INSIDE CRYONICS

4 QUARTER 2007 VOLUME 28:4
From the Editor Letter to the Editor Alcor member Norm Haberly responds to Ben Goertzels article What is a Self that it Might be Revived? (28:2). Executive Directors Report: Learn about Alcors presence at recent conferences, opportunities to network with Alcor members around the world, cryopreservation challenges the organization faces, and more. Book Review: 21st Century Kids offers adventure, excitement, and a little bit of mystery for the young at heart of all ages. Promoting Cryonics: Shannon Vyff recently had the experience of running Alcors information table at the WTA conference. Is word of mouth really effective outreach? Chatting with Alcors Tanya Jones at TV07 Hear how Tanya Jones private conversation with George Dvorsky, a board member for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, left a lasting impression. Cryonics Poetry: Alcor member Beth Bailey expresses why she chose cryopreservation.

COVER STORY: PAGE 12

Marketing Cryonics: David Pascal, a marketing consultant who worked with the Cryonics Institute and started the Cryonics Society, seeks a better response to cryonics from the public by delving into the marketing process.

Cover b

y Lily H
Member Profile: Maria Entraigues & Ruy Folguera: Brought together by their love for music, Maria Entraigues and Ruy Folguera are living their dream life, composing movie soundtracks and performing in productions around the world. Its not surprising their adventurous spirits led them to cryonics. Cryonics: Using Low Temperatures to Care for the Critically Ill: The brain is often put on pause in common medical procedures. Are cryonics patients as alive as someone under general anesthesia and could cryonics come to be seen as a form of long-term critical care?
Uniform Anatomical Gift Act: Protecting Alcors Interests: Has recent legislation changing the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act in Arizona affected Alcors ability to accept its patients? Tech News: Could living longer by eating less be genetically biased? Does lowering insulin signaling in the brain promote longevity? How powerful are the effects of red wine against preventing neurodegeneration? Implanted brain electrodes, memory seen in the making, and more in this installment of Tech News. Cryonics/Fourth Quarter 2007

www.alcor.org

FROM THE EDITOR
Editor Jennifer Chapman Art Director Jill Grasse Contributing Writers Barry M. Aarons Beth Bailey Jennifer Chapman Aschwin de Wolf Chana de Wolf George Dvorsky David Pascal R. Michael Perry, Ph.D. Stephen Van Sickle Shannon Vyff Contributing Photographers Heline De Lillo Photography John Retallack ________________________________ Copyright 2007 by Alcor Life Extension Foundation All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or part, without permission is prohibited. Cryonics Magazine is published quarterly. To subscribe: call 480.905.1906 x101 ________________________________ Address correspondence to: Cryonics Magazine 7895 East Acoma Drive, Suite 110 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 Phone: 480.905.1906 Toll free: 877.462.5267 Fax: 480.922.9027 Letters to the Editor welcome: jennifer@alcor.org Advertising inquiries: 480.905.1906 x113 advertise@alcor.org ISSN: 1054-4305 Visit us on the web at www.alcor.org Alcor News Blog www.alcornews.org/weblog 2 t has been a lively couple of months at Alcor with the entire staff in high gear preparing for the 7th Alcor conference checking and rechecking all of the logistical details, working as a team to tear out cabinets and countertops for facility renovations, industriously putting the finishing touches on equipment so that it was ready for demonstration. Although the pace of everyday life has returned to normal, the positive energy remains. Look for details about the recent Alcor conference in the 1st quarter 2008 issue. One of the great pleasures of hosting an annual conference is the opportunity to meet the people in attendance, especially because the Alcor staff is often restricted to somewhat impersonal interactions with its worldwide membership base, via email or the telephone. At the conference, I was busily checking to ensure our next speaker was on hand and ready to take the stage when a lovely lady named Maria Entraigues introduced herself. In this issue, she shares her story about the value of her Alcor membership and how it interplays with her career in the arts and entertainment industry (pg. 10). Meeting your valued customers in person during a conference is one form of outreach, but what about formal marketing? An Alcor member recently wrote me an email, saying, All of the proponents of cryonics combined have not been able to convince more than 1,000 to 2,000 people that this program makes sense. To me, that makes no sense! David Pascal, a marketing consultant who has given considerable thought to marketing the cryonics industry, proclaims that the solution is hiding in plain sight (pg. 12). And Aschwin de Wolf shares his insights into how the industry could benefit from a fresh perspective on the philosophical basis behind cryonics (pg. 16). Finally, you will find a letter to the editor published in this issue. Others are encouraged to follow this example by sending comments to: Jennifer@alcor.org

