we could have a man-to blow flames, all that is necessary is to muscle-powered flyers. belch a similar gas, simultaneously gnashing teeth that are designed to strike sparks, similar to flint However, the use of very large wings to permit and steel. Voila-a living blowtorch! (It may take a soaring, and the ability to flap these wings are not little practice to avoid singed eyebrows.) easy to reconcile. What may be needed is a large set of locked wings, plus a smaller subsidiary set Batman and Dragonfly that our muscles can flap. This might lead to a man looking like neither an angel nor a bat, but more The origin of our dreams of flying seems to be in like a dragonfly-or like the four-inch scarab beetle dispute. Some claim these dreams have sexual sig- of Central America, with stiffly spread forewings nificance, others that they are related to our ancient and beating rear wings. (122) fear of falling out of the tree, or still more ancient adjustments to a three-dimensional life in the sea. Recent and current experiments with ornithopters Or our yearnings may stem prosaically from envy have involved bicycle mechanisms to flap mechan- of the birds. However that may be, there is indeed a ical wings. As far as I know, no one yet has tried widespread longing to fly with our own wings, and the combination of a large fixed wing plus a small this longing will assuredly be fulfilled. powered set. Success with the latter might help pave the way for dragonfly man. Will we really create a race of batmen? Or will Los Angeles one day refer primarily, not to a city, but to All this may still sound rather foolish, involving a breed of angels, a variety of winged men? The ob- too much effort and too much specialization for a vious difficulties make an affirmative answer seem result of very limited value. But the specialization absurd; yet bide a wee. may not be as excessive as it seems, and the result not so limited in application. Imagine a race with The worst problems of winged men may concern a smallish set of wings, powered by the pectorals

40 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG and muscles of the back, shoulders and buttocks. Living in the very low-g interior of a hollow aster- Is it possible to breathe water? Yes-even for a mam- oid, these people could fly handily, and would be mal! In a remarkable series of experiments a few free as birds. In caverns of the moon, where weight years ago, it was found that dogs could live under- is one sixth that on earth, they could attach small water for hours, inhaling and exhaling water in- auxiliary fixed wings; this dependence on artificial stead of air. The main trick required was to keep aids might be not much different from our usual more oxygen than normal dissolved in the water, reliance on shoes for walking. For those who visit under pressure; the small amount in solution at or live on earth, flight would require putting on a ordinary pressure is not enough for a mammal. large set of soaring wings, and would be almost While this type of experiment has no direct appli- entirely recreational rather than utilitarian, yet it cation, it does show that we are not as far removed might seem worthwhile. from sea adaptation as might be thought.

There will be myraid complications, some of them A full-fledged aquaman must be able to breathe un- unforeseen, but also compensations. New sense or- der water, and not just hold his breath while mak- gans may be needed for navigation, and a balanced ing long dives, as the seals and whales do. Whether body will require patient simulated trials. But the our lungs can be modified to breathe both air and life of the mind, as well as the senses, would be en- water is uncertain. Possibly a set of gills will have riched: there could be whole new modes of expres- to be added, with either lungs or gills hooked into sion, subjects of fashion and adornment, referents the circulatory system, depending on need. Once for literature, bases for architecture. At least some again, all these spare parts and alternate systems of us, for a time, might live in such fairylands. will need more space-a larger person-unless we can increase the efficiency of other parts. Aquaman The usual predictions for life in the sea center on Oceanography of late has become almost as glam- domed cities, with excursions requiring subma- orous as space science, with countless predictions rines, scuba gear, or something of the sort. But free- that much of man’s technological and economic dom, fun, and safety will be magnified when water future lies in the sea; mutual funds have sprung becomes one of our natural elements. Making the up devoted entirely to speculation in the stocks adaptation will not be easy; there are countless of ocean-oriented companies. Oil drilling under problems in addition to breathing: problems in- water is already important, and there are indica- volving the skin, the eyes, the ears and many other tions that metallic mineral recovery may become considerations. Yet when they are solved, “freedom so; portions of the ocean floor have been discov- of the seas” will have an entirely new meaning. ered heavily sprinkled with mineral nodules con- taining substantial amounts of manganese, copper, The Way Before the Omnivore and cobalt. (179) More sophisticated fisheries and deep-sea “farming” may mitigate the world food One of man’s natural competitive advantages has shortage. been his willingness to eat almost anything that doesn’t bite him back, and many things that do. All these predictions and speculations deserve It can be wiggly like a rot-grub, squiggly like an considerable skepticism; they may or may not earthworm, stinking like limburger, or full of of- prove out. But one thing is sure: there is a lot of fal like a fresh intestine-a hungry man will eat it, if ocean-the seas cover more than seventy per cent of civilization hasn’t queered him to the point of sui- the planet. The ocean is much more habitable for cide. (Some anthropologists believe that early man man than any of the known extra-terrestrial plan- was not primarily a predator, but a gatherer and ets. The temperature of seawater is more or less tol- scavenger; he found his dinner under a rotten log, erable, and although the stuff isn’t quite right either or if he were lucky, he stole some carrion before for drinking or breathing, accommodations can be the hyenas got to it.) He has some digestive peers, made. including the pigs, and some superiors, including

