37 replies to this topic

[reason]

Cryonics provider Alcor is holding a 40th anniversary conference in October, and the presently announced program looks much like this: "Sebastian Seung on testing how well cryopreservation (and alternatives) preserves the connectome. Todd Huffman on brain scanning. Panel discussion on long-term financial planning, including investing strategies, inflation protection, and personal trusts. Aschwin and Chana de Wolf from Advanced Neural Biosciences on advances in cryonics-relevant research. Greg Fahy from 21st Century Medicine on advances in cryoprotection. Aubrey de Grey from the SENS Foundation. Joshua Mitteldorf on programmed aging. Anders Sandberg on 'Handling the unknowable and undecidable: rational decision making about future technology.' Catherine Baldwin on advances at Suspended Animation. Panel on medical monitoring devices for improving your chances of a quick response in case of a critical physiological failure. Max More on how to improve your prospects for an optimal cryopreservation."
Link: http://www.alcor.org/conferences/2012/

[Mind]

I will be at the Alcor40 conference. Any other Longecity people planning to attend? Maybe we can meet up for a little lunch or coffee or something.

[caliban]

Have fun. Maybe you can do an interview with Max/ Fahy etc while you are there?

[Mind]

I will try to conduct as many interviews as possible.

[Mind]

Follow me here,on twitter, and facebook for updates throughout the weekend. I will try to post pictures and other types of media as much as possible.

Twitter: mind_imminst (and maybe Longecity@imminst if it is allowed)
Facebook: Justin Loew (and I will try to share my posts with the Immortality Institute wall/timeline)
Will try to post some videos on youtube and link them here.

[Mind]

Also, feel free to use me as a conduit for your questions about Cryonics or Alcor. Post your question here an I will see if I can wrangle up some answers from the people in the know.

[Mind]

In Phoenix/Scottsdale right now just working, while waiting for the conference to start.

Thoughts about Phoenix: This is the third time I have been here. I am less impressed every time. Alcor is probably THE most interesting thing in the valley of the sun. Really. Otherwise the city is just a typical American sprawling environmental disaster. My apologies to all the people living in Phoenix. Maybe you agree with me. Most cities in fly-over country get the same designation from me (and I live in fly-over country!), but Phoenix might top the list, mainly because there is not much structure to the city. It doesn't really have a "downtown". It is endless repetition of gas stations, strip malls, box stores, freeways, parking lots, etc... As far as the eye can see. One interesting thing I wanted to see was FirstSolar, which is "headquartered" in Phoenix, but that didn't work out too well. It also has Intel and Honeywell. Not much else. The top private employer is Walmart.

There is some nice shopping, some very upscale retirement/snow-bird enclaves, and great golf courses. That is about it.

I have attached a picture of the typical scenery you will see driving around 97% of Phoenix.

Hey Alcor, good job giving Phoenix a little cache'

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[Mind]

Wifi at the conference center (Scottsdale Plaza Resort) is ridiculously bad. First of all, they charge $13 per day per device for wifi access at your room, plus they wanted to charge Alcor $100 per person for wifi access in the conference area. They have a separate wifi access point for the conference room which limits what I can post or tweet during the presentations. Basically, it sucks. My best laid plans somehow always get laid to waste. Still, I was able to get a little video from Max More and Catherine Baldwin. Will post some pictures as my tenuous Internet connection allows.

[Mind]

Just a couple of general scenes from the conference here. Many of the "usual suspects" you will find at most SENS-type, Foresight-type, Longecity-type, Cryonics-type, Transhuman-type conferences. If you have never attended one, you should. It is always a very interesting crowd full of diverse people WITH diverse ideas from all over the world.

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[advancedatheist]

In Phoenix/Scottsdale right now just working, while waiting for the conference to start.

Thoughts about Phoenix: This is the third time I have been here. I am less impressed every time. Alcor is probably THE most interesting thing in the valley of the sun. Really. Otherwise the city is just a typical American sprawling environmental disaster.

Hey, what about ASU?

http://hieroglyph.asu.edu/

https://origins.asu.edu/

[Mind]

Thanks for the comment Mark. I was unaware of ASU.