Scenario 3:

We make several replicas of you and awaken them all. Comments: Are they all you? If your lover is alive, would he or she think all of them were you? Would you be OK if the other replicas treated your lover as their lover too, or would you be beside yourself with anguish? In general, what rights accrue to each of you? My own opinion is that each of us should decide, prior to our demise, how we would want most of our rights and assets distributed sort of like writing a will where our multiple selves are analogous to our children. Not knowing in advance how well be revived, or how many of me will be revived, does make it more difficult, though perhaps a phrase such as equal shares for each of me might suffice for many things that we want to leave ourselves. As for our lovers, well, I think that picking which one of us they like the best is up to them, and the rest of us/me will just have to get over it. Norm Haberly, MBA, MSCS Alcor member since 2004

Scenario 2:

An entire individual is both replaced and replicated, molecule-by-molecule, while the individual is in cryopreservation, resulting in two identical individuals. Comments: If we were to awaken these two identical individuals, each would think that he or she was the original, though neither would be. Neither one would be any more (or any less) like the original than the other, and neither would have any more or any less continuity with the original. Would the original self have now become two selves? Suppose you were the person whose body was both replaced and replicated, and suppose further that we were to awaken only one of you. If you could decide in advance which one of these bodies to awaken, would it matter to you? If we told you now that we
Cryonics/Fourth Quarter 2007
Executive Directors Report

The Company You Keep

Ive had the pleasure of keeping some good company lately, having conversed with countless members and supporters while attending recent conferences. It started up north in Chicago at the World Transhumanist Association (WTA) conference in late July. Attendees were exposed to cryonics at the Alcor information table run by Alcor member Shannon Vyff and during presentations to the audience, including one by our own Tanya Jones. In early September, I headed out to San Francisco for the Singularity Summit, another forward-thinking gathering. While Alcor has no official policy on transhumanism and the related futurist topics which are often the centerpiece of these and similar conferences, there clearly is a strong cross-over in interest among Alcor members and these organizations. Indeed, it truly makes my day when people come up to me and ask that burning question theyve always had about cryonics. So, I see these conferences as a rare and valued opportunity for personal interaction with those from outside the Scottsdale area, a kind of outreach that holds strong potential for dispelling common myths and growing Alcors membership base in the future. Coinciding with the Singularity Summit, the annual Alcor board meeting was held in San Francisco. The significance of the annual meeting is the election of board members and officers as required by the organizations bylaws. Alcor has a self-perpetuating board of directors. This means that the outgoing board elects the incoming board, which is very common among non-profits, particularly those with significant financial assets, such as museums and hospitals. Meet the current board of directors in the About Alcor section of our

now, i.e. the computer can control the cryoprotectants temperature, pressure, flow, refractive index and more. We are adding the alarm conditions and constructing the user interface. Of course, we must yet rigorously test the new system to make sure it works as intended. The ACPS will be the most advanced human cryopreservation system in the world, with complete integration and control of the relevant cryopreservation parameters, cooling, operator feedback, safety systems, and graceful failure modes. More details will be provided in 2008.
Nanomedicine Support Continues in 2007
In June, Alcor announced on its blog the continuing support for development of theoretical nanomedical protocols and devices. For the third year, Robert A. Freitas Jr. will receive a grant from Alcor to continue his pioneering work in nanotechnology. Freitas has acknowledged Alcors support in several peer-reviewed, published papers. Sincerely,
Advanced Cryoprotective Perfusion System
Alcors Advanced Cryoprotective Perfusion System (ACPS) for whole-body vitrification is nearing completion. All of the necessary elements for perfusing the cryoprotectants through the body have control systems Stephen J. Van Sickle