41 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG the cockroaches, but not many. By and large, man this will bestow no major benefit, except to the is a good journeyman omnivore. vegetarians.

In the future, the question of digestion is not likely As a third step, we can study the termites, design to be a major one; in a century, at the outside, we suitable symbiotic bacteria, and attain the capacity will probably have solved the problems of space to digest cellulose (plant fiber generally, even saw- and population, and our wealth and resources dust) into sugar. This would wonderfully improve could be such that everyone can live exclusively our survival potential in hostile or stingy environ- on caviar, truffles, and hummingbird tongues, if be ments. wishes. Even so, it may be thought prudent to de- sign the greatest versatility into ourselves-in case As a fourth step, we can study the small faunas of unforeseen emergencies-as a convenience in of caves, and design the ability to extract energy exploring and colonizing new planets, or possibly from many kinds of mineral ores, even in the ab- as a way of deflating the mystique of eating. There sence of oxygen. In emergencies, then, a superman may be some small value in asking, how far can might be able to subsist on a barren, airless planet! superman go in becoming the complete omnivore? Creatures have been found that actually have such capacities. We may become literally able to chew As a first step, we can learn to enjoy-and not merely nails and spit rust. tolerate-those things our bodies now can process. This will be partly a psychological trick, since many As a fifth step, we can use techniques borrowed of our repugnances derive from cultural or person- from the desert creatures (mentioned earlier) to al bias, e.g. the Japanese like raw fish and Ameri- get by with a minimum of water, e.g., by allowing cans do not. Americans like maize and Chinese do a rise in body temperature instead of sweating to not. And so on. But this improvement may also be keep it low, and by dropping nearly dry feces. partly physical, including the provision for some pleasant new sensations and for blocking certain As a sixth step, we can learn the ability-said to be unpleasant sensations, those associated with spe- exhibited by some animals, including cattle-to uti- cific aromatics or other chemicals in certain foods. lize a certain amount of mineral nitrogen as food, (By way of analogy, the ear can be trained to enjoy rather than requiring all organic nitrogen, thus re- certain sophisticated combinations of sounds, and ducing our need for proteins. can also be physically deafened to certain other- wise irritating frequencies.) At present, “taste” is As a seventh step, we might even copy or improve said to be largely a matter of smell, with the ac- on the performance of the legumes, and fix ni- tual taste buds sensitive only to sweet, sour, salt, trogen from the air. Instead of eating protein, we and bitter signals. In the future, we may invent a could inhale its main ingredient. great many new kinds of taste buds, or increase the range of those we have. More generally, we might learn to utilize all the main nutritional elements of air-oxygen, carbon (Sometimes what seems to be just a finicky appetite dioxide, water, and nitrogen-so that, besides en- is based on metabolism. Some varieties of men- ergy, we would need only relatively small amounts such as those in Africa and South America-seem of other elements (phosphorus, sulfur, etc.) from to lose the enzyme needed to digest lactose after other sources to get by. This would be doing bet- they are weaned, and the dried milk that generous ter than most plants, which require water from the Americans send them makes them sick.) ground and cannot get by with water vapor in the air. The energy could be obtained in a variety of As a second step, we can adopt or adapt the tech- ways, including solar conversion devices of vari- niques of the mammalian herbivores, so that we ous kinds to utilize the sun’s rays; but ultimately, can eat salads of grass if we choose. But of course as already indicated, we hope to be able to use a grass is not very nourishing, even for cows and miniature nuclear fusion device (sort of a tiny, horses-they need a great deal of it to get by-and controlled-release, hydrogen bomb) that will last,

