Cryonics Magazine- Scientists Eavesdrop Inside the Mind
- Discovery May Provide Insight into Brain Cell Aging
- New Evidence Keeping Brain Sharp and Active Wards off Alzheimer’s
- New Discoveries in Cell Aging
- Eye Trials Give Hope for Stem Cells
- How Stem Cell Implants Help Heal Traumatic Brain Injury
- Victory For Crowdsourced Biomolecule Design
- New Approach to Preventing Fatal Septic Shock
- Alzheimer’s Damage Occurs Early
- Oxidative DNA Damage Repair
- Fight Aging!
- Chronosphere
- Cryonics “Castle”
- Doing the Time Warp
- Interventive Gerontology 1.0.02: First, Try to Make it to the Mean: Diet as a life extending tool, Part 3
- Interventive Gerontology 1.0.02: First, Try to Make it to the Mean: Diet as a life extending tool, Part 2
- Interventive Gerontology 1.0.02: First, Try to Make it to the Mean: Diet as a life extending tool, Part 1.
- Fortune and Men’s Eyes
- Interventive Gerontology 101.01: The Basics
- The Kurzwild Man in the Night
- Fucked.
- You Bet Your Life!
Category Archives: Science
Annotated bibliography of cryoprotectant toxicity
Introduction Cryoprotectant toxicity should be distinguished from other mechanisms of cryopreservation injury such as chilling injury (injury produced by too low temperatures as such) and cold shock (injury produced by rapid cooling). Cryoprotectant toxicity itself can again be divided into … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Science
Tagged Brian Wowk, Cryobiology, Cryoprotectant Toxicity, DMSO, Ethylene Glycol, Glycerol, Gregory Fahy, Vitrification
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The 2011 Cryobiology Conference
July 24-27 I attended the 2011 annual Society for Cryobiology conference in Corvallis, Oregon. A number of the first presentations were concerned with means to *avoid* cryopreservation. Room temperature storage is much less expensive and troublesome, and improves ease of … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Science
Tagged Arthur Rowe, Chilling Injury, Cryobiology, John Crowe, Microtubules, Peter Mazur, Society for Cryobiology Conference
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The Future of Aging: Pathways to Human Life Extension
This book review was originally published in Cryonics magazine, 1st Quarter, 2011. Editor-in-chief, cryobiologist, and aging researcher Gregory M. Fahy and his associate editors Michael D. West, L. Stephen Cole and Steven B. Harris have compiled what might be the … Continue reading
Posted in Rejuvenation, Science
Tagged Biogerontology, Gregory Fahy, Interventive Gerontology, Joshua Mitteldorf, Michael R. Rose, Michael Rae, Nanotechnology, NENS, Ray Kurzweil, Rejuvenation, Robert Freitas, SENS, Stephen Cole, The Future of Aging: Pathways to Human Life Extension, Thomas Donaldson
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The RhinoChill: A New Way to Cool the Brain Quickly
We scientists are difficult, cranky, and above all, maddeningly frustrating people. Want to turn lead into gold? No problem, we can tell you how to do that, and in fact have even done it already: the only catch is that … Continue reading
Posted in Neuroscience, Science
Tagged Cooling, Cryonics, Hypothermia, Ischemia, Mike Darwin, Neuroprotection, RhinoChill
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Prospects for Mild Therapeutic Hypothermia and Improved CPR in Cardiopulmonary Cerebral Resuscitation
There are two kinds of hypothermia: protective or preservative hypothermia, and therapeutic hypothermia. The former is easy and straightforward to understand for most, clinicians and laymen, alike. However, therapeutic hypothermia has proved to be a far more difficult idea to … Continue reading
Posted in Neuroscience, Science
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Suspended Animation Conference 2011
The cryonics company Suspended Animation “will sponsor the conference, “Suspended Animation – The Company and The Goal,” which will be held in Fort Lauderdale in May, 2011. The conference will feature speakers on the latest strategies and advances toward perfecting … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Science
Tagged Cryonics, Greg Fahy, Life Extension Foundation, Suspended Animation
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Is a life worth starting? Some personal views
For life—the life of any sentient creature—to be worth living, there must, as Robert Ettinger has often said, be a preponderance of satisfaction over dissatisfaction. If this overall slant toward good rather than bad is maintained, it seems reasonable that … Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Living, Cryonics, Death, Science
Tagged Antinatalism, Cryonics, David Benatar, Forever for All, Immortalism, Mike Perry, Pessimism
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Non-existence is hard to do
A review of contemporary antinatalist writings Originally published in Cryonics, 2nd Quarter, 2010 (PDF) “Coming into existence is bad in part because it invariably leads to the harm of ceasing to exist.” David Benatar “If they could get a corpse … Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Living, Cryonics, Death, Neuroscience, Science, Society
Tagged Antinatalism, Consciousness, Cryonics, David Benatar, Empiricism, Free Will, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hans Reichenbach, Hard Determinism, Jim Crawford, Marquis de Sade, Max Stirner, Thomas Ligotti, Transhumanism
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At last, a sure-cold way to sell cryonics with guaranteed success!
