[extropy-chat] Cryonics is the only option?

[Thomas]

ben wrote

>[...] What occurs to me is that, as long as your brain is kept alive and can
>communicate with the outside world, you are surviving. The rest of the
>body doesn't matter, it can be regarded as a life-support system for the
>brain, as well as providing transport, sense organs and communication.
>
I have the impression that patterns I've learned are embodied in 
connections throughout my (including the periferal) nervous system.  I 
think the rest of the body does matter.  

>Given a constant blood supply, a brain can stay alive even if the rest
>of the body is gone, or damaged beyond repair (This doesn't apply, of
>course, if your problem is a damaged brain, but the vast majority of
>cases of death boil down to one simple thing: The brain starves of oxygen).
>
If you can keep a brain alive and oxygen fed, why not conserve what's 
left of your body as well?  I had friends with undamaged brains who 
would have survived to this day if their spouses had not agreed to "pull 
the plug."  

>So, how about a replacement body? An artificial life-support system. It
>wouldn't at first be anything like a human body, probably more like a
>roomful of equipment, but that could change as more developments are made.
>
This "throw away and replace" method has evolved to sustain replication. 
 It works well for fruit flies, but not so well for sustaining a complex 
personal identity.  Transhuman, I think, means better brain and body. 
 An artificial body that keeps me imprisoned in a lab would be a step 
backwards.  Dialectic maybe, but I think we'd do better to preserve and 
enhance as much of the human as possible.  I imagine "brains in a 
jar"will eventually want a body and even a used "fixer upper" will seem 
appealing.  So I think your idea has merit.  I'd just prefer to include 
more of me.  -- Thomas