42 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG for all practical purposes, indefinitely without re- have a crying need for small crewmen. Why put fueling, and provide energy for all our bodily pur- a big lard-bottom in the cockpit when only his poses, including metabolism and locomotion. hands, eyes and brain are useful? Life-support sys- tems-for handling air, water, food, waste, tempera- A superman of this model, if he chose, could dis- ture, etc.-are bulky and expensive almost in direct dain dining altogether. Perhaps cults of asceticism proportion to the size of the crewman. would arise, eating being considered a disgusting display of primitive animalism. And if some of the Even in present-day infantry, the little man has religions of India maintain their sway, their adher- some advantages: he can find cover and conceal- ents would welcome the chance to quit being pred- ment more easily, and he makes a smaller target, ators of any kind, to live without devouring other these being obvious assets, especially in reconnai- living beings. As an outward sign of their moral sance. On the other hand, he hurts more when he superiority, such cults might eliminate the mouth does take a hit, and he cannot carry as much ar- from the human (or X-model super-human) phys- mor. On the first hand, again-and this is the main iognomy, substituting a porous membrane capable point here--personal strength is not very impor- of passing only air. For those speaking English, the tant in modern warfare. In the days of armor and most obscene four-letter words would be feed and battle-axe, a big man could demolish a crowd of food. little men; but today, two little guys with rifles can outshoot a big guy in most circumstances, even if Superman: Giant or Midget? he has a heavier piece.

Among the many possible dimensions of the im- We hope war between men will die out, but always provement of man are some simple and obvious lurking in the background is the bogey of the ET ones, such as physical size. Both enlargement and or BEM the Extra Terrestrial invader, or the Bug- reduction have been recommended at one time or Eyed Monster. In any case, there are other consid- another. erations.

In reduction, there are still ways of looking down One is the question of vanity. Most of us dislike on the big guys. For example, one advantage is that confronting bigger people. Perhaps this quirk will little people have little appetites. If human crowd- disappear with improved mental health, which we ing continues to increase, we may prize people who hope is in store, but I wouldn’t count on it. Hence, don’t take up too much room, or eat too much, or unless we legislate individual altitude and stan- wear too many yards of cloth. Looking at it durch dardize it, we can probably expect most citizens to die Blume, a little man can live, on the same mon- buy the “big” option. But how high can we buy? ey, better than a big man. The tallest man who ever lived may have been The best thing about little people is that they are Goliath of Gath, before David cut him down. He quicker, and this for at least two fundamental rea- was perhaps eleven feet, which, interestingly, is ap- sons. First, their nerve-paths, their internal bodily proximately the maximum height some scientists communications, are shorter, thus the signals have estimate to be theoretically possible for a human less distance to travel (for example, from brain to type skeleton and circulatory system. To go much hand). Second, their limb movements require less beyond that would perhaps require a whole new time, for mechanical reasons that are a little com- design, and this again might rub our vanity the plex but well established. Thus, smaller humans wrong way. But there is more at stake than vanity: could accomplish more in a given time, man for large size does have some absolute advantages. man, in most kinds of work-apparently. We need big brains for big jobs. There is, to be The gains in economy and efficiency of minimen sure, no established correlation between human have other aspects too, including military ones. brain size and intelligence; a man with a highbrow Submarines, airplanes, and especially spaceships or big-dome can be stupid, and a size-six hat can