A humorous romp through a promising new technique in aesthetic medicine from one cryonicist’s (warped) point of view. Figure 1: Before cryopreservation (L) and after cryopreservation (R). As everyone involved in cryonics for more than a fortnight is sadly aware, … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Health, Science
Tagged Adipocytes, Chilling Injury, Cosmetic Surgery, Cryobiology, Cryolipolysis, Cryonics, Hypothermia, Mike Darwin, Organ Preservation, Zeltiq
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The diminishing returns of reactive medicine
In an article for Slate, Jay Olshansky argues in favor of a position that one would expect to be common sense at this point: While we can extend life in aging bodies through behavioral improvements and medical treatments, the time … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Science
Tagged Aging, Anti-Aging, Cryonics, Reactive Medicine, Rejuvenation, Rejuvenation Research, S. Jay Olshansky
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Meta-research and medical skepticism
The Atlantic features an important article about “meta-researcher” Athina Tatsioni, who has published a number of influential papers about the quality of biomedical research: He and his team have shown, again and again, and in many different ways, that much … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Science
Tagged 21st Century Medicine, Athina Tatsioni, Cryonics, Michael Anissimov, Research
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October 2010 Cryonics Symposium in Germany
On the first weekend of October, 2010 I was an invited speaker at “Applied Cryobiology – Scientific Symposium on Cryonics” held in Goslar, Germany: http://www.biostase.de/us/symposium2010.html. The meeting was the first effort by the German Society for Applied Biostasis (DGAB) to … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Science
Tagged Bioethics, Cryoprotectant Toxicity, David Styles, Eucrio, FM-2030, Peter Gouras, Robert Ettinger, Robert Ettinger Medal
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Thought experiments as knowledge
One of the most remarkable aspects about the ongoing debates concerning the technical feasibility of mind uploading is the excessive confidence that some people have that these issues can be resolved without further experimental validation. The (implicit) assumption seems to … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Neuroscience, Science
Tagged Cryonics, Mind Uploading, Rationalism, Thought Experiments
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David J. Chalmers on the Singularity, mind uploading and cryonics
If I would make an argument in favor of mind uploading (or substrate independent minds) it would not be a logical deduction from what we know about neuroscience but from what we don’t know. As one of the leading philosophers … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Neuroscience, Science
Tagged David J. Chalmers, Mind Uploading, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Substrate Independent Minds
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Edward O. Wilson’s Consilience
Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson believes that a major reason why the social sciences have made so little progress is that its practitioners have ignored the biological basis of human behavior. He is not impressed with arguments that purport that the … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Society
Tagged Alexis Carrel, Consilience, Edward O. Wilson, Empiricism, Free Will, Hans Reichenbach, Logical Empiricism, Logical Positivism, Sociobiology, Unity of Science
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The low-hanging fruit of technological progress
The website Alternative Right has an interesting article on the declining pace of technological progress: The world of 1959 is pretty much the same world we live in today technologically speaking. This is a vaguely horrifying fact which is little … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Society
Tagged Cryonics, Eric Drexler, Molecular Nanotechnology, Singularity, Technological Progress, Technological Singularity
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Free will versus determinism as it relates to cryonics
Excerpt from “Ben Best – A Case for Free Will AND Determinism” Determinism implies materialism — implies that consciousness is material. Cryonics is based on the premise that the preservation of the fine structure of the brain at low temperature … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Neuroscience, Science
Tagged Ben Best, Compatibilism, Cryonics, Determinism, Free Will, Roger Penrose
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Chemical preservation and cryonics research
In the 2009-4 issue of Alcor’s Cryonics magazine I review the technical and practical feasibility of chemical preservation. One of the most interesting aspects of chemopreservation is that it could play a useful role in the cryopreservation of ischemic patients. … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Neuroscience, Science
Tagged Brain Preservation, Chemical Fixation, Chemopreservation, Cryonics, Ischemia, Vitrification
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Cryonics Oregon june meeting report
About 35 people attended the Cryonics Oregon-sponsored debate on the subject of SENS. Chana de Wolf was mistress of ceremonies. A show of hands indicated that the great majority of those attending were signed-up cryonicists. There was a sizeable contingent … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Science
Tagged Aschwin de Wolf, Aubrey de Grey, Ben Best, Biogerontology, Chana de Wolf, Cryonics, James Swayze, Nanomedicine, SENS
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Cryonics Oregon June Meeting with Aubrey de Grey and Ben Best
On June 6th the next Cryonics Oregon meeting will coincide with a downtown Portland aging conference. As a result we have been successful in persuading Cryonics Institute President Ben Best and Alcor member and biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey to attend … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Science
Tagged Aging, Aubrey de Grey, Ben Best, Cryonics, Cryonics Oregon, Life Extension, Rejuvenation, SENS
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Down with uploading
