Microvasculature perfusion failure in cryonics
Under ideal circumstances cryonics patients are stabilized immediately after pronouncement of legal death by restoring blood flow to the brain, lowering temperature, and administering medications. In most cryonics cases, however, there is a delay between pronouncement of legal death and start of cryonics procedures. In some cases there are no stabilization interventions at all. Provided [...]
Alcor’s problematic “notable quotes” page
I realized recently that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon.
The irony strikes me, for the Apollo missions did not lead to any follow-up in manned space travel. Nobody anticipated that we’d send men to the moon just a few times to establish dominance over the Soviet Union [...]
Cryonics and transhumanism
The association of cryonics with “transhumanism” seems inevitable but is problematic. It seems inevitable because cryonics should be most attractive to people with a very positive perspective on the future capabilities of technology. Barring rapid advances in mitigating aging, cryonics offers the only credible option for transhumanists to become a part of that future. It [...]
Avoiding Karl Popper
The philosopher Karl Popper has published on a wide variety of subjects but his most lasting contribution is his answer to the problem of induction by drawing attention to the asymmetry between verification and falsification. A theory can never be proven, but it can be falsified. Popper’s falsification criterion can also be used to distinguish [...]
DNA preservation and cryonics
Following the news that mice have been cloned from 16 year old frozen tissue comes an announcement that scientists have made advances in resurrecting the extinct Pyrenean Ibex. This does not only offer hope that someday other extinct species may be resurrected and returned to nature, it further reinforces the power of low temperatures to [...]