43 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG cover a capable mind. It may be that we use only a liberately mechanizing man seems abhorrent, on fraction of our brain cells. Nevertheless, we have to the aesthetic level if no other. Nevertheless, such process enormous quantities of data, and this re- attitudes can change, and for at least some people, quires a sizable “computer” with billions of storage “progress” will consist of reducing to minimum and switching elements. There is probably no way our dependence on our “natural” bodies. We will in which an ant, for instance, could operate at the be close to ultimate development in this respect present human level, because its nervous system when our organic brains are served by “bodies” just isn’t complex enough, and the time will surely which are collections of mechanical sensors and come when our present brains aren’t big enough effectors-devices for perceiving and manipulating either. the environment of variable number and location, not necessarily bound together in a single struc- This time may be far in the future, to be sure, and tural unit. there may be answers other than growing bigger brains. Perhaps we will connect the human brain To show that such a trend exists, and that the goal to an electronic computer, by plugin wires or laser is technically reasonable, is not difficult. The Rus- beam, and use this “augmented” brain for heavy sians have reported building artificial arms that re- work. Then again, it has been suggested that we spond to the brain’s normal signals picked up from may “merge” several people en rapport, by telepa- the stump of the natural arm; the patient simply thy or some such, to create a kind of communal attempts to move his arm, as though it were still brain or hive mind, in order to graduate to higher there, and the prosthesis responds, through a sys- levels of mentality. tem of electric motors! (106) Efforts are also under way to provide artificial arms and hands with tac- But the last idea is rather fanciful and perhaps dis- tile sensation, so the patient can actually feel pres- tasteful, and living brains are much more compact sures, at least. than computers give promise of becoming, so the bigger brain is the likeliest solution, at least for the Although, to date, mechanical extensions of the relatively near future. How big could our brains body are inferior in sensitivity and facility of ma- and ourselves be grown? nipulation, some of them are greatly superior in raw strength and power. Great walking and han- The largest animal bodies, and the largest brains, dling devices have been designed, operated by a are those of whales, and if we want to go much be- man through servomechanisms: the huge metal yond Goliath we may have to emulate the whale, arms and legs of the machine imitate and magnify grow fins and dive back into the ocean. (We may the arm and leg movements of the operator, mak- also learn to breathe seawater, which whales can- ing the machine a powerful extension of the man. not do.) Or else, we might colonize small planets, moons, and asteroids, where the reduced gravity As for internal organs, everyone knows that there would allow a whale of a man to walk around. Earth has been some degree of success with artificial is restricting, but aquamen or “loonies” might have hearts, which have sustained life for limited peri- more freedom. Alternatively, of course, we might ods in lower animals, such as cattle, and in at least become cyborgs; but that is another story. one human patient. Bone and blood vessel replace- ment by artifacts have become almost common- Cyborgs, Saucer Men, and Extended Bodies place. Some experts believe that, before many de- cades, there will be artificial stomachs, livers, and To most people of this era, the prosthesis-artificial kidneys, equal or superior to the originals. (106) replacement for part of the body-is a crutch: ugly, Hearing aids are useful in several kinds of hearing inadequate, and pitiful-a sorry, last-resort substi- impairment. At Western Michigan University, a re- tute for the real thing. And even though it is intel- search program has been reported aimed at noth- lectually obvious that prostheses may become, in ing less than the development of an artificial eye, many instances, superior to the natural limb or or- which could be connected to the brain of a blind gan, they remain repugnant, and the notion of de- person to provide, not a substitute for sight, but

