Human Hibernation on the Horizon?

Experience is King by A+Boy+and+His+Blob · 2005-04-21 19:17 · Score: 5, Funny

a chamber filled with air laced with 80 parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) - the malodorous gas that give rotten eggs their stink
...
its possible use in space travel

Hey NASA, I'm your man, I've been enduring riding the elevator with my gaseous coworkers for YEARS.

Re:Experience is King by KiloByte · 2005-04-21 19:34 · Score: 2, Interesting

Being deaf to the colon trumpet is not enough.
The gases used here sound louder.

--
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Re:Experience is King by gokulpod · 2005-04-21 19:59 · Score: 5, Funny

No wonder your boss catches you sleeping all the time.

--
My mom never taught me to sign.

Well Water by teh+merry+reaper · 2005-04-21 19:19 · Score: 5, Informative

Funny, Hydrogen Sulfide is a common enough contaminant in ground (well) water systems as well as a byproduct of oil refineries. It deprives the brain of oxygen and causes what IIRC is called "blowdown" or "knockdown" in oil refineries when people momentarily pass out.

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6x9=42

Re:Well Water by EvilTwinSkippy · 2005-04-21 20:24 · Score: 4, Interesting

According to one of the articles I read, the researcher actually got the idea to use that molecule from a documentary about caving.

--
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
Re:Well Water by October_30th · 2005-04-21 20:48 · Score: 5, Interesting

I've done research using Hydrogen Sulfide and it's nasty stuff. It's corrosive, explosive, poisonous and a chemical asphyxiant.
Its corrosive property is particularly nasty. Here's what happens to a copper seal in a H2S gas line over time. The inner part of the seal has been in contact with H2S and as you can see it's just flaking away. Aluminum, plastic or synthetic rubber seals don't do much better and a leak in a H2S line will definitely ruin your day...

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The owls are not what they seem
Re:Well Water by Mr2cents · 2005-04-21 23:59 · Score: 4, Funny

and a leak in a H2S line will definitely ruin your day...

Not to mention your appetite..

--
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey

I can't wait for... by Palal · 2005-04-21 19:19 · Score: 4, Interesting

...an instant coast-to-coast flight.... "Fifth Element" is coming true. :)

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-Palal

Re:I can't wait for... by K2Extreme · 2005-04-21 20:09 · Score: 5, Funny

an instant coast-to-coast flight
I live in Switzerland, you insensitive clod !
Re:I can't wait for... by timster · 2005-04-22 01:13 · Score: 2, Interesting

Have you even been flying since 1970? All the flight attendants now are the SAME ONES that the airlines hired back in the day. They formed unions and made careers out of it.

In other words, they are all like 50 years old now.

--
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
Re:I can't wait for... by AgentSmith · 2005-04-22 03:33 · Score: 2, Funny

I live in Switzerland, you insensitive clod !

I live in clod you insensitive Switzerland!

This is news? by 0x461FAB0BD7D2 · 2005-04-21 19:22 · Score: 5, Funny

Hibernation has been taking place in people since geeks took to their parents' basements.

Re:This is news? by Skrybe · 2005-04-21 19:34 · Score: 5, Funny

I think you've got the wrong word there, the one you're looking for is not "hibernation", it's "masturbation".
Re:This is news? by 0x461FAB0BD7D2 · 2005-04-21 19:38 · Score: 2, Funny

If I could masturbate as long as bears hibernate, I definitely wouldn't be in my parents' basement.
Re:This is news? by Jeremi · 2005-04-21 20:08 · Score: 5, Funny

If I could masturbate as long as bears hibernate, I definitely wouldn't be in my parents' basement

Very true. Most likely you would be in the emergency room, awaiting a skin graft.

--

I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.

That's nice. by natrius · 2005-04-21 19:22 · Score: 4, Interesting

Now that they've got that done, they can work on getting people to function on less sleep. I want to be a microsleeper.

Re:That's nice. by varghan · 2005-04-21 20:17 · Score: 5, Funny

From what I've heard, the use of certain acetylated opium derivatives induce a state where one needs less sleep (2hrs/day).
The use has quite some side effects, one of them, in my city at least, seems to be a strong preference for car hifi equipment.
Re:That's nice. by SlightlyMadman · 2005-04-22 08:05 · Score: 2, Interesting

I discovered, through having kids, that you need 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep in order to be able to function.

While this is true for most people, the polyphasic technique works around it. Basically, the only part of that sleep that's neccesary for survival is the REM cycles. When your brain has adjusted to the polyphasic sleep method, you go directly into REM, skipping those other uneccesary deep sleep phases. This has the drawback of losing things like the ability to build new muscle mass, but for a guy like me or Bucky Fuller that's not really an issue.

But I still manage to wake up numerous times every night because the damn kid won't sleep. (maybe he's a polyphasic sleeper, he was up for 2 hours last night, at around 3 am, wanting to play).

Actually, this is pretty close to the truth. Most of the research done on polyphasic sleeping has built on studying infants and cats. The 8-hour nocturnal sleep phase is basically a learned behavior we developed to keep ourselves safe in a cave when we can't see a damn thing so we don't trip over that sabre toothed tiger. Infants don't bother because they haven't learned it yet. Cats don't bother because they're descended from that sabre toothed tiger.

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Money I owe, money-iy-ay

Not necessarily a good thing.... by masterzora · 2005-04-21 19:26 · Score: 4, Interesting

I'm up for a little hibernation for space travel, but for medical aid? Aren't we already saving too many people who should be dead and thereby contributing greatly to world problems like overcrowding and world hunger and fun stuff?

--
Remember, open source is free as in speech, not free as in bear.

Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by tloh · 2005-04-21 19:43 · Score: 2, Insightful

The solution to world problems like overcrowding and world hunger is not to let disease and ill health cut population down to size. That is simply barbaric in this day and age. As humanity progress, I believe we should seek social solutions for social problems rather than let nature prune our civilization as if we were a herd of hoofed herbavores. Otherwise, the whole lot of slashdot readers would have become extinct through vicious sexual selection preasures.

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Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by masterzora · 2005-04-21 19:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

Our options really are to cut down the population or to increase the area we live in (unless we /want/ to live with 300 people per square nanometer). So, either let people die or explore space and colonize other planets and/or moons. I'm just pointing out which one we're more capable of.

--
Remember, open source is free as in speech, not free as in bear.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by evanbd · 2005-04-21 21:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

Or, we stop reproducing so much. It's really not that hard, and what's even better is that wealth appears to result in people having fewer children -- so as standards of living improve, population growth will slow. Europe already has negative population growth once you subtract out imigration, and the US is on its way.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 21:34 · Score: 5, Insightful

If you do a little math, you'll see that neither killing people nor exploring space are solutions to overpopulation.

The population is just growing too quickly. We get 75 million new people a year.

