I can't read the article, but from most of the posts quotes makes it look like junk.
That being said, I would think that any working solution would need to address continuity. For example, if the process was removing parts of your brain with a suitable, long lasting replacement and that process did not change your consciousness, then it could be worthwhile.
I thought that one of the reasons for the launch was to create a controled collision with a comet-like object. This way, since one of the object's properties are known, the comet could be analyzed more thoroughly. Another reason for the experiment is that the comet could be similar to Shoemaker-Levy 9. If so, it would probably help sort through the data they collected from the Jupiter collision. For example, if they did a spectral analysis of Jupiter's plume and included the Deep Impact data, they could tell the difference with what in the plume was Jupiter and what was the comet. Also, if there was a lot of a specific element, they could estimate what percentage belonged to each object.
I took a class taught by A'Hearn in which he discussed his project and some of the others that were scheduled to go up (like the mission to Pluto to see if there is an atmosphere there when it is in perihelion). He was bummed out that Congress was cutting a lot of other projects that either had more experiments packed into them, that were testing new satellite technology or that were cheep. Here's the University of Maryland College Park web page about Deep Impact:
Slashdot Mirror
I can't read the article, but from most of the posts quotes makes it look like junk.
That being said, I would think that any working solution would need to address continuity. For example, if the process was removing parts of your brain with a suitable, long lasting replacement and that process did not change your consciousness, then it could be worthwhile.
I thought that one of the reasons for the launch was to create a controled collision with a comet-like object. This way, since one of the object's properties are known, the comet could be analyzed more thoroughly. Another reason for the experiment is that the comet could be similar to Shoemaker-Levy 9. If so, it would probably help sort through the data they collected from the Jupiter collision. For example, if they did a spectral analysis of Jupiter's plume and included the Deep Impact data, they could tell the difference with what in the plume was Jupiter and what was the comet. Also, if there was a lot of a specific element, they could estimate what percentage belonged to each object.
I took a class taught by A'Hearn in which he discussed his project and some of the others that were scheduled to go up (like the mission to Pluto to see if there is an atmosphere there when it is in perihelion). He was bummed out that Congress was cutting a lot of other projects that either had more experiments packed into them, that were testing new satellite technology or that were cheep. Here's the University of Maryland College Park web page about Deep Impact:
http://www.ss.astro.umd.edu/deepimpact