21ST CENTURY KIDS

Author: Shannon Vyff book review by r. michael perry, ph.d.
hat will the future bring? This question is especially important and haunting to those of us who have chosen cryonics: we want to reach the future! However it turns out, we are betting it will be worth seeing and sharing. One such hopeful futurist, Alcor member Shannon Vyff, has written a science-fiction novel called 21st Century Kids. It offers adventure and excitement for the young at heart of all ages who like to stretch their imagination and ponder what life might be like in the world to come. The story starts in 2008. Twelve-year-old Avianna and her younger brother Avryn are in a fatal car crash and are cryopreserved. Avianna is hurt less so is restored from cryopreservation first, 180 years later. A lot has changed, though basic similarities remain. People still mainly inhabit bodies of flesh, though with some enhancements to make them stronger and smarter. There is an option to upload into a robot body and then, if you wish, download back later. Aging has been halted but not yet reversed, so people already old might elect to upload into artificial bodies and stay there, letting the original flesh die naturally in an unconscious state. There are many new faces and almost no familiar ones. Relatives and others who were born after Avianna was cryopreserved have now developed into adults she must depend on as she continues with her education and upbringing. Her naturally high intelligence and the newly available brain enhancements rapidly close the gap between her and others her age. A mystery has developed, however, with her little sister Avalyse, who was in the accident with Avianna and Avryn but survived. Avalyse has long since grown to adulthood and had a long, distinguished career, finally in her nineties uploading to a robot body to continue her life unhindered. But more recently she joined an expedition to a distant extrasolar planet. At some point all communications ceased, and no one knows the fate of the missing explorers. Avianna is determined to find out what happened, but she too disappears on her journey to the planet. 6

To Freeze and Protect

During her talk two days prior, Tanya gave conference attendees the rundown on some of Alcors more recent work and initiatives. It was a fascinating glimpse into the world of cryonics and what it takes to run a Several presenters at TransVision 07 company on the technological and represented cryonics, including (left to right) Ralph Merkle, Ph.D., Tanya Jones, Shannon Vyff, social outskirts. and her husband Michael. She noted how Alcor teams can be rushed to the bedside of dying patients as they ready for the suffusion of cryoprotectants in preparation for cryop- various extremes to which they will still agree reservation. Without this highly-engineered to be cryopreserved. Alcor unquestioningly liquid, preservation would be completely dis- adheres to those wishes. Tanya also described the freezing process astrous with each cell suffering a host of problems, including extensive ice crystalliza- which is done under strictly controlled condition and the eventual threat of it losing all its tions. The body is slowly brought down to the physical integrity. The cryoprotectant gel, optimally low temperature and is carefully which replaces the blood after death, essen- monitored for tissue fracturing. Quite frustially converts the body into a glass-like state. tratingly, every preservation that has ever been The bodys informational state is thus retained conducted at Alcor has suffered from fracturing of some sort. Tanya described the sound at the highest level currently possible. Consequently, getting the patient into as similar to ice-cubes popping when added to cold storage quickly is paramount. As Tanya a drink.
revived rat running around? Why couldnt you guys have used cute little bunny rabbits instead it would be much better PR to see a bunch of revived bunny rabbits hopping around. Tanya laughed and noted how animal experimentation will likely escalate to include larger animal models.

Cool Company

I have yet to sign up for cryonics. My reasons are, admittedly, personal, complicated and even non-nonsensical. There may come a day, however, when Ive reconciled my broader existential outlook with the prospect of cryonics. Until then, however, I will laud the efforts of Alcor and continue to advocate for the right to a long life. They are certainly blazing a fascinating trail into the future. Oh, and I totally missed the opportunity to meet William Shatner. I barely even noticed that he was in the room when I was chatting with Tanya. Now why do you suppose I have absolutely no regrets about that?
Tanya Jones presented at the World Transhumanist Associations conference about the engineering developments underway at Alcor.
I squirmed in my seat listening to this description, wondering how our high tech descendants will repair this sort of information theoretic brain damage.
Honesty, Integrity, Credibility

MARKETING CRYONICS

By David Pascal
When it comes to successfully marketing cryonics, David Pascal has a bright idea:

Think inside the box

ow can we get a better response to cryonics from the public? Clearly our existing efforts have not been a success. The numbers speak for themselves. Theres been over forty years of media coverage and press attention. And the result? Barely more than a thousand people signed up and funded for cryopreservation. Each year cigarettes, illegal drugs, and pop tunes sell in the billions. Cryonics memberships sell in the dozens. More media attention has been lavished on cryonics than on Madonna. Yet almost no one seems to want it. Why? Advocates of cryonics speculate that we seem hard-wired by evolution to crave self-termination or that we live in a culture of death. Of course these are myths; no death gene has ever been found, and our culture of death spends billions each month on medical care and longevity enhancement. But perhaps the most crippling myth is that we have done all we can to sell cryonics. Our marketing efforts have failed, and so any marketing efforts will always fail. This is a bit like saying that since if you try to hop to the moon in one mighty bound, but only rise a few feet, then rockets can never reach the moon either. But rockets hav reached the moon. And well-funded, carefullye researched, thoughtfully-designed marketing efforts have gained worldwide popularity for innumerable products. Professional marketing expertise can help. Thats why every major firm in existence engages in marketing. Because, done right, it works. But how d professionals do it properly? What is marketing? o How does it really function? And how might we successfully apply it to cryonics?

The Marketing Process

The first step in understanding marketing is to put aside misunderstandings. First of all: marketing is not advertising. It is not about getting press attention or media coverage or even about better public relations. Yes, those things are sometimes not always elements in a marketing campaign. But the core of marketing lies in specialized processes of information-gathering, and in using that information to shape what one offers to the market, and how one presents that offer. It isnt about presenting something yo u want and promoting the reasons that you want it. Its about asking the public what they want, and providing and presenting it in ways that they respond to. Marketing is a kind of creative empathy. And it is through such creative empathy professionally structured and applied that the challenge of building memberships and gaining public approval can be found. Provided we have the will and discipline to seek it. How is professional marketing structured and applied? Essentially it involves six steps. The first step is defining your goals. And in business, goals are best achieved the more tightly they are focused. It isnt always a matter of pursuing growth in every sense and every way. Rolls-Royce, aimed at a tiny niche market, is a thriving success. The Edsel and the Yugo, aimed at mass sales, are out of business. Does an organization want more customers or more income? Does it want prestige or notoriety? Either can be achieved, but the first step involves vision: what and where specifically do you want your organization to be? Answering that question shapes what the research goals should be. And once the research goals are set, marketers gather as much relevant information as they can about the consumers theyre targeting. Common tools are surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, and covert or direct observation. Sample markets need not be huge Gallup Polls of nationwide accuracy require no more than 1500 people. But that population must be carefully balanced and selected. Fifteen hundred individuals at random attending a Billy Graham rally, or kinderwww.alcor.org

garten, will not be representative. Once a representative sample is determined and explored, however, something priceless results: hard data about that target markets likes, dislikes, concerns, preferences all the relevant factors that go into their behavior as a consumer. The next step? Marketers apply that information to shaping or packaging the product in a way that satisfies consumer criteria for making a purchase. This step is critical. Again, and contrary to rumor, marketers do not ram unwanted products onto the public through relentless repetition. It is far safer, easier, and more effective simply to find out the consumers preferences, and then create or present products that satisfy those preferences. When an appealing product or approach is crafted in this way, and when tests show samples of the public responding positively, then mass promotional approaches are added. This is where advertising often comes in. Although alternative means of promotion are common too, such as word-of-mouth marketing, telemarketing, direct sales, stealth or viral marketing, and other approaches. Once this carefully-designed product is presented to the public, the fifth step begins: monitoring the reaction of the market and getting feedback. And the last step? The last step involves incorporating that feedback, looping it back into the beginning of the process, and going through the whole process again, so that the product is continually being upgraded and re-
configured to mesh as tightly as possible with consumer preferences. Thats why the process is so powerful. It doesnt push things people dont want. It finds out what they d want and then gives it to o them. Resisting good marketing means resisting the things you most desire. Very few people can do that. Very few want to. And what particularly makes it powerful is the fact that it is not rooted in speculation, but in hard data. Its easy enough to sit around a table and express ones gut feeling as to what the market may want. But an expressive gut is not a marketing tool. Market researchers do not speculate. They gather data until they can make statistically valid predictions about public tastes and public behavior.