44 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG sight itself. even widely scattered, with communication by ap- propriate signals (not necessarily radio). Such a Now, this mention of artificial eyes immediately person would be a superman indeed. To many his elicits the question: If we can provide the equiva- mode of living may be difficult to imagine and un- lent of natural sight by artificial means, why not pleasant to consider, but it should not be thought something better than natural sight? A synthetic that such a being would be more limited than man eye could be made sensitive not only to the “vis- or less freequite the contrary. ible” spectrum, but also to a wide range of the ultraviolet and infrared, opening up possibilities In the first place, if our “extended man” wishes, be which include night vision and qualitatively new can retain, and even multiply, the animal pleasures. aesthetic experiences colors heretofore impossible He can have a variety of remote-control bodies- and unimagined. (Perhaps we could even “see” ra- either organic, or mechanical, or a combination- dio waves!) The technical problems may well be and he can control and experience these bodies formidable-in particular, the brain may need ex- in exactly the same subjective way we control and tensive training and/or revision to handle the new experience our bodies. The freedom and variety at sensations-but this probably affects just the time his command (at our command, if we choose this scale of development. path) will far surpass what ours are now, because his bodies will be greater in number, more varied A man, part of whose subsystems are mechanical in location, and far more versatile in capabilities. or artificial, has been called a “cyborg.” One version We cannot easily imagine what it would be like to of the cyborg envisions all the major organs of the enjoy such numerous and scattered limbs and or- abdomen and thorax replaced by artificial compo- gans, but we can be entirely certain of one thing: nents. At an advanced stage of development, such there will be some personalities, at least, who will a cyborg might embody a closed cycle of nutrients enjoy and elect such a style of existence. and wastes, with no material entering or leaving the body. (Such a closed cycle already exists, in For those who find it hard to imagine a largely ar- limited form outside the body, in a space capsule.) tificial or mechanized body, there are already some The gaseous, liquid and solid wastes of the body hints that one can, indeed, develop a feeling for it. would be reconverted to oxygen and food; the en- Consider those pilots who “fly by the seats of their ergy supply might eventually derive from nuclear pants,” or the operators of bulldozers: they de- fusion, scarcely ever requiring refueling. Such a velop great sensitivity to the stresses and states of man (the tendency to call him a “creature” should their machines, which may come to seem as much be resisted) would not have to eat, drink, or even alive as a horse or even an extension of their body. breathe, and he would be nearly impervious to When the perceptions become direct when a clash changes in environment. of gears, for instance, produces a physical feeling of heartburn, or a sore elbow-then the machine will Carrying the notion even further, Dandridge Cole be as much a part of the man as any piece of meat. posited “saucer men,” people with only their heads- or perhaps only their brains-remaining natural and Since many people still feel a pervasive coldness organic, all other functions being taken over by and bleak utilitarianism in this type of “progress,” superior artificial systems, including a “flying sau- perhaps I should emphasize further the emotional cer” as the vehicle or main body matrix. The sau- and aesthetic aspects of these potentialities. If man, cers would provide better mobility and mechanical or superman, chooses this “extended” type of exis- senses and manipulators at the individual’s service. tence, then he-we, remember--would multiply not only his physical and intellectual powers, but also One can go even beyond this to the concept of his capacities and avenues for sensation, apprecia- “extended bodies.” The brain need not necessar- tion and empathy. For example, we could include ily be mobile; in fact, it might be better protected animal bodies, suitably modified, in our stock; we and served if fixed at home base. The sensors and could take vacations “in” (in remote control of) the effectors-eyes, hands, etc-could be far away, and bodies of animals: diving with the otter, frisking

45 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG with the antelope, stalking with the tiger. (Again, chance at all of accidental death in a given span, in there would be complex problems to overcome, the long run death is certain. He also notes that we such as integrating a human mind with animal would eventually have to cull our memories, since bodies and reflexes; but these are details, as Will otherwise our brains could not grow fast enough Rogers said when he recommended boiling the At- to retain them. lantic Ocean to destroy German U-boats in World War I.) Endless sexually erotic possibilities are also Actually, our information-stuffed brains will even- possible: couples could frolic in diverse forms. tually have to grow to provide more storage space, and the growth need be controlled; but if avail- It is not asserted that the cyborg and his extensions able space is infinite, only the annual percentage are inevitable developments in the main line of hu- growth in brain tissue will have to decrease, not the man and superhuman progress, nor is it denied tonnage. that both serious difficulties and grave disadvan- tages in such developments may exist (although Now, a reader of decent sensibilities will be stunned none has been demonstrated, to my knowledge). by the word “tonnage.” Tons of brain tissue? Of It may be, for example, that prudence will dictate course: doubtlessly, some irreducible minimum principal reliance on organic modes, so that small amount of matter, in mass and volume, is required numbers of individuals could carry on in event of a to store a unit of information, and if we jettison no major calamity to a civilization; we may not want to memories, we must become gigantic. Even storing make ourselves completely reliant on sophisticated “our” memories in a separate mechanical store or repair and maintenance services, which might be computer, plugged in at will, cannot avoid giant- subject to breakdown. (We remember, ruefully, the ism for several reasons. In any case, we should not dislocations produced by a few inches of snow in want to avoid giantism-it is our salvation with re- New York or a break in a hightension power line.) spect to the accidental death bogey. Nevertheless, anything that is possible is also likely to become feasible-eventually. These avenues are There is a certain risk of catastrophe per year per certain to be explored-they are being explored- cubic yard, and we can hardly expect to keep re- and it is equally definite that at least a few people ducing this risk fast enough forever; hence any sometime will vigorously proceed along this path. ordinary individual must expect a fatal accident The results will be instructive at the very least, and sooner or later. But a society, if it spreads out fast perhaps salvific. enough, can have a nonzero probability of infinite life. (This will be obvious to mathematicians, and I Eternal Life and Giantism omit the proof, simple though it is.) Can an indi- vidual do the same? The notion of “extended bodies” can itself be ex- tended to that of the multicorporeal giants, hav- Certainly! To begin with, one may think of himself ing not only sensors and effectors but even brains as located at a point in space, but be is not: each of distributed over large volumes of space. Such an us occupies an appreciable volume, and can sacri- idea has an interesting relation to the possibility of fice considerable material without disaster. For ex- infinitely extended life. ample, rays from radioactive elements constantly damage or kill cells of our bodies--thousands dai- Apparently most scientists assume that infinite life ly-but we replace them and carry on, and in fact do is impossible for fundamental physical and math- not even notice what is happening. ematical reasons, which have been made explicit by Professor James S. Hayes. (72) However, while Of course, we cannot just grow huge, and keep this eternal life is not clearly possible (we don’t even up indefinitely. Neither can we stomach the notion know if the future of the universe is unlimited), it of submerging ourselves in a “hive” organism the isn’t clearly impossible either. individual playing the role of a cell in a superbe- ing; we do not want to be reduced to the status of According to Professor Hayes, if there is any bees or ants or anything similar. The answer is that

