Orignial Publication in The Immortalist - Jan/Feb 2006:
http://www.cryonics....alist/index.htm
Immortality Institute Conference
Brent Fox’s Personal Journal
The following is my experience of the Immortality Institute's conference in Atlanta, which was held November 05, 2005. I have drawn mostly from entries in my personal journal and notes taken during the conference.
November 04, 2005 Friday
Departure Day for the Conference:
Knowing how Atlanta traffic is, and that optimum travel there is all in the timing when you hit it, I had decided that it would be best to leave at 1:30. Of course, my plans didn't come together, and I found myself in a rush. I let my wife get an hour extra sleep, and it wound up taking her a little longer in getting packed and ready.
I stopped to check the air in the tires, and found that one was very low. So, I had to go and have it checked. Good that I did as there was a nail in it. More time delayed in leaving.
By that time it was almost 1:30 and we did not even have lunch yet. Major headache coming on. We stopped at Thurston's and ate.
We needed to go and do advance voting, so we stopped up at the Courthouse and took care of that. Headache getting worse, and blood pressure was apparently up. I HATE being in a time crunch.
We finally got going, and the traffic started getting heavy at the outskirts of Atlanta, and got progressively worse. Exactly what I did not want to get in. One good thing at least was we didn't get into any major snags like there was in the North bound flow.
Once we got on 14 th St, I went past Spring St. Just didn't see the sign. Finally found it after circling back around. After getting checked in and settled, we only had about an hour until the informal dinner gathering. We decided to do a recce at the Barnes and Noble that was across the street. Of course, I saw a few books that I would like to pick up. We didn't get to stay long, as we had to go back to the room in order to get ready.
Honestly, I guess I suffered a quick bout of social anxiety, as One: I have never met a fellow cryonicist. Two: I felt that I would be "under the microscope". I don't know why I felt that way,
I guess it was a fleeting bit of insecurity. I got over it fairly quick. All such thoughts vanished once we got to the restaurant. There we met Bruce Klein, who was very nice, and pointed Rudi Hoffman out to me. I had been in touch with Rudi last week about getting together. We, meaning Rudi's wife, Rudi, my wife, and myself, all sat together. Rudi is a trip. It was wonderful meeting him. I felt relaxed around him, and he was easy to talk with. His wife seemed very nice as well. Ben Best soon arrived and sat across from us. While there, Rudi introduced me to several people.
The evening was spent in good conversation.
The food...well, our group overwhelmed the dinning room staff with our numbers, and we only had chicken wings, and a few other appetizers. I only got to eat two chicken wings, which were good by the way. I did leave a little hungry though. Brenda and I talked about going to Starbucks, but they had already closed. I should really be asleep now, as we need to get up and going at 5:30 in the morning to get ready. Registration/breakfast starts at 7:00. I really don't want to be late.
Enough. Time to go to bed.
November 05, 2005 Saturday
We got up bright and early at 5:30 this morning in order to get ready and go down to the conference area. We were one of the first attendees there. Registration was swift and painless, and we were provided with our name badges and conference folder. I was pleasantly surprised to find Immortality Institute's book, "Scientific Conquest of Death" on CD, as well as the video "Exploring Life Extension" on DVD. The hospitality area was set up very nice with water, soft drinks, and milk. A nice choice of breakfast items was also available. Being so early, we had our choice as to where to sit. The tables were nicely arranged and pad and pens were laid out for our note taking convenience. It wasn't long until the conference room was full.
The conference began promptly on time, with the introduction by Immortality Institute chair, Bruce Klein. Bruce made a compelling speech likening the scientific conquest of death as a new March of Dimes, which was to eliminate polio.
The conference was broken in four parts as follows:
Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes)
Martine Rothblatt, Conscious Computers & Legal Rights
James Hughes, Neurological Remediation
Brad Mellon, Ethical and Theological Considerations
Enhancement
Eliezer Yudkowsky, Artificial Intelligence
Ben Goertzel, Immortalizing Brains
Max More,Superlongevity: How to Argue and Win Every Time
Cryonics
Brian Wowk, Suspended Animation by Vitrification
Ralph Merkle, Cryonics & Nanotechnology
Ben Best, Cryopreserving the Brain
Charles Platt, Cryonics Standby
Rudi Hoffman, Cryonics Affordability
Tanya Jones & Stephen Van Sickle, Alcor
Life Extension
Michael Rose, Biological Immortality
Chris Heward, Optimal Health Medicine
Aubrey de Grey, Anti-aging
While most speakers were interesting, I wish to briefly mention the ones that stood out in my mind and why.