Let's start with the easy one -- space colonies. You can start exploring planets all you want, but unless you can figure out a way to ship off more than 75 million people a year, the population is still going to increase on Earth. Think about how many resources and man-hours are required to get seven people into LEO -- we couldn't reduce population by shipping people into space even if the whole world were united behind the project.

Next, let's talk war. Suppose you started a war that lasted a week and killed 1,000,000 people. That's a lot of people in a short amount of time -- it would be horrific. At the end of that week, you'd still have 430,000 more people than you started with! You could drag that war on for ten years, kill half a billion people (more than any war in history), and you'd still be way behind. Sure, you could pull out the nukes, but then you'd be reducing livable space and making a mess for the survivors.

The other thing you have to keep in mind is that many of the people saved by modern medicine are already past child bearing. The sort of people who could afford hiberation treatment would be in wealthy countries where the birth rate is low, anyway.

Everyone dies eventually, so killing a few adults off early doesn't change much in the long term balance sheet. The only practical way to do so is to alter the birth rate.

And one of the best ways to lower birth rates is to raise living standards and give people access to modern medical care (including contraceptives). When the mortality rate drops to some reasonable level and half the family isn't sick from malaria, you don't need to overproduce children just to make sure you'll have enough healthy members in the family.

It's also a lot more efficient for people to have a few healthy children than it is for them to spend resources raising a lot children only to have some large portion of them struck down by one of the four horsemen.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 23:05 · Score: 2, Insightful

And one of the best ways to lower birth rates is to raise living standards

Only if the increase in living standards also comes with lower resource usage and/or lower waste production. Otherwise you end up transforming 100 people from a poor nation that use 100 unit of resource but will be 200 people using 200 units of resource in 10 years time into 100 people who use 500+ units of resource in 10 years time. Yes, you don't have any more people, but you are potentially in a worse position.

(This effect can be seen in China - birth rates have dropped but the effect of people wanting to drive cars rather than cycle may have some adverse effects on oil prices for a long time to come).
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by KiloByte · 2005-04-21 23:50 · Score: 2, Insightful

Someone may be uneducated or poor but this does not necessarily mean that their genetic stock is any worse.
Of course, there are many smart poor people, and there are many who are dumb but had the luck of being born in a higher social class. What I mean is, there is a significant correlation between intelligence+education and the social stratum.
And, the amount of offspring is inversely proportional to the social level.

The truly mentally retarded are often in medicalised or institutionalised situations and have few offspring.
Only in developed countries and only in better city districts.
There are villages in central Africa where the average IQ is around 40. It's not only the lack of education, but actual hereditary retardation of whole populations.
I can also spot similar cases on a lesser scale even in my home town. In this case, it's just my feeling rather than a scientific study, but I doubt those people can be degenerated to such a level purely because of the lack of education.

And these are the kind of people who tend to breed families of 10+ kids.

--
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by anthony_dipierro · 2005-04-22 00:01 · Score: 4, Informative

Aren't we already saving too many people who should be dead and thereby contributing greatly to world problems like overcrowding and world hunger and fun stuff?

No, the problems of world overcrowding and hunger are not problems of supply, they're problems of distribution. The world's food supply is perfectly adequate to feed everyone, and global food production has kept up with population growth. As for overcrowding, the entire population of the world could be housed in an area the size of Texas. This would give every family (or group) of four 5000 square feet of living space.

The problems of world hunger and overcrowding are not problems inherent with having too many people.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by SgtChaireBourne · 2005-04-22 00:18 · Score: 3, Insightful

This effect can be seen in China - birth rates have dropped but the effect of people wanting to drive cars rather than cycle may have some adverse effects on oil prices for a long time to come
That can probably be attributed to two factors: a bombardment of advertising encouraging private motor vehicles as status objects and the government deciding top-down that car manufacture and sales will be part of the new economy
However, the general point is correct, the increase of standard of living must come with lower resource usage. That goes especially for those currently burning through the majority of the resources.

--
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by darkmeridian · 2005-04-22 00:25 · Score: 4, Insightful

Aren't we already saving too many people who should be dead and thereby contributing greatly to world problems like overcrowding and world hunger and fun stuff?

Fair enough: drop dead.

You do not want to? Hm, funny. Neither do I.

--
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by milosoftware · 2005-04-22 00:25 · Score: 4, Funny

...one of the four horsemen...
They drive motorcycles nowadays, and Plague has been replaced by Pollution.

--
Musicians don't die. They just decompose.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by Bonhamme+Richard · 2005-04-22 00:55 · Score: 4, Insightful

And one of the best ways to lower birth rates is to raise living standards and give people access to modern medical care (including contraceptives). When the mortality rate drops to some reasonable level and half the family isn't sick from malaria, you don't need to overproduce children just to make sure you'll have enough healthy members in the family.
I agree, although for different reasons. Concraception is not the reason that most postindustrial countries have low birth rates. For the most part, it is just more economically efficent to have many children in poor countries and less efficent to have children at all in wealthy countries.
If you live on a subsistence level, every child is another pair or hands to work the farm, or help out however. In the US, Europe, etc, a child is a drain on your resources for 18+ years. So you have fewer.
We do need to give access to concraceptives to deal with overpoplation, but if we just raise the standard of living, contraceptives, and economical pressure to use them, will follow.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by Draknor · 2005-04-22 00:55 · Score: 4, Informative

I agree with parent poster - the problem is one of distribution, not supply. And for those who don't believe the claim the entire world population would fit in Texas:

Size of Texas: 261,914 sq miles (land) = 7.30174326 × 10^12 square feet

Population of the world: 6,515,511,450 people

Area / people = 1120.67077 sq ft/person

Family/group of 4 = 4482.7 sq ft

Incredible, isn't it?
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by SgtChaireBourne · 2005-04-22 00:57 · Score: 2, Interesting

Dude, birth rate is going down (which is good / sustainable) but there haven't been strict immigration policies for a long time. So the population has still been climbing. A case in point is Malmö which is in southern Sweden, yet the largest ethnic minority there is Swedes. Similar things can be said of other regions, Denmark, Canada, too.
It's a mixed group. Some are people that anyone would be happy or, in some cases, proud to live next to or work with. Others are, quite literally, war criminals. There are no major ethnic riots, that's reserved for football, but there are large street fights from time to time involving dozens on each side. It's not something that the countries like to advertise, but ignoring the problem isn't going to help it any. You can read about it in the local languages in some countries, though it's forbidden in some areas to mention the ethnicity of the groups involved.
Hibernation can't have a direct benefit on keeping the population down. As everyone mentiones, space travel would be a good application for hibernation, but it's not possible to export people faster than they are being produced today with the focus on quantity over quality. Travel by ship in hibernation on the planet is only a theoretical possibility, but all habitable areas are colonized and air travel would get them there anyway. I can't think anyone would want to end up lost, like many parcels and peices of luggage do, or risk ending up as an organ bank.
I dunno, maybe hibernation will bring a new angle on time-share condos?

