A Non-Profit Organization December 2013 • Volume 34:12 Interview with Joshua Mitteldorf About Programmed Aging Page 8 Social Benefits of Rejuvenation Biotechnologies Page 5 ISSN 1054-4305 Though She Isn’t Really Ill, There’s a Little Yellow Pill… Page 11 $9.95 Improve Your Oddsof a Good Cryopreservation You have your cryonics funding and contracts in place but have you considered other steps you can take to prevent problems down the road? ü Keep Alcor up-to-date about personal and medical changes. ü Update your Alcor paperwork to reflect your current wishes. ü Execute a cryonics-friendly Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. ü Wear your bracelet and talk to your friends and family about your desire to be cryopreserved. ü Ask your relatives to sign Affidavits stating that they will not interfere with your cryopreservation. ü Attend local cryonics meetings or start a local group yourself. ü Contribute to Alcor’s operations and research. Contact Alcor (1-877-462-5267) and let us know how we can assist you. Visit the ALCOR FORUMS www.alcor.org/forums/ Discuss Alcor and cryonics topics with other members and Alcor officials. • The Alcor Foundation • Financial • Cell Repair Technologies • Rejuvenation • Cryobiology • Stabilization • Events and Meetings Other features include pseudonyms (pending verification of membership status) and a private forum. Visit the ALCOR BLOG www.alcor.org/blog/ Your source for news about: • Cryonics technology • Speaking events and meetings • Cryopreservation cases • Employment opportunities • Television programs about cryonics Alcor is on Facebook Connect with Alcor members and supporters on our official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/alcor.life.extension.foundation Become a fan and encourage interested friends, family members, and colleagues to support us too. A Non-Profit Organization rofit Organization A Non-P lume 34:12 er 2013 • Vo Decemb CONTENTS 6 CEO Update rview with Inte 14 FOR THE RECORD rf Joshualdo Carrying On: The Aftermath Mitte d About mme COVER STORY: PAGE 8 and Legacy of Early New York Prograg Cryonics Agin Interview with Joshua Mitteldorf The mid-1970s were a difficult time Page 8 About Programmed Aging for cryonics, particularly in New York To most people and researchers, which had figured so prominently in agingon is a process of “wear and the early days. Here we take a look at nati ISSN 1054-4305 Rejuve efits of tear.” According to Joshua Mitteldorf events starting in this time of trial. ogies Social Benol techn ll, $9.95 Most of the important players in New Bio y I this perspective on aging should be Page 5 n’t Reall he Is llow Pillreplaced… by the view that aging is York cryonics went elsewhere. In the Though S re’s a Little Ye end Cryonics emerged stronger than The programmed. In this interview he age 11 P answers questions about what such ever from the lessons learned. a perspective implies about human 21 Lessons learned from Cryonics: evolution, how such an aging program Cover Photo: A Sociology of Death and Joshua Mitteldorf speaking at is executed, and what kinds of anti- Bereavement the 2012 Alcor conference. aging strategies are available to upset Cryonics editor Aschwin de Wolf also © Alcor the aging program. revisits Arlene Sheskin’s Cryonics: A Sociology of Death and Bereavement to see 5 QUOD INCEPIMUS CONFICIEMUS what has been learned, and what still can be learned, from the early days of Social Benefits of Rejuvenation Biotechnologies cryonics. Attempts to defend the beneficial consequences of conquering aging are often dismissed as opportunistic arguments to defend 23 That ’70s Transhumanism selfish desires for “immortality.” What if we approach the issue Book Review of Cosmic Trigger, the other way round and demonstrate that both morality and Volume I: Final Secret of the Illuminati prosperity require the elimination of aging? 29 Membership Statistics 11 COOLER MINDS PREVAIL How many members, associate members, and patients does Alcor Though She Isn’t Really Ill, There’s a Little Yellow Pill… have and where do they live? Can human enhancement be as simple as taking a pill? This month’s installment of Cooler Minds Prevail explores the ethics 30 Tech News of cosmetic pyschopharmacology and the drugs available today We read the news to uncover the most that may hold potential for enhancement of cognition, mood, promising and exciting developments and pro-social behaviors. in science and technology. www.alcor.org Cryonics / December 2013 3 A Non-Profit Organization 2013 Annual Giving Program lcor provides a wide array of services for you the member, and the general Editorial Board public. We inform and educate, we protect and preserve, and we strive to Saul Kent Aremain at the forefront of cryonics technology. Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D. Since its founding, Alcor has relied on member support to maintain its mission R. Michael Perry, Ph.D. and attract new members. Your support, regardless of size, can provide a better future for all cryonicists. Please act now. Editor Aschwin de Wolf SUGGESTED GIVING LEVELS $20 FRIEND Contributing Writers Aschwin de Wolf $60 JuNIoR SuPPorter Chana de Wolf Max More, Ph.D. $120 Sustaining SuPPorter Mike Perry, Ph.D. Mark Plus $500 Advocate SuPPorter Copyright 2013 $1,000 LEADINg SuPPorter by Alcor Life Extension Foundation $2,500 VISIonary SuPPorter All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or part, without $5,000 Silver SuPPorter permission is prohibited. $10,000 goLD SuPPorter Cryonics magazine is published monthly. $25,000 TitaniuM SuPPorter To subscribe to the printed edition and/or change your address, please call $50,000 VANguARD SuPPorter 480.905.1906 x101or visit the magazine website: We encourage every member to donate. Even if you can only afford $5 right now, www.alcor.org/magazine you will make a significant contribution to Alcor’s future. Donations may be made via the Donations button on the Alcor website or by Please note: If you change your address less than contacting Alcor’s Finance Director, Bonnie Magee, at [email protected]. Your a month before the magazine is mailed, it may donation may be made as a lump sum or divided into easy monthly payments. be sent to your old address. Address correspondence to: Cryonics Magazine 7895 East Acoma Drive, Suite 110 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 Phone: 480.905.1906 The James Bedford Society Toll free: 877.462.5267 ifts have played a fundamental role in the cryonics Fax: 480.922.9027 movement since its earliest days. Dr. James Bedford, a man whose extraordinary vision led him to become the Letters to the Editor welcome: G first person to be cryopreserved, and the first to make a bequest to [email protected] a cryonics organization, exemplified the determination of the early pioneers of cryonics. We invite you to follow in his footsteps, and Advertising inquiries: join the James Bedford Society. 480.905.1906 x113 The James Bedford Society recognizes those who make a [email protected] bequest of any size to the Alcor Life Extension ISSN: 1054-4305 Foundation. If you have already provided a gift Visit us on the web at www.alcor.org for Alcor in your estate, please send a copy of your relevant documents to Alcor’s Finance Director, Bonnie Magee. Alcor News Blog If you’d like to learn more about setting up a bequest, send an email http://www.alcor.org/blog/ to [email protected] or call 480-905-1906 x114 to discuss your gift. 4 Cryonics / December 2013 www.alcor.org Quod incepimus conficiemus Photo: Cryo-Care Equipment Corporation at 2340 E. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ. Dr. Bedford’s “home” in 1970 or 1971. SOCIAL BENEFITS OF Rejuvenation Biotechnologies By Aschwin de Wolf hen advocates of radical life disabilities. A society in which humans have are not treated differently because of their extension discuss the social control over the aging process would be date of birth we should want to live in a Wbenefits of humans having desirable because it would eliminate one of society where rejuvenation biotechnologies much longer lifespans it is often a footnote the main causes of death and the suffering sever the link between chronological age to a personal desire to prolong life. As a it brings for survivors. and biological age. consequence, cynicism from critics is It is not uncommon to hear people being What about economic welfare? Ageless often encountered. It hard to counter accused of not caring about the effects of people would be able to remain productive such skepticism effectively because people their actions on future generations. This and generous, medical costs associated with may believe you are just trying to make complaint is particularly prominent in the debilitating health and mental effects an essentially selfish desire look socially discussions about the environment and the of biological aging would be substantially desirable. use of natural resources. If humans were reduced, and highly talented people would There is an alternative. We can approach not born to die on a predictable schedule not cease to exist. the topic from the other direction when this whole dynamic would change because Reasoning backwards from what we ask what kind of lifespans would be the distinction between current and future morality and welfare would “dictate” about desirable if we wanted to increase social generations would cease to exist. If we human lifespans is not just a talking point welfare and reduce human suffering. Let’s shifted focus from shorter to longer-term in discussions about the bio-ethics of life look at a number of issues. satisfactions involving our place and role extension. one can imagine the rise of a There is a large literature about coping in an enduring “family” of associates, we social movement that seeks to educate the with the death of loved ones, relatives, and should not want humans to replace each general public about the social benefits of friends.