[Mind]

The Saturday night session featured Kenneth Hayworth and Sebastian Seung who talked about neuro-structure and preservation. Seung recently published a book called the Connectome. The Brain preservation prize has been established to see who can first preserve the "connectome" structure of the brain, no matter the method.

This has created a stir in the cryonics community, because Seung and other neuro-scientists preserve brains using plastination and there are a few traditional cryonics supporters that have been swayed to think plastination might be better than cold storage.

One great thing about the Brain Preservation Prize is that it has brought Michael Shermer (the Skeptic) back into the fold, as revealed by Mr. Hayworth. Shermer shamelessly "stabbed cryonics in the back" about a decade ago by stating cryonics is just like putting a strawberry in a freezer. It was an irrational and unscientific statement that set cryonics back big time. All of the anti-cult people, all of the religious objectors, and all of the "its not natural' people were given a big wind at their back to trash cryonics - because of Shermer. Now Shermer is back and wants to see the evidence brought forth by the Brain Preservation Prize. Perhaps in the near future he will reverse his position.

After the official talk, there was a little gathering of Merkle, Fahy, Hayworth, and a few others talking at the stage about the physics of vitrification vs. plastination. It drew an audience. It was like a title fight - between intellects. I had to get a picture.

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Edited by Mind, 21 October 2012 - 04:58 AM.

[Mind]

One of the best quotes from the weekend - "We are pros and it shows". Catherine Baldwin is a poet and I didn't know it. In my interview with her, she said one of the reasons Suspended Animation is having a much easier time gaining medical professional "partners" for cryopreservation procedures in recent years is that they are "pros". They are world experts in the field of perfusion and cold temperature operations. Their equipment is top of the line. Their personnel are "pros". They have gained much-deserved respect. Great job SA!

Edited by Mind, 21 October 2012 - 12:49 PM.

[Mind]

I had the opportunity to talk with one of the brilliant young legal minds in life extension and cryonics - Keegan Macintosh. He gave a presentation about legal strategies to support cryonics. The focus of his analysis was that we should NOT argue under the rubric of "assisted suicide" for pre-mortem cryonics, but rather under fundamental or constitutional rights.

Talking with him later, he suggested that court cases were probably the most efficient way to affect legal change (as opposed to lobbying). The thought dawned on me that in addition to court cases being the most efficient, they might be the easiest for us to support because we would most likely have natural allies in lawyers who would like nothing more than to set new legal precedents.

Edited by Mind, 21 October 2012 - 12:51 PM.

[Mind]

My video interview with Catherine Baldwin is now on Youtube

Big thanks to jdkasinsky for helping with editing and uploading!

Edited by Mind, 21 October 2012 - 12:58 PM.

[Mind]

Spoke with Bill Faloon of LEF. He would like for Longecity to provide an in depth article for their magazine. About our history. About our initiatives (including recent research funding). And about how we have maintained a vibrant community through so many years.

[Mind]

I was able to meet and speak with David LaRocca, formerly of ACT and who has collaborated quite often with Michael West of BTX and Geron fame. He is currently working on high throughput technology for identifying and sorting different types of stem cells.

Full disclosure: I have invested in BTX.

I couldn't help but ask about BTX, because some financial analysts have derided to company for not developing a more robust revenue stream by now. LaRocca says BTX is working on acquiring a broad portfolio of basic IP in regards to stem cells, with the intention of developing more products (with true regenerative focus) in the near future. See recent other news/financial analysis here.

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[Mind]

Natasha Vita-More is here and promoting the H+ conference upcoming on December 1st (I think, if I remember correctly). I didn't see it on the website yet.

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[Mind]

Here is a familiar face in Cryonics: Rudi Hoffman

You can always pick him out at LE/Cryonics conferences because of his bright suits. He is a great salesman of course, but part of his "charm" is that he cares deeply about advancing cryonics. His wife also came along this time around. It was great to meet her and she was quite charming as well. For those who don't know, she does most of the "back office" work for Rudi.

