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- The 2011 Calorie Restriction Society Conference
- Fifth SENS Conference
- What you don’t eat can’t hurt you
- Steve Jobs’ morbid glorification of death
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- Personalized Cryonics
- Intermediate temperature storage in cryonics
- Alcor member profile of Aschwin de Wolf
- The 2011 Cryobiology Conference
Cryonics Magazine- 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
- Messenger RNA Self-destruct Mechanism Revealed
- How the Brain Cell Works: A Dive Into Its Inner Network
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!
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Tag Archives: Death
Steve Jobs’ morbid glorification of death
According to Steve Jobs, death is such a great benefit to mankind that it would have to be invented if it did not exist: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to … Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Living, Death
Tagged Apple, Baby Boomers, Death, Herbert Marcuse, Steve Jobs
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Paul Edwards on the fear of death
In his book God and the Philosophers, the Austrian American atheist philosopher Paul Edwards writes: When we die we do not return to the “bosom of Nature” or the bosom of anything. After death we will have no experiences at … Continue reading
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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Death is Gruesome…Cryonics Only Makes it Less So!
William Faloon is a Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer (Florida license number: F042784) Human beings are largely unaware about the gruesome nature of “death” Humans also shy away from the mutilation that occurs during hospital surgery. Hollywood films portray cryonics … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Death
Tagged Alcor, Autopsy, Bill Faloon, Cremation, Cryonics, Death, Embalming, Larry Johnson, Life Extension Foundation, Ted Williams, William Faloon
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Baby boomers confront the reaper
One question that is going to be of great interest is how aging baby boomers will confront aging and death. Where previous generations have found peace in religion and silent resignation, there are reasons to believe that this generation will … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Death
Tagged Baby Boomers, Death, Epircurus, Herbert Marcuse, Immortality, Protest Generation, Robert Freitas, Secularism, Stephen Cave
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Cryonics and philosophy of science
The 2008-3 issue of Alcor’s Cryonics Magazine contains a number of articles about the pitfalls of (excessive) scientific optimism and its potential adverse effects on the organizational and practical aspects of cryonics. My own contribution contrasts cryonics as medical conservatism … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Death
Tagged Cryonics, Death, Epistemology, Information-theoretic Death, Meliorism, Philosophy of Science, Singularity, Transhumanism
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A simple method to resuscitate rats from cold circulatory arrest
This is the eighth entry in a series about resuscitation of non-hibernating rodents from circulatory arrest at ultraprofound hypothermic and high subzero temperatures. In 1982, P.D. Rogers and G.P. Webb published some of their observations (based on previous papers and … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Health, Neuroscience, Science
Tagged Audrey Smith, Death, Hypothermia, Hypoxia, Radoslav Andjus, Ultra-Profound Hypothermia
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Resusciation of larger mammals from subzero temperatures
This is the seventh entry in a series about resuscitation of non-hibernating rodents from circulatory arrest at ultraprofound hypothermic and high subzero temperatures. After spending a few years on perfecting on Andjus’ technique for resuscitating rodents (rats and hamsters) from … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Science
Tagged Audrey Smith, Death, Freezing, Science, Ultraprofound Hypothermia
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Behavioral effects of ultraprofound hypothermia in rats
This is the sixth entry in a series about resuscitation of non-hibernating rodents from circulatory arrest at ultraprofound hypothermic and high subzero temperatures. After successfully reanimating rats from deep body temperatures of 0 – 2 degrees C and subsequent respiratory … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Science
Tagged Death, Learning, Memory, N. Mrosovsky, Science, Ultraprofound Hypothermia
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Methods to resuscitate rodents from ultraprofound hypothermia
This is the fifth entry in a series about resuscitation of non-hibernating rodents from circulatory arrest at ultraprofound hypothermic and high subzero temperatures. As we have seen, Radoslav Andjus had determined a method for achieving excellent (75-100%) recovery rates in … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Science
Tagged Audrey Smith, Death, S.A. Goldzveig, Science, Ultraprofound Hypothermia
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Resuscitation of rats from high subzero temperatures
This is the fourth entry in a series about resuscitation of non-hibernating rodents from circulatory arrest at ultraprofound hypothermic and high subzero temperatures. Up to this point we have discussed the groundbreaking research in the early 1950s performed by Radoslav … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Science
Tagged Audrey Smith, Death, Radoslav Andjus, Science, Ultraprofound Hypothermia
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Microwave diathermy to resuscitate hypothermic rats
This is the third entry in a series about resuscitation of non-hibernating rodents from circulatory arrest at ultraprofound hypothermic and high subzero temperatures. Andjus and Smith were delighted that they had managed to modify Andjus’ chest-wall heating technique from using … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Science
Tagged Death, James Lovelock, Radoslav Andjus, Science, Ultraprofound Hypothermia
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Improved methods for resuscitation of cold rats
This is the second entry in a series about resuscitation of non-hibernating rodents from circulatory arrest at ultraprofound hypothermic and high subzero temperatures. As discussed previously, in 1951 Radoslav Andjus developed a simple method for resuscitating rats cooled to deep … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Science
Tagged Audrey Smith, Death, Radoslav Andjus, Science, Ultraprofound Hypothermia
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Resuscitation of rodents from hypothermic circulatory arrest
This is the first entry in a series about resuscitation of non-hibernating rodents from circulatory arrest at ultraprofound hypothermic and high subzero temperatures. Prior work in hypothermia began in the early 1900s, but because cardiac and respiratory arrest were observed … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Science
Tagged Audrey Smith, Death, Radoslav Andjus, Science, Ultraprofound Hypothermia
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Experiment made on the mummy