46 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG man could develop a new type of body, the parts of An obvious nasty conjecture is that the giants are which would not be physically united as they have already in our region of space, and we, all unwit- been heretofore. ting, are their “ cells.” That the organism’s organiza- tion, from our point of view, is inefficient and often It is simply a matter of communication. The hemi- unpleasant may interest them not at all. An even spheres of a brain, for example, in principle ought nastier conjecture is that we are not yet cells, but to be capable of integration by wires, or even radio, will shortly be taken over for that purpose, when rather than nerves; and the same thing is true of we reach an appropriate state of development, by smaller components. We should envisage a race of already existing giants evolved from a different titans, each multicorporeal, his body divided into form of life. But we can hope that they would not myriad components attenuated over a large and work in such a sloppy manner, or use fully selfcon- increasing volume of space, integrated by some- scious cells. thing like radio waves. If a star goes nova, only a few planets may be lost-a trifle, a toenail. (We are Finally, I am not postulating nor predicting the assuming now that space, as well as time, has no existence of giants. I think any such development end.) unlikely in the extreme; instead, it seems nearly certain that new discoveries and ways of think- As always, there will be a price to pay. In particular, ing will appear in the coming centuries which will the giants will live slowly, of necessity, in Einstein’s outmode all such questions. I cannot conceive that world: if you are spread over a trillion cubic light- we will ever seriously worry about eternal life as years, and your nervous system signals from one contrasted with life “merely” extended for thou- part of you to another at the speed of light, it will sands or tens of thousands of years. It is doubtful take you a long while to think and act. It is inter- that the present “limiting” laws of physics-those of esting to speculate, however, that this may explain relatively and quantum mechanics-will retain their the mysterious absence of emissaries from higher supposed fundamental character forever. The pur- civilizations: any culture much beyond the present pose of the little exercise above, other than having human stage enters the macrocosmic phase and is some fun, is just to put in their places those who more or less out of touch. take smug and narrow views concerning what can and cannot happen in the millennial future. In addition to size and slowness, the giants might have another bizarre quality-intermingling of Home Where the Tachyons Roam bodies. If the purpose of giantism is immortality, avoiding catastrophe by having one’s parts scat- Various people have hazarded conjectures as to the tered over immense volumes, any small volume “ultimate” development of man or superman. Ar- (say a planet) would not have to be reserved for a thur Clarke has made at least two suggestions: (1) single individual. Thus a galaxy, say, might support human personalities will be copied and stored elec- billions of individuals, each one scattered onto bil- tronically, perhaps in several locations, conferring lions of planets and each planet supporting parts of essential immortality and near-invulnerability; (2) billions of different people. the race will graduate to a kind of hive-mind, with individual “People” corresponding to the cells of People? Beings, rather; they could hardly be much the super-organism. Neither of these impresses me like ourselves, whose psychology and culture are favorably, the first cavalierly assuming that iden- strongly dependent on the physical character of tity is preserved when this is far from clear, and our bodies. Their lives would not necessarily be the second being somewhat distasteful as well as entirely mental, but they would indeed be strange. unnecessary. They would not stand, sit, walk, talk, or even have a definite location in any easily understood sense. A Professor Gerald Feinberg has speculated that the man could not even perceive the existence of such final goal of evolution may be universal conscious- a being, let alone understand its modes of living. ness the entire physical universe integrated into a single, fully self conscious entity, which would