--
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by benzapp · 2005-04-22 01:02 · Score: 2, Interesting

You're right. The solution to overpopulation is simple: restrict who can and does give birth.

Licenses should be issued only to people of sufficient quality. For those with highly defective traits, sterilization is the best method.

Ultimately, if half of all adults are sterilized, the reproduction rate will be immediately cut in half. If we further restrict reproduction in less desirable persons, and mandate abortions when the deviate from national policies we can take care of the rest.

Its entirely possible that we can have 1/3 of the current birthrate, and insure that all who are born are of superior genetic stock. In a few generations, when the inferior die out after being unable to reproduce, we will have a beautiful, healthy species. And of course, we won't have had to rely on murder or forced emigration.

The rapid reproduction of the inferior is purely a temporary problem that has resulted from the rapid rise of technology (ie medicine, advanced farming techniques). This is a problem that can be just easily solved using advanced technology.

This is the rational way to avoid the "four horsemen" as you put it.

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I don't read or respond to AC posts
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by Beyond_GoodandEvil · 2005-04-22 01:16 · Score: 2, Funny

As a utilitarian, your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your news letter. As a /.er I would like to say, "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN", or perhaps make reference to Gundam Seed.

--
I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by operagost · 2005-04-22 01:42 · Score: 3, Funny

Masterzora's world looks something like this:
MORTICIAN: Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead! [clang] Bring out your dead! [clang] Bring out your dead! [clang] Bring out your dead! [clang] Bring out your dead! CUSTOMER: Here's one -- nine pence. DEAD PERSON: I'm not dead! MORTICIAN: What? CUSTOMER: Nothing -- here's your nine pence. DEAD PERSON: I'm not dead! MORTICIAN: Here -- he says he's not dead! CUSTOMER: Yes, he is. DEAD PERSON: I'm not! MORTICIAN: He isn't. CUSTOMER: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill. DEAD PERSON: I'm getting better! CUSTOMER: No, you're not -- you'll be stone dead in a moment. MORTICIAN: Oh, I can't take him like that -- it's against regulations. DEAD PERSON: I don't want to go in the cart! CUSTOMER: Oh, don't be such a baby. MORTICIAN: I can't take him... DEAD PERSON: I feel fine! CUSTOMER: Oh, do us a favor... MORTICIAN: I can't. CUSTOMER: Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long. MORTICIAN: Naaah, I got to go on to Robinson's -- they've lost nine today. CUSTOMER: Well, when is your next round? MORTICIAN: Thursday. DEAD PERSON: I think I'll go for a walk. CUSTOMER: You're not fooling anyone y'know. Look, isn't there something you can do? DEAD PERSON: I feel happy... I feel happy. [whop] CUSTOMER: Ah, thanks very much. MORTICIAN: Not at all. See you on Thursday. CUSTOMER: Right.

--

Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by nine-times · 2005-04-22 01:52 · Score: 2, Interesting

That can probably be attributed to two factors: a bombardment of advertising encouraging private motor vehicles as status objects and the government deciding top-down that car manufacture and sales will be part of the new economy
...and you think that's an aberration, that with "higher standards of living" come "advertising bombardments" for products we don't really need? Funny, I thought having more products you don't need is what most people meant when they said "higher standard of living".
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by ShieldWolf · 2005-04-22 02:08 · Score: 4, Insightful

Sorry it just isn't that simple. If it were then why did the U.S. birthrate PLUMET when the pill was introduced?

Having studied birthrates and the third world I can tell you what some studies have said.

First of all most Women is poor countries DON'T HAVE FARMS. These isn't little house of the prairie where a bunch of little helpers go out and milk the cows. They live in poverty with very little to provide sustenance. These women have children by the bushels for numerous reasons, but one of the most striking is a concept called numeracy. They don't have it. It is the concept of how many children one has, e.g. only child, 2, 3 then stopping. When you ask a woman is sub-saharran Africa how many children she wants she will reply with something like - "as many as god gives me" or "I don't know what you mean, as many as will come".

What most studies find about lowering birthrates in the thirdworld is an insanely simple answer: empower women. When women become empowered they begin to feel they can control their environment and by extension their reproduction.

--
just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by ColGraff · 2005-04-22 02:10 · Score: 2

I'm curious - do you see any potential objections to this idea? Any at all? How about potential abuses?

Were I less well-caffeinated, I'd probably create an instance of Godwin's Law right now. As it is, I'll just point and laugh.

*points and laughs*

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I'm the stranger...posting to /.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by ColaMan · 2005-04-22 02:26 · Score: 2, Funny

You don't mind if I invoke godwins law, do you?

--

You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by vertinox · 2005-04-22 03:17 · Score: 2, Informative

If you do a little math, you'll see that neither killing people nor exploring space are solutions to overpopulation.

Never ever underestimate man's ability to kill other men.

--
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by Thaelon · 2005-04-22 04:31 · Score: 2, Insightful

I've often thought this was a good idea, but ultimately always rejected it.

What if we inadvertently cull someone we would have needed later?

Take Stephen Hawking for example. Ameliotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (the diseas he has) is caused by a genetic defect.

I'd rather have a large gene pool with lots of genetic variation and a lot of bad genes than a tiny one with no bad genes.

Say a new virus comes along, there's a good chance SOMEONE will be immune/resistant to it given a large very diverse gene pool. Not so with a small gene pool where everybody is essentially the same.

Funny how culling the heard is more likely to lead to extinction than a perfect species on a long enough timeline.

I say we allow each couple that wants children to have at most two A replacement scheme...

Overpopulation is a problem and it's currently only going to get worse. We need to start controlling population growth now before it gets so bad we have to start sterilizing or killing people.

--
Question everything
Re:Not necessarily a good thing.... by Deflatamouse! · 2005-04-22 07:44 · Score: 2, Informative

Here's another calculation...

Check out this page about 'ghost acres'. It calculated that roughly 9.1 acres is needed to sustain one person.

1 acre is 42560 sqft... so each person needs 396396 sqft. Round it to 0.4 million sqft / person.

With 6,515,511,450 people, you will need roughly 2.6 billion million sqft for the world's population!!! A less confusing number: 2,600,000 billion.

The earth has roughly 57,500,000 sq miles of land surface... with 27,878,400 sq feet per sq miles, we have:

1,603,008,000,000,000 sqft of surface area on earth.... which is 1,603,008 billion.

Guess what? We don't have enough space to sustain everyone if everyone want to have the type of lifestyle as we have in the U.S.

Original Science Article by nigham · 2005-04-21 19:26 · Score: 4, Informative

Here

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I don't want to read /. I want to go home and re-think my life.

