[ExI] Hal Finney being cryopreserved now

[Max More]

I am both sad and happy to tell you that long-time Extropy
Institute/Extropy magazine/Extropy chat list member -- and honored
cypherpunk and Bitcoin pioneer – was declared clinically dead this morning
and is now being cryopreserved.



Hal was diagnosed with ALS five years ago. He made it clear that once he
lost the ability to communicate, he did not want his vital functions
supported any further but should be allowed to cease functioning and
promptly be cryopreserved. Hal and Fran Finney arrived in Scottsdale,
Arizona on Tuesday where he was checked into ICU of a hospital near Alcor.
After administration of drugs to ensure no consciousness, his ventilator
was removed. Although the doctors expected all breathing to cease within an
hour, Hal’s body kept going until shortly before 9:00 am this morning,
August 28, 2014.



Immediately after pronouncement of legal death, Alcor’s standby team went
into action, restoring circulation, ventilation, administering an array of
medications, and initiating external cooling. Surgery is currently underway
to enable us to replace Hal’s blood and interstitial fluids with
cryoprotectant. Once perfusion is finished we will be able to plunge Hal’s
temperature down past the freezing point without any significant ice
formation. Once he is down to around -110 degC we will slow cooling and
take a couple more days to reach the final storage temperature of -196
degC. After that, Hal will be placed in long-term storage and cared for
until the day when repair and revival may be possible.



Hal’s wife, Fran (also an Alcor member) has stayed by Hal’s side throughout
and is observing our procedures firsthand.



Since Hal is open about his Alcor membership and said that he would be
happy for us to tell people about his choice if it might be good for
cryonics, we will be issuing a press release, as well as writing something
more extensive for *Cryonics* magazine and elsewhere. If you have thoughts
on Hal and his life and work, please send them to me.



Hal, I know I speak for many when I say that I look forward to speaking to
you again sometime in the future and to throwing a party in honor of your
revival.



--Max

-- 
Max More, PhD
Strategic Philosopher
Co-editor, *The Transhumanist Reader*
http://www.amazon.com/Transhumanist-Reader-Contemporary-Technology-Philosophy/dp/1118334310/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372225570&sr=1-1&keywords=the+transhumanist+reader
President & CEO, Alcor Life Extension Foundation
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20140828/c58f58aa/attachment.html>