47 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG then spend its time in varieties of introspection.” tion might be. For two observers-or two parts of a (Although Dr. Feinberg did not put it this way, giant-not in relative motion, signals can even be one might say our goal is to create, and to become, instantaneous, the tachyons being allowed infinite God.) However, this seems unsatisfactory to me speed. (A “transcendent,” or infinitely fast tachyon, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, it is not yet carries no energy, but it does carry momentum, known whether the universe is finite or infinite; if and presumably could transmit a signal; on inter- infinite, it is difficult to see how it could be inte- action with a tardyon, the latter would change its grated. More important, this notion seems to make direction, although not its speed.) But when the’ unwarranted assumptions about the nature of con- observers-or the parts of a giant-are in relative sciousness, which in fact is not yet understood. motion, the problem becomes much stickier, with Consciousness is known not to reside in our total apparent time anomalies to be interpreted. At any brains (since much can be excised with no notice- rate, a giant employing tachyons could live much able effect), and I doubt that it is possible, even in faster than one depending on lightspeed signals. principle, for all of the universe to share conscious- ness. We can indulge in speculations even more tenu- ous. If the tachyons can interact with the other In any case, we can hardly talk about ultimate types of particles and with each other, why should development, which is a matter of function, not they play only a subordinate or auxiliary role in the form, and which is probably many stages beyond functioning of the giants? Why should not a giant, our present ability to conceive. Still, it is interesting by a gradual process of change and development, to project our imaginations as far as we can. The become a pattern of tachyons? Function is more previous section discussed the notion of the mul- important than form; perhaps a suitable aggregate ticorporeal giants. Now lot us modify and extend of tachyons, with patterns and feedbacks analo- this idea to take account of recent developments gous to those in our minds, could be a living enti- in physics. ty-ourselves, at a higher stage of development. This would not necessarily solve life’s most important In the last several years, as noted elsewhere, Fein- problems, but it ought to provide an awesomely berg, Bilaniuk and others have postulated the ex- powerful means to our ends. The individual would istence of particles called tachyons, traveling fast- not become the universe, as in Feinberg’s sugges- er than light, and have shown that these are not tion, but he could permeate the universe; he could necessarily inconsistent with Einstein’s theory of exist, perceive and act everywhere simultaneously. relativity. (12) Although such particles have not yet been experimentally confirmed, and although Needless to say, such a notion raises tantalizing they possess some very strange properties, many of questions that we are not prepared to answer. For which are still unclear, it is assumed that they can example, if tachyonman can think instantaneously, interact with ordinary matter and with each other, then he can complete his life’s sequence of thoughts and can carry signals with any speed greater than in an instant, and fulfill his destiny, can he not? that of light. (Particles, such as photons and neu- This is another possible answer to the question, trinos, which can exist only at the speed of light “Where is everybody?” Perhaps advanced races are called luxons, while ordinary particles which quickly proceed to the level of tachyonmen, and cannot reach or exceed light speed are termed tar- are “finished”-whatever that means. dyons.) If tachyons exist, and possess the proper- ties inferred, what would this mean for our giants? These reflections also suggest another possibility, without the need for tachyons. Particles of light, For a start, it means that the Giants need not be electromagnetic radiation-photons-also interact as slow as otherwise presumed; even though their with each other. Could there be such a thing as “body” parts are separated by many lightyears, photon-man-an aggregate of patterned, interact- “internal” communication could be rapid. (Ex- ing photons, collectively constituting a person? Or ternal communication could also, of course.) It is at least, might the physical parts of a being depend not clear, at least to me, just how fast communica- much less heavily on tardyons, and much more