Please put me in hibernation by Travoltus · 2005-04-21 19:29 · Score: 5, Funny

So I'll be alive when Duke Nukem Forever is finally released. :)

--
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!

why? by tsioc · 2005-04-21 19:30 · Score: 5, Funny

why? oh why did it have to be THAT molecule?

--
Free electronics!

Olson Twins by Frodo+Crockett · 2005-04-21 19:30 · Score: 5, Funny

Wake me up when the Olson Twins are legal.

Wait, nevermind...

--
"The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network

Quite the interesting point by Rie+Beam · 2005-04-21 19:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

"But he added that any procedure in a clinical setting would likely be administered via injection rather than by getting patients to inhale a gas."

Injectable Hybernation. I'm sure this can't be abused in any way whatsoever.

Re:Quite the interesting point by EvilTwinSkippy · 2005-04-21 20:27 · Score: 5, Funny

It would sure make airliners a lot quieter.
Actually, as a parent I can think of a few times where a few hours of peace could be a really good thing. Now the question is do I administer it to me or the child...

--
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
Re:Quite the interesting point by imsabbel · 2005-04-22 01:23 · Score: 2, Insightful

What is your point?

If anyone wants to kill/silence/ect you, he could just inject some air to kill you or some normal sedative and than do whatever he wants in as much time as he wants.

So why does the facts that the hibernation can be started by injection make it in any way abusable? Wouldnt airborne starting much worse?

--
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Re:Quite the interesting point by bluGill · 2005-04-22 03:23 · Score: 3, Insightful

Your child will only be a child for a short time. I know it is hard when the kid is crying in your face and won't shut up, but take the time to enjoy it. In just a few years the kid will be crying about something else, and a few years latter wrecking your car (unless you teach safe driving by example now, and even then good luck). Then suddenly he is gone and you will realize how much you miss the kid crying in your face.
It is hard to keep proper perspective, but when you are in that situation remind yourself of it.
Re:Quite the interesting point by kabocox · 2005-04-22 05:59 · Score: 2, Funny

Actually, as a parent I can think of a few times where a few hours of peace could be a really good thing. Now the question is do I administer it to me or the child...

Most definitely the kids. I'd love summer vacations. We could just put the kids in storage for the summer and it would just be me and my wife until August when we'd have to wake them and send them to school again.

Maybe it would be easier if we developed year round public boarding schools.

What I expect... by Rie+Beam · 2005-04-21 19:37 · Score: 5, Funny

"Finally, after being in a constant state of hibernation for the last fifty years, I am ready to greet the future!"

"Yeah...about that...we all kinda went in after you...so science and technology is about at the same point you left off."

"So I still have cancer?"

"Technically, yes. But hey, at least that asteroid never hit...right?"

You wouldn't smell it for long by Andy+Mitchell · 2005-04-21 19:39 · Score: 5, Informative

Humans wouldn't necessarily appreciate the smell of hydrogen sulphide while being placed into suspended animation

One of the effects of hydrogen sulphide exposure is that is "paralyses" the sense of smell before a fatal dose is reached. This is normally very dangerous as people can think they have left the contaminated area while continuing in fact to breathe in more of the toxic gas.

So chances are you wouldn't have to put up with the smell too long, before you either stop smelling, die horribly or maybe just go into suspended animation.

Re:You wouldn't smell it for long by Feneric · 2005-04-22 01:44 · Score: 2, Funny

Humans wouldn't necessarily appreciate the smell of hydrogen sulphide while being placed into suspended animation

I doubt the mice do, either.

How about by TheKidWho · 2005-04-21 19:40 · Score: 2, Insightful

Using these in prisons?

Seems a bit better then the death penalty, would also actually make those 600 year jail sentences mean something =)

One day you go to jail, 5 years later you wake up anew.

Remind anyone of Demolition Man? Good because it should!

Re:How about by datafr0g · 2005-04-21 19:49 · Score: 2, Insightful

It's better than the death penalty (hell, what isn't?) but as there would likely be no concept of time while in hibernation and therefore no real deterrant, prison would be used moreso as a time machine by people.

"Wanna see what it's like in the future? Kill someone today!"

--
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
Re:How about by Zog+The+Undeniable · 2005-04-21 19:55 · Score: 2, Funny

Reminds me of the Red Dwarf episode where Rimmer is sentenced for 1,167 counts of second-degree murder (failure to seal a drive plate properly on Red Dwarf, which killed the whole crew except Lister, who was in stasis).
"Each count carries a statutory penalty of eight years penal servitude. In the light of your hologrammatic status, these sentences are to be served consecutively, making a total sentence of nine thousand, three hundred and twenty-eight years."

--
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
Re:How about by aerthling · 2005-04-21 20:16 · Score: 2, Insightful

That would just defeat the purpose of prison.

Being sent to prison is not just a way to keep criminals from harming society (again), it's also (primarily?) a punishment..
Re:How about by EvilTwinSkippy · 2005-04-21 20:37 · Score: 4, Interesting

Technically no. Prisons are there for reform, punishment is a side effect.
Our penal system is based on the "Penetentiary" concept developed by the Quakers. Basically, sitting in a room, unable to leave, and deprived of your senses gives you time to think about your crimes. It also turned out to be a reasonably heinous form of psychological torture.
So around the 1960s they watered down the Penetentiary concept, and we got what is more or less the modern "Convict Warehouse". Fitting as many bodies as possible into a confined space without them killing each other.

--
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
Re:How about by philbert26 · 2005-04-21 22:45 · Score: 4, Interesting

Our penal system is based on the "Penetentiary" concept developed by the Quakers. Basically, sitting in a room, unable to leave, and deprived of your senses gives you time to think about your crimes. It also turned out to be a reasonably heinous form of psychological torture.
The trouble is, not all criminals care about what they've done. Some of them just don't feel pity or remorse.
CS Lewis argued against a purely penetentiary model of justice on the grounds that it would lead to disproportionate punishment. If we discount punishment as a motive for putting people in jail, then the only reason to send people to jail is to reform them and protect the public. This means that instead of sending people to jail for a fixed time that matches how much punishment the criminal deserves, it is more logical to imprison people until they see the error of their ways and are deemed safe to release. But in some cases this could take a very long time, and there are some criminals who will never be reformed.
Are we really willing to put people in jail indefinitely? It was proposed here in the UK that "psycopathic" criminals who were judged a permanent danger could be subject to open-ended detention. This met widespread opposition from people who, I assume, feel that jail sentences should fit the crime (ie, they believe in just and proportionate punishment, rather than simply the necessary evil of reformative incarceration).
As another Slashdotter once put it, imagine if someone was in jail for sharing MP3s online. Should they stay there until they can convince the parole board that they're sorry and won't do it again, even if that takes years? I would say that the punishment for copyright infringement should be proportionate to the harm it causes. Those who make illegal copies should only be punished as much as their crime deserves to be punished. Under a purely penetentiary regime, the whole question of punishment and how much a person deserves to be punished is irrelevant.
Reforming criminals is a vital part of the justice system, but I wouldn't like a society where it was the only part. I don't believe in insanely heavy penalties for file sharing. Likewise I would be angered if a murderer got off with a light sentence on the grounds that he was unlikely to do it again.
Re:How about by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 23:22 · Score: 2, Interesting

Likewise I would be angered if a murderer got off with a light sentence on the grounds that he was unlikely to do it again.

