[extropy-chat] Sasha is alive!

[ben]

Joseph Bloch <transhumanist at goldenfuture.net> wrote:

> ben wrote:
>> 
>> I don't think that's enough choices! Has anyone thought of any
>> others?
> 
> I don't see the two as mutually exclusive at all. In fact, I see 
> cryonics only as a last resort.

Yes, i used a poor choice of words, saying 'choices'. 'Options' maybe
would be better. I didn't mean to imply exclusive choices.

What i'm getting at, though, is that there don't seem to be any other
strategies on offer, or even proposed as theoretical possibilities, for
extending life.

> You could build yourself a spaceship...

Hmm, yeah.

I'm thinking, maybe something a little more ... achievable?

Imagine you've done all you can to stay healthy and alive, and now 
you're declining fast, and the prospect of death or cryonics is all you 
can see.

I'm thinking along the lines of some type of extreme life-support
technology that you could use at this point. There are currently 
intensive-care techniques that can keep very sick people alive, so i'm 
musing that some kind of extension of this may be able to keep someone 
who's sickness is old age, alive?

I say old age, but this applies to lots of conditions, from heart 
disease to cancer to diabetes with complications (but not to CNS 
problems, brain tunours, etc.).

I suppose this would segue into full-on cyborg tech., but at the moment
(or the near future) what might be possible along these lines? After
all, what's important is the brain. Could we keep someone's brain alive
and, ideally, active, using some kind of life-support technology? A kind
of 'third-worst option'? Maybe you could keep the brain alive (and sane)
for a number of years, until better options arrive, or until uploading
is possible, or at the worst, when cryonics becomes necessary?

Just musing here, of course, but i can't help thinking something like
this should be possible. In (very) simple terms, you'd just need a 
reliable blood supply and some kind of neural interface technology.

Or would the kind of technology required for this, imply life-extension 
capabilities anyway, rendering it unnecessary?

Maybe i've been watching too many episodes of Futurama.

ben zaiboc