The first speaker, Martine Rothblatt, with her presentation "Legal Rights of Conscious Computers, or Why U R Transbeman 2" presented an interesting concept of defining conscious beings to include sentient artificial intelligent computers, and how the legal definitions must be changed in order to accomplish this. She is working to codify laws to prepare for the eventual emergeence of conscious computers. I touched on this subject in my short story, "Trial by Jury", which was published in Physical Immortality magazine (Vol 1(2) 4th Qtr. 2003).
While I applaud her effort, I believe that it will take a socially enlightened cultural to adopt the viewpoints and laws that are developed. Perhaps, achieving this advanced culture will be more difficult than actually developing sentient computers, if one looks at the current state of the world.
As an example, if (big IF) an extraterrestrial were to land on earth, it would have no legal rights as afforded to a person under the laws of the United States. It would probably be classified as an animal. The magazine, Popular Mechanics, had an interesting article on the hypothetical first contact of sentience alien life on earth in the February 2004 edition. The article can be found here:
http://www.popularme...html?page=1&c=y
The laws that Rothblatt are trying to develop may also have relevance to cryonics patients, should uploading be used in the revival process.
However, the immediate effect of having such laws and definitions may give one pause to contemplate who and what is sentient and that such an entity with the embodiment is deserving of respect, whether it is composed of DNA, or silicon. Having these laws (even just ready to implement) is a glimmer of hope that humankind is moving (even if slowly) towards an advanced society.
I found Eliezer Yudkowsky's presentation on Artificial Intelligence fascinating, and wished that there had been more time for him to expand upon his presentation. I think that the ideas presented by Rothblatt and Yudkowsky go hand in hand, and would be interesting to hear each viewpoints on the subject (Rothblatt on the Singularity, and Yudkowsky on Transbemanism).
The Cryonics panel contained an excellent lineup consisting of Brian Wowk, Ralph Merkle, Ben Best, and Rudi Hoffman. Each speaker was clear and concise and presented how each piece of the puzzle fits together, with Wowk explaining vitrification, Merkle the role of nanotechnology in repair, Best in a realistic and down to earth presentation on some of the challenges that are faced in cryonic suspensions, and Hoffman explaining the affordability. The presentations made by just these four people underscored the clear logic of choosing cryonic suspension.
Perhaps the only thing that was missing was someone to speak to the question of "why" in choosing cryonics. Choosing cryonics is a personal decision and the reasons can vary for doing so. It ultimately comes down to the individual's choice of accepting or rejecting cryonics. Having to face the implications and questions that cryonics poses, may be one of the main reasons why (IMHO) so few people have done so.
Charles Platt's presentation on the capabilities of Suspended Animation, Inc. was quite interesting. Platt made a quick mention of the possible use of cooling using liquid in the lungs. While I suspect such a method would only be appropriate on those who were recently pronounced and cooldown procedures started in a relatively short time period.
This also made me wonder if there is any research being done by anyone on the possible benefits in the use of hydrogen sulfide in stabilization procedures.
The theory presented by Michael Rose on biological immortality was interesting, in that immortality could be achieved through an evolutionary process.
The key note speaker, Aubrey de Grey, was entertaining and left me with the desire to learn more.
While my summary has not done the conference justice, I wanted to mention some of the things that stood out to me. Background information as well as some pictures from the conference may be found at the Immortality Institute's website: http://imminst.org/ The Immortality Institute will soon be releasing a DVD of the conference. I would urge all who did not have the opportunity to attend to get the DVD once it is available.
Saturday evening left me with a bad headache due to not getting enough rest the last couple of nights. We stayed at the dinner briefly before calling it a night. I regretted that I didn't get to talk with others there, but fatigue had about done me in.
November 06, 2005 Sunday
We decided not to go to the CNN center, as we both wanted to sleep late. I was disappointed in the thought of not getting to see anyone before leaving. We went to the dinning room and had the breakfast buffet. The food was expensive, but good.
What made my morning was seeing Rudi Hoffman. We ran into him, his wife, and another cryonicist. It was a pleasant surprise. It was a lot of fun talking with them.
November 07, 2005 Monday
Back to the mundane.
The conference was well worth the time and expense. It was my first time meeting fellow cryonicists face to face, and I had the opportunity to meet some that I had been swapping email with for years. It was a wonderful experience.