This covers most murdered - the recidivism rate is low.

What we need (for lesser crimes) are expanded community sentences. Banging up a file sharer, say, where they can become a drug addict and learn to break into houses effectively doesn't really help. Community sentences need not be a soft option and could actually do something useful - there are a lot of tasks like cleaning, repainting public buildings and the like that could be done by people on community services for no more than the £300 it day it costs to put someone in prison, and could be hard, reforming work to boot.
Re:How about by rosie_bhjp · 2005-04-22 04:56 · Score: 2, Insightful

Well technically the rate of recidivism is pretty low for those murdered.

--
A radio maverick jumps to internet only. The Future of Rock n Roll

Re:I don't understand the Fry comment? by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 19:45 · Score: 3, Informative

Bender isn't really an alchoholic in the sense a human would be. In Futurama alcohol is fuel for robots, and they consider not drinking to be like alcoholism.

Brains in jars by QuantumG · 2005-04-21 19:47 · Score: 4, Insightful

It's funny that Futurama has the technological development of two distinct and competing technologies for longevity. Fry gets frozen in the chrogenics centre, wakes up in the future and, a few episodes later, discovers that celebrities live on as brains in jars. If we had the technology to keep a human brain alive and kicking I'd much prefer that to getting my head lopped off and frozen in the hope that a sufficiently advanced technology will one day be able to revive me. Even if it ment I had to spend the rest of my days as a body-less paraplegic in a wheelchair I think I'd rather that than to die from cancer.

Hybernation offers a third technology. Instead of lopping off my head at the first sign of cancer, you could put my body into hybernation and keep my brain active with regular stimulation. Hopefully you could do it by jacking me into a video game. I could handle living in MxO, as long as it was on a non-hostile server. Maybe I could even earn a living as a member of the Live Events team.

--
How we know is more important than what we know.

Re:Brains in jars by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · 2005-04-22 00:26 · Score: 2, Interesting

One thing that they never explained was how the got the heads in jars of people who died long before the technology was developed, like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Yeah, I know. It's a cartoon. I shouldn't take it too seriously, but even a funny explanation would do.

--

Technoli
Re:Brains in jars by emamousette · 2005-04-22 00:41 · Score: 2, Insightful

Unfortunately, TFA points out that cancer cells don't need as much oxygen to continue their growth. Basically, your healthy cells would be hibernating but the cancer would keep growing and they'd have to keep moving your body to a bigger and bigger vat. Is it just me or does the whole process just smack of controlled oxygen deprivation with a side serving of reduced metabolism? 9 Hours is a long time to be oxygen deprived and there was no mention of how the mice did on standardized tests after they were revived. After all, what's the point of sleeping all the way to Mars and then not being able to operate any of the machinery (let alone wipe one's own buttocks) after arrival?

Welcome to the World of Tomorrow! by janek78 · 2005-04-21 19:49 · Score: 5, Funny

Hey, I was frozen, I know what guy wants to hear first: the bathroom's that way.

</end of obligatory Futurama quote>

We develop Medical Software by Chitlenz · 2005-04-21 19:51 · Score: 4, Interesting

And what strikes me right off (because of my field) is, if a 'hibernation' state can be easily and mobily achieved, you could save a LOT of critical cases by slowing them down right at the point of injury or on the ambulance, maybe even before moving them. That would have a definite positive benefit for sure, though thinking about flying through space in slo-mo is a cool vision too, for sure. =)

-chitlenz

--
Imagination is the silver lining of Intelligence.

i understand... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 19:59 · Score: 2, Funny

> Bender is an alcoholic robot.
...i am too.

Sweet! by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 20:01 · Score: 4, Funny

Letter to my lawyer

Enclosed in this envelope is my account information. Please wake me up when I can afford a decent spaceship.

Thank you

PS. ZZZZZzzzzzzzz

Re:Sweet! by Sven+The+Space+Monke · 2005-04-21 22:40 · Score: 4, Funny
1. Deposit £/$20 in a bank account.
2. Ask to be woken up when the money in your account has accumulated enough interest to be higher than the cost of the hibernation and wakeup procedure.
3. Be woken up 100 years later when the bank takes possesion of your body due to 100 years of overdue service charges, overdraft interests and late-payment penalties
4. Have your organs removed so that the bank manager can have them transplanted into his own body so that he may live another 100 years
Fixed your list, no need to thank me :)
--
A man who can't pronouce "nuclear arsenal" shouldn't have one -sig ends here.

Research abstract and paper link from Science by FleaPlus · 2005-04-21 20:02 · Score: 4, Interesting

The article and research paper note that they placed the mice in the hibernation state for six hours, without any long-term effects. Unfortunately, I can't find in either the article or paper if they tried longer hibernation periods. If they haven't, I suppose that's the next logical thing to try. Looking at their figures, it seems that the 6 hour mark is about when the body temperature finally finishes asymptoting down to the ambient temperature.

Anyways, here's the research abstract from Science:

H2S Induces a Suspended Animation-Like State in Mice

Eric Blackstone, Mike Morrison, Mark B. Roth

Mammals normally maintain their core body temperature (CBT) despite changes in environmental temperature. Exceptions to this norm include suspended animation-like states such as hibernation, torpor, and estivation. These states are all characterized by marked decreases in metabolic rate, followed by a loss of homeothermic control in which the animal's CBT approaches that of the environment. We report that hydrogen sulfide can induce a suspended animation-like state in a nonhibernating species, the house mouse (Mus musculus). This state is readily reversible and does not appear to harm the animal. This suggests the possibility of inducing suspended animation-like states for medical applications.

Been done by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 20:10 · Score: 3, Funny

Really, I've done this. I hacked my deep freeze to cryogenically freeze me and let me awake in the year 2211. I set up a Unix server to run it all and made sure I had power available until then at least by having my power bill paid from an account into which I deposited $263. I figured the compounding interest over that time would more than pay for the power plus give me a nice nest egg when I awoke. Assuming they still used money in those days. I put myself to sleep on Februray 4th, 2003. Unfortunately I had forgotten to put out dog food for the time I was going to be asleep and poor old Turing (the dog) got a bit restless and he ended up pulling the power on that Unix box. Well, the freezer defrosted, the door popped open and I awoke. First thing I did was turn on the TV. MTV in fact and wow, everything was so different than before. I saw nothing I recognised. I was convinced I had awoken in my choosen time. ThenI looked at my watch and it was February 5th. 2003. Damn the fast moving and ever changing world of popular music.

