From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Jul 19 2000 - 07:20:42 MDT
On Wed, 19 Jul 2000, CYMM wrote:
> With whatever respect is due, people who believe in cryonics believe in a
> very very long shot.
To express how strongly I feel it isn't that long a shot, I would give
*strong* consideration to being the volunteer whose frozen brain is
"dropped" (ooops...) (in a room that is at sub-zero temperatures).
So long as they sweep up the pieces and put them back in the jar
(frozen of course), I'll most likely be fine.
Of course I suspect there are others that might know a bit more about
this than me who would disagree. But they aren't the ones who have
done the calculations on the computational capacity of MBrains.
Now of course, figuring out how to get an MBrain that *wants* to put
me back together -- thats a whole different question.
> You think your freezers will survive a World War and rationing??...
Now, this raises an interesting question -- what do people view
as the probability of a World War at this time?
If they believe the priority is high, then the solution is for Alcor
to get a solar powered LN2 plant. I know that they have looked into
this, but right now it isn't cost effective. But they could rapidly
change their mind in the event of unrest.
>
> I think LE people should pool financial resources and get the research going
> NOW... more money ...more progress... surely LE folks worldwide could raise
> $20 million (...maybe Robert Bradbury could advise on the best way such
> money could be "invested" into hard LE research...). The payoffs are after
> all the only real wealth... CONTINUED EXISTENCE.
The Maximum Life Foundation will probably work on this. And they are
looking to raise a lot more money than that in the long run. However
the greatest thing you could do as Extropians is (a) educate yourself;
(b) write about it; (c) communicate personally with others. One
of the barriers that organizations like MLF, LEF, etc. are up against
is the "flakery" of some current LE efforts and the paradigm that
this problem cannot be solved. That is what you need to shift --
personal commitment is much more effective at that than gobs of $$$.
Also, it is important to note that one of the things that is true
in Science is that it is very difficult to "push on a string".
Until you have the necessary foundation, you may spend a lot
of money for very few results (if any).
Robert
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