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[advancedatheist]

One great thing about the Brain Preservation Prize is that it has brought Michael Shermer (the Skeptic) back into the fold, as revealed by Mr. Hayworth. Shermer shamelessly "stabbed cryonics in the back" about a decade ago by stating cryonics is just like putting a strawberry in a freezer. It was an irrational and unscientific statement that set cryonics back big time. All of the anti-cult people, all of the religious objectors, and all of the "its not natural' people were given a big wind at their back to trash cryonics - because of Shermer. Now Shermer is back and wants to see the evidence brought forth by the Brain Preservation Prize. Perhaps in the near future he will reverse his position.

Did Shermer's opinion ever matter any way?

Shermer and similar "skeptics" perpetuate the public's chronic misunderstanding of the cryonics idea because they don't think like inventive problem solvers. It makes a huge difference between saying, "Cryonics can't or won't work, period," versus saying, "Cryonics can't or won't work - if you do it the current way." The latter response to the cryonics idea leaves open the possibility for making suspension procedures better. Shermer could have said something like the latter a decade ago and encouraged people to take up the challenge. Instead he basically indicated that he doesn't like thinking about his mortality (the classic terror management reaction), and he didn't want to bother with exploring ways of staying alive.

[Mind]

The panel discussion today revolved around anti-aging. Aubrey DeGrey, Josh Mittledorf, and Michael Rose all spoke. They each have a different take on the core causes of aging. A lot of interesting stuff that I can't completely describe here, but a lot of it has been touched upon in the forums. Everyone here (at Longecity) would have heard things that sounded very familiar - except the info from Michael Rose, since his theory(s) is more abstract. I think he has a hard time gaining a greater following for his biological immortality findings (late life plateau of mortality rate) because not only is there no current actionable therapy/strategy available (except for the paleo diet), there does not seem to be much in the works either (that is widely publicized). Aubrey and Josh have easy to understand "strategies" and interventions that can be tried in the short term and will validate or invalidate their theories.

[Mind]

Members of the BC cryonics group were there. I was lucky enough to get a picture with Luke and Keegan.

I few people said I look like the younger twin of Peter Voss. There is a bit of similarity, IMO.

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[advancedatheist]

The panel discussion today revolved around anti-aging. Aubrey DeGrey, Josh Mittledorf, and Michael Rose all spoke. They each have a different take on the core causes of aging. A lot of interesting stuff that I can't completely describe here, but a lot of it has been touched upon in the forums. Everyone here (at Longecity) would have heard things that sounded very familiar - except the info from Michael Rose, since his theory(s) is more abstract. I think he has a hard time gaining a greater following for his biological immortality findings (late life plateau of mortality rate) because not only is there no current actionable therapy/strategy available (except for the paleo diet), there does not seem to be much in the works either (that is widely publicized). Aubrey and Josh have easy to understand "strategies" and interventions that can be tried in the short term and will validate or invalidate their theories.

Modern medicine makes both children and middle aged people healthier. It just has the effect of allowing a lot of people to survive artificially to their 80's and 90's in bad shape. We should keep in mind that in premodern times, only unusually hardy people, like Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin, could live that long in environments which killed most of their contemporaries well before those ages, many of whom didn't even survive childhood.

[Mind]

Ben Goertzel wrote a little report about the Alcor40 conference.

What surprised me was the depth of the talks on longevity science and neuroscience. One definitely got the feeling that cryonics is not nearly as marginalized as it was a decade ago or even five years ago, and is now accepted as a reasonable pursuit by a rapidly increasing subset of the scientific community.
Of course, this is part of a larger trend of the gradual mainstreaming of transhumanist technologies. AGI and nanotechnology, for example, were laughed at by most academics in relevant fields just 10–20 years ago. Now they are much more broadly acknowledged as valid and important pursuits, though there are still differences in vision between the maverick advocates and the interested folks in the academic mainstream.