How do you keep microorganisms... by theufo · 2005-04-21 20:18 · Score: 5, Interesting

From eating you alive? Metabolism is down to 10% of normal conditions and almost all of our enzymes have an optimum around 310 K (37 Degrees C). Immune cells won't be very active in hibernation (282 K, 11 degrees C), while some microorganisms flourish at that temperature. Just put a piece of cheese in your fridge, wait two months and take a look to see what the effects can be.

Actually there's probably already a couple of billion of them on your skin and completely sterilizing a human being (alive) is long from possible. Six hours of hibernation is one thing, but I wouldn't want to try this for more than a day.

Re:How do you keep microorganisms... by rampant+poodle · 2005-04-21 21:10 · Score: 2, Interesting

Interesting point. Concern would also apply to microorganisms normally found in the body, (e.g. intestinal flora). The next question then becomes: What if any effect does the H2S have on microorganisms commonly found on or inside the hibernating subject?
Re:How do you keep microorganisms... by BlueFashoo · 2005-04-21 21:55 · Score: 5, Informative

The human ecosystem (body) is host to ~10e14 bacterial cells. A bit more than a couple of billion. Your dirty. Scrub till you bleed if you want, it won't make much of a difference. They are everywhere, on your eyes, in your ears, in your GI tract, in every little pore on your body, all over the skin, in your mouth. Many of your normal flora can be pretty nasty too, if their virulence genes get turned on. You have a lot of Stahpolococcus sp. in your mouth and on your skin. Under the right conditions, they will betray you.

As for sterilizing a human, even if it was possible, it would be a very bad idea. Your normal flora are adapted to live peacefully side by side with. They protect you by outcompeting invasive foreign species. They manufacture vitamins in your intestines. It would not be a good idea to get rid of them.

Sterile people can be made in theory. It's been done with mice. Scientists aseptically cut them out of the uterous and raised them in sterile environments. They lived twice as long as ordinary mice, but they were weak and sickly the entire time and died of strange nasty diseases. Some of these sterile mice were exposed to a normal environment. They died soon after of horrible nasty diseases.

In summary. Long term refridgeration will cause your little buddies to turn on you and sterilization will lead to a bubble life.

--
Nice Marmot
Re:How do you keep microorganisms... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 23:42 · Score: 2, Informative

Hibernation is a misnomer for what bears do in the winter. Their body temp doesn't really drop all that much.
Re:How do you keep microorganisms... by Illserve · 2005-04-22 00:02 · Score: 2, Interesting

Bats would argue that you are wrong:

"During hibernation, the bat's body functions slow down, and its body temperature drops to that of its hibernation site"

http://www.tlgrant.r9esd.k12.or.us/english1/vonl ub ke/bats/batstext.html
Re:How do you keep microorganisms... by Angry+Toad · 2005-04-22 00:25 · Score: 4, Interesting

That's a really interesting question - all the same quite a few animals do essentially this for extended periods of some months.

Why don't their commensal bacteria infect and kill them? That's worth finding out.

Re:What about aging? by maxwell+demon · 2005-04-21 20:24 · Score: 2, Interesting

Even if it's of no use for long-distance space travel, I think this would be still useful for shorter-distance space travel (say, to Mars). After all, it means you have to transport less food and water, and I think a slower metabolic rate also means that the effects of microgravity (like weakening of the bones) are slowed down.

--
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.

hydrogen sulphide works only on house mice by Muhammar · 2005-04-21 20:31 · Score: 2, Funny

shithouse mice are resistant

--
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it

Time to get our nerd on by Aximxp · 2005-04-21 20:35 · Score: 2, Insightful

Alright what's going on here.. several searches later I find the comments void of Bobba Fett jokes of any shape or size? What.. not even subtle nod towards carbonite, the fashionable substance that gave birth to advancements in stasis such as these?

Truly this is a dark day for Slashdotters everywhere...

Bacterial overgrowth?? by spineboy · 2005-04-21 21:07 · Score: 4, Interesting

What about after 6 hours? 80 PPM of H2S shouldn't have much or any affect on anaerobic (non O2 requiring) bacteria, which are found in our gut and mouth. Will people start to "rot" after the six hours because those bacteria shouldn't stop growing.

Mice are also much smaller than humans (yes a statement of the obvious) and so their thermal mass is much slower - i.e. they cool down MUCH faster due to their increased surface area to mass ratio. I'll try to not become too enthusiastic until I see some larger animal studies - preferrably on cats (not dogs please - I like them) or also on a few of the weird looking guys who hang out at the gas station by my house.

--
..........FULL STOP.

Re:Bacterial overgrowth?? by FleaPlus · 2005-04-21 21:35 · Score: 2, Interesting

Good point. I wonder if this would be a good way to transition to a cryo-like state for longer-term hibernation. One could use H2S to mostly knock out metabolism, then chill the body to slightly above freezing to prolong the effect and hinder bacterial growth. To restore, you'd warm the body back up and remove the H2S.

yea, whatever :::rolls eyes::: by arcite · 2005-04-21 21:19 · Score: 3, Informative

Um you must not travel much. Contrary to popular belief the world is NOT overpopulated. Infact I am sure it could handle 10 or 20 billion. Extreme poverty and man made disasters are the real causes of so much misery present in the world today.

As hibernation tech increases you can bet many will pay millions for it, and why not? All we need now is some megacorp to set up a freezing station on the moon to store all those human popsicles and they will be billionaires.

I doubt you would be so quick to condemn someone to death rather than hibernation if it was your life on the line.

1000 people per plane like cargo eh by cheekyboy · 2005-04-21 21:28 · Score: 4, Insightful

at least airlines wont have to;

1. put up with idiotic customers
2. serve drinks and food
3. show entertainment
4. have good leg room

Just pack up em like cargo as tight as it can go.

--
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.

Re:1000 people per plane like cargo eh by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-21 22:20 · Score: 2, Insightful

Yeah but considering how airlines handle luggage, you might leave for a trip to Bermuda from Seattle, only to awaken somewhere in Mexico!
Re:1000 people per plane like cargo eh by harlows_monkeys · 2005-04-22 00:54 · Score: 2, Interesting

That would also be good for security. Pretty hard to hijack a plane if you are hibernating. There would not even need to be access from the passenger area to the cockpit. There wouldn't even need to be any way for communication between the passenger area and the cockpit, so even if a terrorist was able to get on and wake from hibernation, they wouldn't be able to make any threats to take control of the plane.
Re:1000 people per plane like cargo eh by Zemrec · 2005-04-22 03:17 · Score: 2, Insightful

Hmm, yes they couldn't control the plane, but they could still threaten the hibernating passengers if the terrorists don't have their demands met.
Re:1000 people per plane like cargo eh by hanshotfirst · 2005-04-22 03:56 · Score: 2, Funny

And that's different from today... how?

