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This sounds convincing - but it's circular logic, like Math. It is based on assumptions that cannot be proven right or wrong. Therefore the entire argument cannot proven right or wrong. However, i can show it's _unlikely_ to be true.

Assumptions:
- It is possible to make a recording of the entire human brain. As long as we do not know how the brain works, or what makes consciousness [which is probably the thing you are interested most in preserving] that is a bold assertion, to put it mildly.
We don't know, and until somebody successfully does the backup-recovery you describe we won't. Simple as that.
- The brain is the only part of the body that remembers. Ask any physical therapist about kinetic memory to see that this is simply not true.

Religions have had answers for all questions that arise around this topic for thousands of years. The great religion of science is no exception - it just tends to produce a multitude of theories.

You may believe in that. Just like a buddhist believes in being reborn - and therefore probably doesn't care as much about the brain-backup-plan. he is reborn anyways so he doesn't have the problem of dying in the first place.

Counterintuitive? I find it just as intuitive as Heaven and Hell, and Rebirth :)

PS: the evil business mind: sell people a complete backup of their brains, using sophisticated MR technology to capture the neuronal state of every single neuron in the brain. As soon as the write-back technology and cloning become available, we can then bring them back to live. Oh, somebody already thought of that. Damn!

Researchers can use any technique to boost longevity

Flash freezing ?

----- Cryonics: gateway to the future?

www.cryonet.org

Especially since time is not contiguous, but quantized (ala Planck's Time). We are all in God's computer, with a clock tick of Planck's Time. :)

So, just as daylight savings time supposedly reminds us to change our smoke detector batteries (because otherwise that annoying 'low battery' beeping always start at 4am), tiny earthquakes remind us about our earthquake kits and preparation. Includes...

• 3+ days of food, water, clothing, tools (ability to turn off the gas if needed) flashlights etc etc.
• especially if you're female: comfortable clothing in your car, with a good change of shoes (vs hiking in high heels)
• knowing where your important papers and backup disks are (some sites advise having copies in a bag you can grab on the way out), and having copies in a safe / safety deposit box.
• cell phone always charged and gas tank always at least 1/2 full

And unless you live in Scottsdale, AZ, don't feel smug about the safety of your own location- St. Louis has had an 8.0, and New York State has seen 6.0's.

That said, you have to start somewhere. And if it can be shown that those who are cryopreserved have a decent chance of good recovery, then I think offering cryonic suspension/recovery services will be a very lucrative business. After all, if it works, cryonics will vastly increase the one resource that's strictly limited for everyone, no matter how wealthy they are--time. How much would you pay for an extra 100 years of healthy life?

With such large amounts of money involved, it seems to me that cryonics organizations will have a strong incentive to come up with mechanisms for ensuring successful (very) long term care and recovery of their patients.

I saw a presentation by Stephen Valentine on the TimeShip idea. The $180 million price tag is the expected price for the final completed project. Although it is not mentioned in the article, the TimeShip is designed to be modular. Initially, the Timeship will be much smaller than its final dimensions--only the core services will be constructed (research facility, one storage module). As demand increases, more modules can be added until eventually it reaches its final dimensions.

However, in my opinion, cryonics will remain a small, financially precarious community of true believers until it has been demonstrated to work. It's going to take a lot of research to demonstrate that it will work.

Therefore, if you're interested in helping cryonics succeed (even if you're skeptical of the TimeShip project) here are some suggestions:

• Learn more about the practice of cryonics. You can find links to most of the available online information from the Cryonet home page.
• Donate money to the Life Extension Foundation (LEF), with the proviso that it be earmarked for cryonics research. Saul Kent is also the co-founder of the LEF.
• Join Alcor or the Cryonics Institute or the American Cryonics Society. All of these organizations are small, and a single activist can have a big influence. Help raise funds for scientific research.
• Write a polite letter to the president of the Society for Cryobiology, urging him to strike the blanket ban, barring individuals who support cryonics from membership in the society. (See Section 2.04 from their bylaws.

I know some of those people planning to freeze their heads when they die, and they do have some reasons-- by isolating the head, the freezing process can be conducted more carefully with less body mass to mess with in the limited timeframe before the body decays too much after death. And they expect that the level of nanotechnology neccessary for the cell-repair functions needed for proper 'reanimation' will also be able to either create a new body for them or 'upload' their consciousness into a non-biological state. For further information on cryonics, you can visit Alcor Life Extension Foundation's site (they do head-freezes) or the Cryonics Institute (they only do whole bodies).


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