<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 1:10 AM, Rafal Smigrodzki <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rafal.smigrodzki@gmail.com" target="_blank">rafal.smigrodzki@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br><div>### I agree that chemical preservation is not really that much cheaper than cryonics but it does have one attractive feature: Storage does not depend on the existence of a cryonics organization, which itself requires a well-functioning economy. Well-fixed brains could be forgotten, buried, and re-discovered by 34th century archeologists, and still give you a ticket into the future. The hope of cryonics could be dashed by 2 months of economic turmoil, just enough to evaporate the nitrogen. This is a big difference in resilience to Black Swan events.</div>
<div><br></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br><div>True to a point. Still, even chemically-preserved brains would need
some kind of protection. Even if they don't need active maintenance, I
wouldn't feel happy knowing that my brain was completely unprotected for
decades. Nor would I be especially optimistic that someone would upload
and revive me in the absence of the organizational, legal, and
financial structures built into cryonics organizations. <br></div><div></div><br></div><div>It would take much more than two months of economic turmoil to endanger Alcor's patients. First of all, that is not enough to "evaporate the liquid nitrogen". We have run a test and found that a Bigfoot dewar (empty of patients, obviously) did not run dry for something like five months. Because the aluminum pods that house patients are conductive, so long as there are even a few inches of LN2 at the bottom, the temperature even near the top is within something like 30 degC of LN2 temperature -- plenty cold enough. The boil-off rates vary, but I think the minimum would be 3 or 4 months.<br>
<br>That doesn't count contributions from the bulk tank, which we would use to refill the dewars. <br><br>Considering that there are at least 7 liquid nitrogen vendors in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area, it would take far more than "economic turmoil" to terminate all deliveries of LN2. It would take at least WWIII. In the meantime, we already know that we could go out and acquire a small liquid nitrogen plant and make our own. (We have a powerful backup generator, which I had installed this year, that could power it.) That would cost about twice as much, which is why we haven't already bought one. <br>
<br>Other cryonics organizations probably would not be as resilient, since they lack Alcor's resources. (And no other organization has a dedicated Patient Care Trust Fund whose finances are governed separately and cannot be raided for non-patient care purposes.) <br>
<br></div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div></div><div>Ideally, if our stupid laws against assisted suicide could be changed, fixation would be done electively on anesthetized patients, under ideal conditions to assure prompt fixation, followed by monomer perfusion, water replacement and polymerization (I know that these challenges have not yet been adequately addressed). Well, one can dream.</div>
</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Removal of the stupid laws (which also violate the right of self-ownership) were removed, cryonauts would also benefit enormously -- especially those with degenerative brain conditions. <br>
<br></div><div>It saddens me that some transhumanists are avoiding making cryopreservation arrangements on the basis that cryonics is imperfect, whereas as an imaginary and completely unproven (and certainly unavailable) chemopreservation method might have some advantages. <br>
</div><div><br></div><div>--Max<br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">
<span class=""><font color="#888888">
<div><br></div><div>Rafal</div></font></span></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div>Max More, PhD</div><div>Strategic Philosopher</div><div>Co-editor, <i>The Transhumanist Reader</i></div><div><a href="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" target="_blank">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</a><br>
President & CEO, Alcor Life Extension Foundation</div>
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