--
Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?

The answer is obvious by arcite · 2005-04-21 21:29 · Score: 2, Funny

Little nano-bots with little laser beams. Perfeerably resembling the classic blaster design from starwars. or perhaps tiny light sabres, although, the colladeral damage may be too great.

Re:I don't understand the Fry comment? by JohnFluxx · 2005-04-21 22:17 · Score: 4, Funny

Fry: "You're a robot, why do you need to drink?"
Bender: "I don't need to drink! I can quit any time I want!"

It's not as funny without the voices.. ;)

Re:Sulphur Dioxide by BlueCup · 2005-04-21 23:33 · Score: 2, Insightful

Its not so much our body warning us, it's the result of millions of years of change. The people who hated the smell more, were less likely to go near it, (or other rotting things that smell similar) and so didn't get the negative effects... the people (and creatures) who liked it more, didn't get to reproduce as often.

--
WANNAWIKI Wannawiki WannaWiki WANNAWIKI!

life-extensions for the wise? by SubtleNuance · 2005-04-21 23:33 · Score: 2, Interesting

How about a religion of sorts for the wise. they sleep and tend-one-another in turns. The membership can be self-supporting with replacments chosen by the group by invitation.

every x years, a 'class is awoken', it is shown an explination of the last y years developments by the previous class (the previous class is then put into hibernation for a spell).

each class digests and reflects on humanities progress, problems etc. and issues reports, runs for offices, give grants etc etc etc.

right now, our insect-like-lifespans cause chaos. there is no incentive to plan long term, there is no incentive to build real solutions to real long-present problems.

maybe if we all lived longer (or my flight-of-fancy "Cult of the Wise") we would stop thinking about our personal pleasure more and start to think about how to gaurantee pleasure for all... and taking reward in eliminating war, famine, global-pollution etc etc.

or, we could fly off to other planets - hell i dont know.

Re:life-extensions for the wise? by dmaxwell · 2005-04-22 00:18 · Score: 3, Insightful

Or it would just make it even harder to get rid of evil people with good networking skills. Right now, no matter how bad an evil dictator or tycoon is you can at least count on the fact that someday the bastard will die.

Any advance in longevity technologies will have to be accompanied by advances in assassin tech.
Re:life-extensions for the wise? by EarwigTC · 2005-04-22 02:24 · Score: 2, Funny

Unless it's Castro.

--
Promote civility: mod down any post starting with 'ummm'.

I wonder though... by technomancer68 · 2005-04-21 23:46 · Score: 4, Interesting

I mean since mice can't talk how do they know how this affects their memories? The normal human brain cannot go without oxygen for 5 minutes, and while oxygen wouldn't be completely cut off from the brain, it would still be greatly reduced. I wonder if this would send the brain into a "skeleton system" type of environment where it keeps on only the bare essentials to survive and therefore shuts out memories. Humans breathe roughly 12 - 20 times per minute, if we apply the rate change of the mouse (1/12 it's normal rate) then humans would be breathing between 1 and 1.5 times a minute. I wonder if this would be enough oxygen for the brain to retain everything that it needs so when the person wakes up they can still perfrom their lives and jobs.

--

The Technomancer
"Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active."-

Re:This is really off topic but ... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-22 00:49 · Score: 2, Interesting

That is a solid reaming.

I get a cheque from my wife on thursday and deposit it that morning, and withdraw funds from that account. the cheque is funded by a paycheque that isn't actually present in the chequeing account until 12:01am friday.. I'm always amazed it works and they don't whine about it.

You should try taking your story to a local newspaper. Convince some journalist to write a good story about how this could screw over a single mom struggling to pay for milk even when she meticulously watches her spending!

The problem is... by whitetiger0990 · 2005-04-22 00:50 · Score: 2, Funny

you may have aged nothing while your twin brother or sister will have aged twenty, thirty, forty or however many years it is, depending on how long you were frozen. This will come to you as a profound shock, particularly if you didn't know you had a twin brother or sister.

Sorry it had to be done.

--
You have been warned.

Re:The all new Honda Accord EXR-H+ by DirkDaring · 2005-04-22 00:57 · Score: 2, Funny

*Hood on fire*
*Not good*
*EXR-H+ initaiates auto-extingush system, puts the flames out.*
*EXR-H+ releases Auto-Fix-It Unit SSE-3 which repairs the damage*
*EXR-H+ drives you to the nearest Holiday Inn Express*

Momentarily?? by tacokill · 2005-04-22 00:58 · Score: 5, Informative

It will drop you for a little more than "momentarily". H2S has the capacity to kill at less than 100ppm, depending on how long your exposure is. Yes, it will make you pass out -- but you might never wake up.

It's nasty stuff and all refineries, pipelines, and other oil/gas installations are trained about H2S and it's risks. Where H2S is present in the lines, you will see many of the technicians wearing portable H2S monitors.

(BTW, I sell H2S detectors for natural gas custody transfer points. Not the portable ones I spoke about but large scale one for pipeline intersections)

Re:Momentarily?? by Anonymous Coward · 2005-04-22 03:13 · Score: 4, Informative

yeah its for sure deadly, i work for an oil company and got my h2s certification, its actually kinda interesting the dangers, and the precautions taken with equipment such as yours, to avoid it at all costs...
another note though on the risks of h2s just for information and grins is that rotting/spoiled food and fish can cause it as well... thats why all freight trucks that carry fish have to put that fish symbol outside the truck, the idea is if the truck has wrecked off the side of the road and sat in the heat long enough that the fish has become rotten its possible for h2s to have been produced and could possibly kill someone coming to help out....
and more directed to the parent, i was wondering if you sell h2s equipment to the freight industry under regulation type stuff, or any other industry besides oil and gas....
Re:Momentarily?? by tacokill · 2005-04-22 03:40 · Score: 3, Informative

Huh. I didn't know about the Fish aspect. That's pretty cool! You learn something new everyday.

I do sell equipment to freight guys but most of what I sell is into gas/oil just due to geography and the businesses here (Okla/TX/KS). Seriously, I'll sell to anyone who can and wants to buy!

Here's another little nerdy fact about H2S. It's very easy to detect. H2S reacts with Lead Acetate to produce a brownish lead sulfide. So, you create a roll of lead acetate tape and then "spot" your samples onto it. If H2S is present, it will create a brownish lead sulfide which is easily visible.

The best part about it is this: H2S is the ONLY substance that reacts with lead acetate in this way. So interference and false signals are a non-issue. Brown = H2S. White = no H2S.

