From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Date: Sat Nov 30 1996 - 02:17:06 MST
Paul Wakfer wrote:
>
> On Fri, 29 Nov 1996 23:37:45, Michael Lorrey <retroman@tpk.net> wrote:
>
> >If suspended animation is what you're after, why isn't any effort going
> >toward hormonal suspension or slowing of metabolic processes?
>
> That's exactly what hypothermia does. Continuing the hypothermia to low
> enough temperatures slow all biological processes so much that
> "hibernation" without decay for 100's of years is possible. If the organism
> can be cooled to such temperatures without ice crystallization (a process
> called vitrification) then no damage to the organism whatsoever occurs.
>
But hypothermia is an induced metabolic suspension, with the body still
burning sugars at the normal rate, etc. A true metabolic suppression
should be experienced as conciously as though the rest of the world was
speeding up around you, while the subject slows down.
> >Such drug induced hybernation in my opinion is much more realizable and
> >most probably less damaging.
>
> No hibernating animals, even frozen frogs and fish, can survive in that
> state for longer than the normal amount of time for which they hibernate
> (less than a year).
Sure, because they don't need to. Do we know how they can stay under
that long? if so this should be used as a safe interim solution for
doubling or tripling terminal patients life expectancy by repeated
hybernations with interim waking periods for refueling etc...
>
> >The fact that there have been documented cases of individuals going into
> >spontaneous hybernation for years at a time makes me wonder why no effort
> >is going on in this area. Surely slowing people's metabolic rate to 1
> >heartbeat per minute would not only be a great interim solution to
> >outright suspension, but advantageous for use in surgery.
>
> Sounds life the story of Rip Van Winkle to me. I've never heard of such a
> thing. Are you thinking of comma's, or vegetative states, etc? These people
> all need and get feeding and other bodily needs attended to. Do you have
> any references to such examples of slowed metabolism? Maybe the reason why
> no one is giving effort to this area is that there are no such examples and
> the idea does not make physiological sense.
I read a big article in Discover Magazine years ago (mid 80s) by a
doctor who had gone on a house call early in his career. When he got
there, he took care of the patient, then noticed a rather still
individual in a chair. "oh thats just grandpa" they said. He had a pulse
of one or two beats a minute. According to the family he had been this
way for a decade or so. Upon thyroid treatment, he was brought back to
normal metabolic rates, only to find that he was terminal with a large
tumor that had also been dormant during that period....
>
> -- Paul -- Phone: 416-968-6291 Pager: 800-805-2870
>
> HELP TO ACHIEVE - PERFECTED SUSPENDED ANIMATION WITHIN 20 YEARS!
>
> Check out the Prometheus Project web site at URL:
> http://www.prometheus-project.org/prometheus/
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey --------------------------------------------------- President retroman@tpk.net Northstar Technologies Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/ --------------------------------------------------- Anything I say can and should be used against me.
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