Over the last couple of years, cryonics pioneer Robert Ettinger has been a vocal critic of simplistic defenses of the idea of mind uploading as a survival strategy. He has worked out his reservations in detail in his latest book … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Neuroscience, Science
Tagged Cryonics, Empiricism, Gottfried Leibniz, Mind Uploading, Robert Ettinger
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The theological orientation of philosophy
In spite of the empiricist trend of modern science, the quest for certainty, a product of the theological orientation of philosophy, still survives in the assertion that some general truths about the future must be known if scientific predictions are … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged Empiricism, Hans Reichenbach, Induction, Logical Empiricism, Probability
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Ben Best on the feasibility of cryonics at SENS3
Posted in Cryonics, Death, Science
Tagged Arrhenius Equation, Ben Best, Cerebral Ischemia, Cryobiology, Cryonics, Death, Peter Safar, Rejuvenation, SENS, Vitrification
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Biological enhancement and evolution
In the March 2010 issue of Reason magazine Tim Cavanaugh writes about the rift between transhumanists who favor biological enhancement versus those who favor non-biological “mechanical” enhancement: These days transhumanists talk a lot about subcutaneous data ports, permanent immersion in … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Society
Tagged 21st Century Medicine, Anthony de Jasay, Bayesian Optimization, Cryonics, Greg Fahy, Michael R. Rose, Tim Cavanaugh, Transhumanism
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The science of personal survival
There are various competing strategies how to achieve meaningful life extension or rejuvenation, including , but not limited to, genetic manipulation, periodical elimination of damage, caloric restriction, molecular nanotechnology and mind uploading. A useful review of these strategies has been … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Death, Science
Tagged Anti-Aging, Biotechnology, Cryonics, Inductivism, Longevity Science, Mind Uploading, Molecular Nanotechnology, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Personal Survival, Rejuvenation, Research, Rudolf Carnap, Stroke
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Hans Reichenbach on empiricism
“The crisis of empiricism, expressed in David Hume’s scepticism, was the product of a misinterpretation of knowledge and vanishes for a correct interpretation – such is the outcome of a philosophy grown from the soil of modern science. The rationalist … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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Radio interview with Cryonics Institute President Ben Best
Cryonics Institute President Ben Best talks about cryonics and how cryonics is related to rejuvenation in this one-hour long interview on “It’s Rainmaking Time!” Further Reading: Depressed Metabolism Interview with Ben Best
Peter Thiel: Utopian Pessimist
Peter Thiel, one of the few original minds in the life extension and accelerating-technological-change community, is featured in a short interview at Wired. Thiel seems to be aware of the limitations of extrapolation of trends: We’ve been living in a … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Society
Tagged Anti-Aging, Futurism, Peter Thiel, Singularity, Transhumanism
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Scientific consensus
Scientific consensus seems a reasonable concept. If a great number of individual scientists arrive at a similar opinion this is generally a sufficient reason to have confidence in those views. Skeptics about scientific consensus often use examples of scientific views … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged Cryonics, Nature versus Nurture, Politicized Science, Robert Higgs, Scientific Consensus
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The singularity is not near
Singularity skeptic Mark Plus drew my attention to the following blog post. The author writes that: Chalmers’ (and other advocates of the possibility of a Singularity) argument starts off with the simple observation that machines have gained computing power at … Continue reading
The 2009 SENS Conference
Once a year I try to attend at least one biogerontology conference. Although I attend biogerontology conferences out of personal interest, and at my own expense, they are the most fruitful grounds for promoting cryonics I have found, and this … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Science
Tagged Aubrey de Grey, Ben Best, Cryobiology, Cryonics, Cryonics Institute, Cryoprotectant Toxicity, KrioRus, SENS
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Revival of cryonics patients literature
There is a growing literature that discusses the technical aspects of revival of cryonics patients. The following list of the published literature was compiled by Ralph Merkle and Robert Freitas and published as an appendix of their article on molecular … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Neuroscience, Science
Tagged Cryonics, Cryonics Magazine, Mike Darwin, Molecular Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine, Nanotechnology, Ralph Merkle, Robert Freitas, Thomas Donaldson
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Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator and the science of cryonics
This past weekend Motel X, the Lisbon (Portugal) International Horror festival, had its third anniversary. It is one of the smaller international horror festivals around, but this year they managed to have both Stuart Gordon, director of several Lovecraft adaptions, … Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Living, Cryonics, Death, Science
Tagged Ben Best, Cryonics, Gordon Stuart, Greg Fahy, Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest, Lisbon, Motel X, Portugal, Re-Animator, Yuri Pichugin
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Karl Popper and Rudolf Carnap revisited
In his classic book Significance and Basic Postulates of Economic Theory (1938) Terence W. Hutchison makes the case for economics as an empirical science. An interesting aspect about this book is the ease with which Terence W. Hutchison uses logical … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged Critical Rationalism, Empiricism, Karl Popper, Logical Empiricism, Logical Positivism, Philosophy of Science, Rudolf Carnap, Terence W. Hutchison
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