48 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG on luxons? This also would give rise to startlingly parts and aspects must be capable of interaction- different capacities. All of these possibilities will otherwise we could never have any awareness of be actively investigated-perhaps sooner than we the other part. At the same time, there may be think. parts or aspects of the world so foreign to our ev- eryday thought and experience as to justify sepa- Superghost rate treatment. There are recent examples: e.g., the phenomena of electromagnetic radiation, outside In many fanciful stories, evolution’s goal has been of the visible spectrum, represent an extremely depicted as the development of “pure mind,” with important aspect of the universe, yet one entirely the implication that eventually we will become unsuspected until modern times; in classic Greece, more or less disembodied spirits, freed from the radio waves and Xrays might as well have existed bondage of matter. Sometimes this notion of “pure in a different universe. mind” pictures entities of “pure energy,” whatever that means-perhaps beings that are still material, The evidence for psychic phenomena, in the sense but less grossly material, possibly containing no of extrasensory perception, seems extremely weak. particles less nimble than electrons. Sometimes, Nevertheless, some investigators are convinced of again, there is postulated a being who is built en- their reality, and of their dramatic divergence from tirely of “force fields,” which would be another less the ordinary phenomena of physics; for example, grossly physical sort of construct. (Actually, physi- Professor Joseph Rhine believes that certain effects cists do not usually regard force fields as separable are unaffected by distance or time. (141) Likewise, from particles.) But there is also sometimes the the seance-spiritualists have not convincingly bald allusion to superghost, the quite immaterial demonstrated their “ectoplasm,” yet it is at least being of pure mind or pure spirit, which is said to conceivable that some quasi-material “soul” some- represent our ultimate destiny. how inhabits and directs the body.

Now, we cannot summarily reject such sugges- We do know that very sensitive linkages exist in tions merely because they are vague and carry nature, pivot-points where extremely subtle in- overtones of magic: any speculations about the far fluences can exert profound effects: for example, future must have these qualities. Neither are we en- some years back a few pounds of copper threads titled to sneer just because those who suggest the were put in orbit around the earth for certain tests, notions become easily confused which is another and some scientists thought there was danger of way of saying the same thing; it is indeed possible the earth’s entire climate being disturbed! Profes- for someone to have a useful idea, or the germ of sor J. C. Eccles, a prominent neurophysiologist, has an idea, without being able to express it clearly or written that the brain is indeed the sort of machine make it hold up in argument. a ghost could operate; i.e., the mind might be a very insubstantial kind of director, needing only Neither should we shoot some of the ammunition to nudge the brain very slightly at crucial spots to at hand, for example the false arguments adduced make it carry on their mutual business in the de- by some of these speculators. Some of the spiritual- sired way. While this kind of dualism seems most ists are motivated by abhorrence of determinism, farfetched to me, so far neither necessary nor fruit- whereas in fact this is entirely a separate issue; the ful, one cannot make a final judgment. Neutrinos arguments for determinism apply with the same certainly have almost a ghostly quality, and so do force, no more and no less, to a spiritualist world tachyons, if they exist; it may conceivably turn out, as to a materialist world. Like most people, the after all, that the spiritualists have erred chiefly in spiritualists mix in some bad argument and drag language and attitude. in some irrelevant bogies, but we should be in- terested in dealing with their best arguments, not Without filling in the details or soft spots, maybe their worst. Further, we should not be swayed by we can picture something like this. The mind is nasty words such as “dualism.” Everyone realizes different from the brain-material, but extremely the world must be monistic in the sense that its subtle, even harder to detect by ordinary methods

49 CRYONICS INSTITUE MAGAZINE • CRYONICS.ORG than the neutrino. This mind, essentially, is the transfigured selves as beings of “Pure mind,” glid- person. It is symbiotic with the brain, in a sense; or ing swift and ethereal through the reaches of the perhaps we should say that only the mind is “alive,” cosmos. the brain being merely an appendage of the mind, as the leg is an appendage of the person. Both-brain Hogwash, in all probability. I emphasize again that and mind-are essential, and both develop together, the evidence for any such notions is extremely the reproductive cells carrying both the seed of a slim, with much more likely explanations at band brain and the seed of a mind. With present tech- for all known phenomena. And yet, the realities of niques, the mind cannot exist without the brain, the distant future will be at least as strange as this. but future developments may make it possible for the mind to divorce itself from its gross partner and be selfsupporting. Thus we may imagine our

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