33 replies to this topic

[six]

Well, interesting point. I don't really think that any military is really interested in cryopreservation, except maybe special ops.

I mean in some cases it is cheaper to lose a soldier than cryopreserve him/her. In a war the preservation of resources is a primary objective - and not necessarily the preservation of human resources. You can lose a war by sustaining high number of non-lethal causalities just because you must keep the soldiers alive, which costs a lot of money.

I know this is an inhuman/subhuman train of thought but it is realistic in my opinion.

I think our discussion of cryopreservation must touch on a subject which is not widely recognized among transhumanists/cryopreservists.

This is the subject of economics.

I fear that the majority of the human population will jump on board of cryopreservation if and only if there is a working solution.

But until the majority of the population won't jump aboard, there will be not enough resources to find a viable solution.

It is a catch 22.

So it is imperative that we organise some kind of wider political/cultural/religious alliance globally to help the cause of cryopreservation.

In my opinion, anyway...

the reason I think this is because the military has the biggest budget out of anything. I have already read that they are researching this field. The biggest difference...they don't care about "deanimated" soldiers... they are researching preserving LIVE soldiers in their prime. believe me, money is no issue. their goals are completely different and that is disturbing to me...but if good can come out of it and benefit mankind, then so be it. I just don't trust the military to 1.) share the information with civilians and 2.) to use it for any good.

I was thinking this morning though.... cryopreservation will most likely be a short lived need. I mean, anti-aging technology will probably exist sooner than later...so we would really just need to re-animate the thousands of people that were "frozen" before that technology came about. After that, why would we ever need cryopreservation?

[Custodiam]

Big budget doesn't necessarily mean big success. As I can see the US attempt to develop combat-ready high energy laser weapons has been dragging on since 1983 and still did not produce any really useful weapon (of course it can melt not moving objects with minimal shielding or vulnerable missiles with relatively slow velocity but it is hardly enough in a real combat situation in my opinion).

Civilian use is another question.

I don't agree with your assessment that cryopreservation is an unnecessary tool.

Cryopreservation is vital in any case in my opinion.

There are unknown situations, accidents, illnesses which can cause a traumatic state which cannot be reversed with nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology for decades (or centuries) to come won't be an omnipotent tool.

We should not repeat the mistake of the 1940s when everybody thought that nuclear energy will be the solution for every technological problem.

Nanotechnology can have its side-effects too.

Also I think once aging won't play a role in human life we won't be running around driving fast cars or bungee jumping.

We will use some kind of virtual reality environment or personal "androids" to move around.

But this is sci-fi. If we won't live to see it, who really cares about it?

I think we should concentrate on a fast solution. The only solution for the majority of cryopreservists living today is reversible cryopreservation, I mean hibernation with minimal brain functions.

There is no other technology within sight which can help potentially millions of "time travellers" waiting to sleep through the XXI. century in order to wake up in a world with working nanotechnology, which can repair their body.

I don't think that nanotechnology can help us within 20 years.

But I hope I'm wrong.

Edited by Custodiam, 15 October 2009 - 06:28 AM.

[Berserker]

I don’t think that reversible cryonics will be ready here in 20 years. I don’t think will be here in 50 year either…as you said, I think that the only chance that our generations have is cryonics, as thing improve quite fats but not fast enough.

That’s why I expect a improvement in cryonics and in the legal situation for the next decades…as its going to be probably the only way.

[immorta]

The practical question - is identify such scientists and help'em doing theyr work. I know at least 3 - Yury Pichugin, Fahy&Wowk in 21CM and 1 lab in my city (Voronezh, Russia)

Are you ready to help them paracticaly ?