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Doctors Claim Suspended Animation Success
Philoneist.com writes to tell us the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that US doctors have developed a process to induce hypothermia in trauma patients, shutting down their bodily functions for up to three hours. The process has been proven about 90% effective in trials with pigs and now the doctors would like the go ahead to test it on humans who would "probably die" under normal care.
Parent has an interesting post that probably deserved to be modded up, even if it is a bit flambaity (just because *you* don't believe in heaven doesn't mean everybody doesn't, and this is still on-topic)-
Anyway, my answer to his problem is this: What about people who go into hypothermia in normal situations?
Or people who are clinically dead but are then resuscitated?
Or how about this: If the soul goes to heaven immediately at the time of death, then what's the point of a Christian burial? Why don't we just cremate everybody and save valuable real estate for mad scientists and their ilk?
Christians generally bury their dead, because Christians believe in the resurrection of the body.
or it could be thought that afterlife transends logic and science and that kind of mistake doesn't happen.
. as the definition of 'dead' will likely need to be defined in as much turmoil, stupidity, ethnocentricity, and intellectual dishonesty as the definition of 'life' is as regarding pro-creation.
I mean, the first person to survive zero brainwave activity will have questions to answer...
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Putting your body through massive hypothermic trauma will almost certainly not extend your lifespan.
90% on pigs, that could be 80% on humans, maybe not. but still, 90% is not the very best...I think they should first work a little more on it then ask us humans.
The purpose of their proposed clinical trials is to give patients who will almost surely die with conventional methods some limited hope with this "experiment". Yes, perhaps it only has a 90% success rate, but modern medicine has no effective techniques to handle catastrophic blood loss, such as in car accidents and other traumas.
The purpose of asking for these medical trials is to bring the chance of survival up from maybe 5% with conventional techniques to something higher.
I'm a Christ follower but I have many problems with Christianity and the overall Body of the church. Your questions are some of the more frustrating ones because the average Christian is so holier than thou when they answer it.
I like to ask other Christians:
Why they celebrate birthdays and not conception days (they're so adamant at trying to control non-believers definitions of "life").
Why they believe one ascends to heaven immediately upon a man saying they are dead.
Why they believe that one who has no brain activity but body life might still be considered alive on this earth.
The answers to all three questions are basically: we shouldn't, we won't, and we will never push our views on non-believers. The Bible is pretty strict about holding other believers accountable for their actions, but we should be leaving the rest of the world alone.
That's why we put their brains in little jars and throw away the bodies. Much more compact. Create a nice VR world and give all the brains WiFi access and you're set.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Which is the more dramatic occasion?
I agree, but on the other hand I have Christian coalition groups all around me badmouthing my beliefs when they say that "life begins at conception" at whatever pro-life rally they're at. If it does, celebrate that day. It is a better use of your time than trying to control those that God never intended believers to control.
Who is to say the moment death occurs.
True. This is why I'm consistently reminding those in my congregation to leave their wishes in writing with their family so that the family knows what to do if the worst happens (vegetative state, etc). In the end, and in my opinion, only God knows when you're heading for heaven. Why should anyone choose by the person who is dying? I feel the same way about making the choice to end one's life.
It just re-stresses the importance of a living will or health care directive.
Bingo. This is how I live -- trying to follow God's Word while understanding that we live with free will. Make it easy on your family and friends and leave your testament for what will happen in any situation.
I'd love to find a generic living will/directive that is focused on the choices Christ followers find hard to do. Anyone have a link?
Do I have to believe in God and be a Christian to get that opportunity to go hang out with god? Or can anyone do it?
"In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
If there's a risk of you dying, you expect, even require, the doctors to do whatever they think will give you the best chance. So I would have no problem with this being the default for people whose chance of surviving without it is sufficiently low.
I am trolling
I know what you mean. I ask why he would allow there to be anything bad in the world. Free will doesn't cover it.
People who say that aren't really thinking about that God supposedly created *everything*-- not just the Earth and its creatures, but dark and light, up and down, good and evil, happiness, laughter, spleens, hydrogen, etc. Why not just create the universe so that there is no bad, no evil, nothing to ever be upsetting?
If one responds to this suggestion by saying that this would make the world seem dull or pointless... well... God didn't have to create dullness or boredom or pointlessness either. If one responds by saying that God only brings the righteous to Heaven and the Earth is our proving ground... why did God have to make wickedness and bad people? Why not make everything wonderful for everyone all the time forever? Everyone would be worthy of heaven... or heck, put everyone on there to begin with!
I can't think of any reason that God would make the universe where bad things could happen to anyone, unless (A) he made mistakes and didn't intend for the bad things, (B) he actually wants to screw with us/watch some of us fail, or (C) he's not the only one in control.
In any of these cases, God wouldn't be what the Bible suggests, and also he wouldn't really be reliable to come through on this whole heaven thing.
It's not that I don't want to believe in God... I'd love to know that there is a place I go after I die that is even better than living. But it makes no sense that God created a universe like this. It makes no sense that people like murderers and adulterers and rapists make God sad and angry... if he didn't think up these concepts and incorporate them into his universe, they wouldn't even be there.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
I think because singing "Happy Fuckday to You" just isn't very family-friendly, when you get down to it.
Only in puritanical societies is sex a family un-friendly thing. Sex is the reason we have families. Without it, there's no offspring, and no families. It's ironic that people will adopt such deep close-mindedness that the very thing that is reponsible for their existence is deemed dirty and unworthy of being discussed in a family.
It's that mind-bending lack clear thinking that makes me an x-xtian.
does the subject retain memory, cognitive skills and motor skills after this induced hypothermia? maybe someone with access to the new scientist article could respond. people would fear this mode of treatment as much as chemical anaesthesia if these are not analyzed in their entirety.
Yet I can see how "bad things happening" would be directly a reaction to choices made through free will. I can't think of any bad things happening in my life that weren't directly because of choices I made, even if it seems like a cop out.
Not from new orleans are you?