[Mind]

Aschwin and Chana DeWolf presented at the conference and Longecity received prominent exposure in the "thanks to..." part of the presentation. They informed me that they will soon be publishing the results of the Longecity-sponsored cryonics research (which they touched upon in the presentation at the conference). The gist of the research is that it is very important to do blood replacement/washout and cooling in order to prevent ice formation. The blood washout helps prevent ice formation even after up to 50 minutes of warm ischemia. My notes were not good enough to expound upon that, so we will have to wait for publication.

They also stated what would help preserve patients in the most is being able to do the entire procedure in one spot. As things stand now, a patient is typically in a hospital. They have to be declared legally dead before preparations for preservation can begin, then they have to be wheeled out into a mobile prepping unit (like a Suspended Animation or Alcor Truck), then the washout/blood replacement occurs and they are cooled down, then they are moved to CI or Alcor, then they are suspended/vitrified. In a perfect world, all of that would occur in one room. This point was brought up by Catherine Baldwin and a few others as well. The problem is that the current medical establishment is sclerotic and tied down by legal concerns and regulations. Catherine Baldwin has been contacting various hospitals about setting up more favorable conditions for cryonics patients. She has not had too much luck so far.

Cryonics procedures are not anything different than other types of perfusion procedures commonly used in hospitals around the world and cold temperature surgeries are becoming the gold standard for greater success. The only barrier is cultural/social. IMO, hospitals and doctors are just hiding behind laws/regulations in order to not confront the reality of cryonics. Cryonics is emergency medicine. Alcor, CI, Kriorus step in at the point where mainstream medicine can no longer help.

[Mind]

Here is my interview with Max More at Alcor40

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBoRqkEERIo&list=UUZulmMAUyBvgibjqDU6UCAg&index=1&feature=plcp"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBoRqkEERIo&list=UUZulmMAUyBvgibjqDU6UCAg&index=1&feature=plcp[/url]

[mikeinnaples]

In Phoenix/Scottsdale right now just working, while waiting for the conference to start.

Thoughts about Phoenix: This is the third time I have been here. I am less impressed every time. Alcor is probably THE most interesting thing in the valley of the sun. Really. Otherwise the city is just a typical American sprawling environmental disaster. My apologies to all the people living in Phoenix. Maybe you agree with me. Most cities in fly-over country get the same designation from me (and I live in fly-over country!), but Phoenix might top the list, mainly because there is not much structure to the city. It doesn't really have a "downtown". It is endless repetition of gas stations, strip malls, box stores, freeways, parking lots, etc... As far as the eye can see. One interesting thing I wanted to see was FirstSolar, which is "headquartered" in Phoenix, but that didn't work out too well. It also has Intel and Honeywell. Not much else. The top private employer is Walmart.

There is some nice shopping, some very upscale retirement/snow-bird enclaves, and great golf courses. That is about it.

I have attached a picture of the typical scenery you will see driving around 97% of Phoenix.

Hey Alcor, good job giving Phoenix a little cache'

I don't know Mind, I was there on a preplanned trip 2 weeks ago for the very first time and I have a completely different impression of it. First question I have to ask is if you actually got to Phoenix? Scottsdale/Paradise Valley have some pretty awesome hiking areas, some of which are dog friendly like Camel Back, and I really enjoyed them. At least most homes in the urban sprawl aren't wasting water on lawns, heh. I also liked the old part of Scottsdale, there area around ASU, and I also drove out to the cave creek area which was fun. I did like Sedona way more though once we got there.

Anyways, I made a impromptu visit over to Alcor on a Monday and Aaron was nice enough to show me around, despite the impending conference, and explain everything to my wife with enough detail and precision that she is now considering perhaps joining me as a member. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.


Edit: I guess I should have included the entire area for hiking. One of the easy hikes I did, Squaw Peak I believe is actually *in* Phoenix.

Here is a familiar face in Cryonics: Rudi Hoffman

You can always pick him out at LE/Cryonics conferences because of his bright suits. He is a great salesman of course, but part of his "charm" is that he cares deeply about advancing cryonics. His wife also came along this time around. It was great to meet her and she was quite charming as well. For those who don't know, she does most of the "back office" work for Rudi.