As documented in David M. Friedman’s The Immortalists: Charles Lindbergh, Dr. Alexis Carrel, and Their Daring Quest to Live Forever, Lindbergh and Carrel considered the human body a living machine made of replaceable parts. A major reason why Carrel was … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged Alexis Carrel, Charles Lindbergh, Death, Mummy, Perfusion, Resuscitation
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Facing death with Epicurus
James Warren is to be complimented for writing a thorough and persuasive book on Epicurean thinking about death. In Facing Death: Epicurus and his Critics, Warren offers a detailed review of Epicurus’ view that “death is nothing to us.” His … Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Living, Death
Tagged Death, Epicurus, Ethics, James Warren, Philosophy
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Famous preserved body parts
The website TopTenz recently published a list of the Top 10 Most Famous Preserved Body Parts. The list includes Galileo’s finger and Albert Einstein’s brain. As has been discussed on this blog before, the preservation of human brains (no matter … Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Living, Death
Tagged Albert Einstein, Benito Mussolini, Boyd Rice, Cryonics, Death, Predappio, Vitrification
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My road to a possible future
My experiences with death began in 1974, when I was age 10. On Labor Day Sunday, while watching the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon, my father told me to turn the TV off. When I asked why, he said my grandfather, … Continue reading
The secular case against immortality
In 2003 George Hart published an article called “The Immortal’s Dilemma: Decontructing Eternal Life” , making a secular case against immortality. Hart mainly uses logical arguments and provides a fair amount of room to address a number of possible objections … Continue reading
Death is nothing to us
The idea that death gives meaning to life is widespread but does not reflect careful reasoning, and is often a desperate rationalization of human mortality. As a consequence, life extensionists have not been at great pains to defeat “pro-death” arguments. … Continue reading
Liberty and oblivion
In 1991 the Libertarian Alliance published an article called “Immortality: Liberty’s Final frontier” (PDF) by David Nicholas. In this article the author argues that “the continuing fact of death renders all talk of liberty ultimately futile.” The author further argues … Continue reading
Edvard Munch’s Death in the Sick Chamber
Edvard Munch’s painting “Death in the Sick Chamber” (1895) portrays death as expressed through the survivors. A striking aspect of this work is that all the people in the room do not console one another and are physically and emotionally … Continue reading
Carl Jung on the soul and death
In the future, Carl C.G. Jung may not be so much remembered for his contributions to science as for his beautiful writing, imagination, and wide range of interests. In his meditation on death, “The Soul and Death” (“Seele und Tod”), … Continue reading
Suspended animation is not cryonics
On the Immortality Institute cryonics forum, Alcor Board member and researcher Brian Wowk has posted some insightful comments on the difference between suspended animation and cryonics. Although impressive technical advances in cryonics to date, such as vitrification, have failed to … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Death
Tagged Brian Wowk, Cryonics, Death, Suspended Animation, Thomas Donaldson
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The history of scientific immortalism
Now online is Mike Perry’s article “Historical Steps Toward the Scientific Conquest of Death.” This article was previously published in 2003 in Physical Immortality, a short-lived publication by the Society for Venturism. The article is adapted from Chapter 2 of … Continue reading
Herbert Marcuse on the ideology of death
Although critical philosophers like Herbert Marcuse (1898 – 1979) are not known for their contributions to economics or analytic philosophy, Marcuse’s essay “The Ideology of Death” (1952) should appeal to those who think that death is not a necessary part … Continue reading
Posted in Death, Society
Tagged Critical Theory, Death, Frankfurt School, Herbert Marcuse
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Cryonics as an elective medical procedure
The two most popular technical arguments against human cryopreservation are that cryonics causes irreversible freezing damage and that the delay between pronouncement of legal death and the start of cryonics procedures causes irreversible injury to the brain. Such arguments can … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Death, Health
Tagged Critical Care Medicine, Cryonics, Death, Emergency Medicine
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Insurance against death through cryonics
Let’s face it: we’re all (still) getting older, and aging leads to death. This is a major reason for cryonics’ existence — to preserve ourselves, usually in an aged, diseased, and/or deteriorated state, until medical science is capable of curing … Continue reading
Curing aging does not make cryonics redundant
Most life extensionists and transhumanists do not buy into many of the myths about cryonics. But one perspective that is sometimes voiced by futurists is that cryonics is a rational backup plan until aging is cured. This position has some … Continue reading
Teaching children about cryonics
How do you teach a child about something that is so far “unproven”? How do you bring up the subject of cryonics and how it may allow someone to be reanimated in the future? I am a cryonicist, I’ve been … Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Living, Cryonics, Death
Tagged Child Rearing, Children, Cryonics, Death, Education, Shannon Vyff
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Transforming the death industry
In August 1968, Cryonics Reports (a publication from the Cryonics Society of New York) published an editorial that advocates the re-evaluation of the mortician and the funeral profession to make it a part of long term medical care, i.e. to … Continue reading
Radical life extension and information-theoretic death
Immortality as a zero probability of information-theoretic death may not be possible or realistic. A more practical (and less controversial) objective of radical life extension would be to minimize the chance of information-theoretic death. In analogy with Aubrey de Grey’s … Continue reading
Posted in Cryonics, Death
Tagged Aging, Cryonics, Death, Immortality, Nanotechnology, SENS
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Will POLST integrate end-of-life care options?
A recent investigation (PDF) of state statutes and legislation affecting the ability to implement a nation-wide program to standardize medical orders reflecting individual patients’ end-of-life treatment preferences was made publicly available by Oregon Health & Science University. The POLST (Physician … Continue reading
Immortality and cryonics
In “Philosophical Models of Immortality in Science Fiction,” (in: Immortal Engines: Life Extension and Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy) John Martin Fischer and Ruth Curl construct a taxonomy for immortality. As can be seen in the figure on the … Continue reading