Energy and Starvation by xtal · 2005-04-22 01:34 · Score: 2, Interesting

Energy consumption.

It's a moot point unless an alternative to our dependance on fossil fuels is found. Starvation will quickly solve the popluation problem in short order.

It's all about energy. If you have energy, nothing is a problem - period. If you don't have energy, EVERYTHING is a problem. We're past the point where a retreat to an agrarian life is possible without bloody revolution.

The only answer is new energy technologies - efficient fusion, improved fission, better solar, clean burning coal extraction and liquification, etc etc etc.

--
..don't panic

Wake me when it's over! by yog · 2005-04-22 01:48 · Score: 5, Interesting

The uses are almost endless. Anyone can build a home H2S chamber and just shut themselves down for days at a time. I can envision a time when people are freed of the need to wait for anything. Spiderman 7 coming out in 15 days and you just can't wait? Hop in the chamber, dial it up for 14 days and 23 hours, and just "chill out".

The cool thing is that since metabolic activity cease, your cells would stop dividing, and therefore the aging process would cease as well. Opportunistic viruses would not multiply since they require cellular mitosis, and most bacteria would also take a nap.

I would, however, worry about anaerobic bacteria, especially the kind that thrive on sulfur gases; they'd literally eat you for lunch while you were out like a light. If even one of those suckers got inside, then when someone opened your chamber six months from now you'd be pretty much a skeleton with a mass of oozing, smelly residues--ewwwww!

I would also wonder about undigested food sitting in your stomach and small intestine for days or months, not to mention feces still in the colon. You want to move that stuff through before you shut down the system. On second thought I think I'll wait before trying this one out.

--
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.

Comment removed by account_deleted · 2005-04-22 02:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Lost my sense of smell by Obi+Quiet · 2005-04-22 03:02 · Score: 2, Interesting

After four years of daily exposure to HS during my time as a ammo "loader" in an Army artillery battery, my sense of smell is almost entirely gone. I can't smell anything noxious at all, and have to carefully control the conditions in order to be able pick up smells like perfume or coffee. So IMHO the olfactory nerve thing is very real.. Wish i could have hibernated through my foru years in the Army though...

But then you'll smell like you walk the boulevard by nounderscores · 2005-04-22 03:37 · Score: 3, Interesting

No longer use my nose
The kittens run away from me and hide
Weird things between my toes
And people often think something has died.

I climb a lonely hill
On the Boulevard of Bad Hygiene
I frighten CowboyNeal
But he could learn to love it if he tried.

Something has died? Something has died.

Something has died? Something has...

My B.O.'s the only thing that walks beside me.
My B.O. makes strong men think of suiciding.
My Odor kills the flowers and the pine trees.
Smells like, something has died.

Arrgh ack, Arrgh ack, Arrgh ack, *Cough* *Cough*
Arrgh ack, Arrgh ack, Arrgh ack.

I'm walking down the line
diners flee the buffet so that's fine
so I can take my time
And eat onions, cabbage and... *sniff* something has died.

I can shower, fine.
Or I could on go slashdot tonight.
Closed window, pull the blinds.
But the neighbours think something has died.

Something has died? Something has died.

Something has died? Something has...

My B.O.'s clings to surfaces behind me
My B.O.'s beyond a mortal understanding
Sometimes they wish someone would put me in a... um...
Plastic bag, something has died.

Arrgh ack, Arrgh ack, Arrgh ack, *Cough* *Cough*
Arrgh ack, Arrgh ack, Arrgh ack.

Something has died? Something has...

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Bad Hygiene
City evacuates
in it's pants and something has died.

My B.O. is worse than a Bush e-con-omy.
My B.O. gets UN weapons inspectors antsy.
My Odor could be casus beli if they could find me.
I think, Something has died.

from amiright.com

synthesize it by delong · 2005-04-22 03:39 · Score: 2, Informative

I appreciate the dangers of this particular chemical, but we won't necessarily use this chemical to achieve its effects in humans. If researchers figure out the process the chemical induces in organisms, they can synthesize safer methods.

Bring on the hibernation! Jupiter, here we come.

Hibernation - does it extend your life? by pyite69 · 2005-04-22 04:04 · Score: 2, Insightful

Hibernation would be stupid if you still die when you're 80... is there any research into whether or not it helps you to live longer?

bnw by crabpeople · 2005-04-22 04:05 · Score: 2, Insightful

brave new world was a dystopic nightmare future.

you did realize that right?

--
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...

Re:This is really off topic but ... by Mycroft_VIII · 2005-04-22 21:46 · Score: 2, Informative

If at all times the money you actually had in the bank was greater than the amounts withdrawn (was that $60 cash or a check? could be important) then they can't charge you for overdraft because it NEVER HAPPENED.
IANAL, but I'm pretty shure deliberately failing to count a deposit when the funds were there (eigther imediately for cash, or as soon as the check clears for checks in most cases, check banking regs and/or a lawyer in the field for exact details) so they can then charge you shure looks like theft or fraud to me.
Also if they showed you a statement showing all the deposits and withdraws and still having a positive ballance then they go back re-do it to charge you I would expect that to be wrong as well.
I'd definately contact the governing body in your state and file a detailed complaint as well as climb as high up the chain of command with US Bank as you can, since they operate in multiple states I doubt they're doing that in many if any other branches and likely someone there is playing games (s)he can and would get fired for.
I once had a rent check bounce despite the banks own statement they issued me showing that I would have had $5.50 left after the check cleared, when I confronted them with that they could appologize fast enough and paid ALL the resulting fee's and wrote the management company I paid rent to a very sincere letter taking all the blame.
Banks are highly regulated and are not allowed to just willy nilly re-order the timing of deposits and withdraws to your detriment. Walk in and tell them you want it fixed post haste, do NOT show any doubt that you are in the right and make shure they know you know who to report thier misdeeds to.
You can try this page:<url:http://www.usbank.com/personal/sub_globa l/personal_cu.html> for contacts at US Bank. and try these for Kentucky's banking regulators:

Commissioner
Department of Financial Institutions
1025 Capitol Center Dr.
Suite 200
Frankfort KY 40601
502-573-3390
Toll free: 1-800-223-2579
Fax: 502-573-8787
Web site: www.dfi.state.ky.us

I suspect someone at that bank is telling you one thing and his out of town bosses another and pocketing the difference, or some other game that smells like embezzling. Just a hunch with no data other than what you've posted on moderngeek, but that is so screwed up I'd find gross incompetence the only other possible explanation.
Again if you confront them again be dead certain in your attitude, don't raise your voice, don't use fould language, just calmly and with total certaintity tell them they need to undoo all the innaproriate charges on your acount or you will have to notify thier superiors and the state banking regulators and possibly the federal athourities as you suspect a criminal activity.

Mycroft

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