Yeah his wife is great. Both of them are super friendly and Rudi himself is quite the character. I really enjoyed meeting them at the last Cryonics get together he had at his house. Kind of nice having such a wonderful resource practically in my back yard.

Edited by mikeinnaples, 29 October 2012 - 04:16 PM.

[Brain_Ischemia]

@Mind
Thanks so much for the posts. There hasn't been much reporting on the conference via official channels (AFAIK)...which is a shame since this was arguably the biggest and best cryonics conference in many years.

[Mind]

@Mind
Thanks so much for the posts. There hasn't been much reporting on the conference via official channels (AFAIK)...which is a shame since this was arguably the biggest and best cryonics conference in many years.

Please direct anyone looking for more information about Alcor40 to this thread.

I also invite anyone else who was at the conference to post pictures, thoughts, or video here.

[Mind]

In Phoenix/Scottsdale right now just working, while waiting for the conference to start.

Thoughts about Phoenix: This is the third time I have been here. I am less impressed every time. Alcor is probably THE most interesting thing in the valley of the sun. Really. Otherwise the city is just a typical American sprawling environmental disaster. My apologies to all the people living in Phoenix. Maybe you agree with me. Most cities in fly-over country get the same designation from me (and I live in fly-over country!), but Phoenix might top the list, mainly because there is not much structure to the city. It doesn't really have a "downtown". It is endless repetition of gas stations, strip malls, box stores, freeways, parking lots, etc... As far as the eye can see. One interesting thing I wanted to see was FirstSolar, which is "headquartered" in Phoenix, but that didn't work out too well. It also has Intel and Honeywell. Not much else. The top private employer is Walmart.

There is some nice shopping, some very upscale retirement/snow-bird enclaves, and great golf courses. That is about it.

I have attached a picture of the typical scenery you will see driving around 97% of Phoenix.

Hey Alcor, good job giving Phoenix a little cache'

I don't know Mind, I was there on a preplanned trip 2 weeks ago for the very first time and I have a completely different impression of it. First question I have to ask is if you actually got to Phoenix? Scottsdale/Paradise Valley have some pretty awesome hiking areas, some of which are dog friendly like Camel Back, and I really enjoyed them. At least most homes in the urban sprawl aren't wasting water on lawns, heh. I also liked the old part of Scottsdale, there area around ASU, and I also drove out to the cave creek area which was fun. I did like Sedona way more though once we got there.

Anyways, I made a impromptu visit over to Alcor on a Monday and Aaron was nice enough to show me around, despite the impending conference, and explain everything to my wife with enough detail and precision that she is now considering perhaps joining me as a member. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.


Edit: I guess I should have included the entire area for hiking. One of the easy hikes I did, Squaw Peak I believe is actually *in* Phoenix.

Here is a familiar face in Cryonics: Rudi Hoffman

You can always pick him out at LE/Cryonics conferences because of his bright suits. He is a great salesman of course, but part of his "charm" is that he cares deeply about advancing cryonics. His wife also came along this time around. It was great to meet her and she was quite charming as well. For those who don't know, she does most of the "back office" work for Rudi.

Yeah his wife is great. Both of them are super friendly and Rudi himself is quite the character. I really enjoyed meeting them at the last Cryonics get together he had at his house. Kind of nice having such a wonderful resource practically in my back yard.

Good points MikeinApples. I didn't have time to go hiking (wish I had the time) but people did tell me that there are a lot of nice spots around the area. I agree the Sedona, Flagstaff, Prescott, etc are very nice and I would definitely live in those spots given the impetus, but I was specifically referring to Phoenix and suburbs. The majority of the area is an endless repetition of freeways, strip malls, small office complexes, subdivisions, and gas stations. The sprawl and resulting heat island effect adds 5 to 10 degrees to the Summer heat. Scottsdale is very nice, but just an upscale version of the "endless repetition". Phoenix, more than many cities, is the poster child for homogenized culture. In the end, it is fine, the sprawl serves a current purpose, but I just long for the time and places/cities that are more distinctive. I criticize mainly from an environmental perspective.