Learning How to Listen

Could we apply this process to cryonics? Certainly. And I strongly encourage the existing cryonics organizations to give it a try. A statistically valid study of public reactions to cryonics could be done easily enough through a competent marketing research firm. I personally would suggest an extensive in-depth professional study examining everything from the packaging, pricing and services the public might like in this area, to more subtle approaches such as psychographic and segmentation analysis. Gathering the data will be challenging. But it will be rewarding. Because all we know now for sure is that the existing approaches have not worked. They havent worked because weve been presenting cryonics to people in a way that doesnt appeal to them. We need to find out exactly why it doesnt appeal, and we need to find out what does. If all we do repeat what doesnt work, all well get is the same results.

Numbers and Depths

Suppose that Alcor considered offering some form of DNA testing to the public as part of its business service. Or suppose that it considered opening a Toronto facility. These are closely focused, specific questions. Once such questions have been developed, simple polling or data gathering can provide information that would help Alcor make a better business decision. This is the function of what is called quantitative marketing research. 13
Marketing is the systematic discovery of what the market wants and how the market likes to be approached based on qualitative and/or quantitative market research. It then shapes and re-shapes the product and/or its presentation until those wants are satisfied.
Other marketing questions are wider and more open-ended. Why do people join or leave? What kind of visual imagery might be most effective? How can we get more people to sign up? And then theres the most challenging question of all Which questions are the best ones to ask? Because the fact is that you often have to study the market before you can even frame the right questions. This area involves qualitative, or exploratory, research. Good qualitative research probes deeper market preferences. The questions used in quantitative research ideally develop from qualitative research, and thats where good marketing really begins. I suspect this will especially be the case with cryonics. You see, few people realize that casual information-gathering often misleads more than it informs. Consumers often dont really know what motivates them to buy, and the reasons they give when theyre asked have little although not nothing to do with it. Political marketers know this well. In interviews and focus groups, respondents often select the more politically correct candidate because thats the choice thats socially approved. Yet once in the ballet box, votes go to the hard-liner who calls for criminals to hang. This isnt simple hypocrisy. Peoples reports about themselves are honest ones. Respondents really do believe that health food is healthy and junk food is junk. Unfortunately, they go out and buy the junk food anyway. And marketing is concerned with what they do, not what they say. How does this affect cryonics? Greatly. Simply put, the rational case has failed. Cryonicists have made a very rational case for decades, and the case could not be stronger. If cryonics works, you live perhaps for a very, very long time. If it doesnt, you remain no deader than you would have been otherwise. It is an affordable choice between potentially tremendous gain and nothing to lose. Yet, the choice has almost invariably been against cryonics. Many of us have experienced this, Im sure, in talks with people. Objections no sooner come up than we shoot them down. No reputable scientist supports cryonics. Drexler, Minsky, Merkle, Fahy, Wowk, de Grey, Harris.

Social Psychology

Semi-rational factors explored by both qualitative and quantitative research are part of the discipline of social psychology. Academic researchers from Stanley Milgram3 to
Robert Cialdini4 have shown decisively that many of our most important choices are made simply because of social influence. We see similar others making a choice and we make the same choice. Humans are an imitative species, deeply predisposed to group pressure and peer influence. And I suspect this has affected the acceptance of cryonics profoundly. Cryonics members are rare. Many of them are isolated or anonymous. Few advertise their affiliation. Fewer still are household names known to the common man. The vast majority of potential cryonics members dont know, see, or associate with anyone who has chosen the cryonics option. Fortunately, marketing problems tend to contain the clues to their solution. I once suggested to more than one cryonics organization that it write a letter to every agent in the entertainment and arts industries, pointing out the media attention likely to follow their famous client should that client sign up for cryonics. Would it be possible to persuade a publicity agent that if publicity at any price is good, worldwide publicity for the price of an Alcor membership would be a good bargain indeed? I think so. If Qaballah can get Madonna in the papers for months, why cant cryonics? Behind the suggestion lies marketing practice and social-psychological principle. Research in both areas shows that people will do what they see others doing. Most Americans are not moved by Eric Drexlers or Mar-
firms. They have many other duties to perform, and many other services to provide. But the value of a specialist organization focused on such efforts is obvious. To that end, in late 2005 publisher and direct mail specialist Nick Pavlica, Canadian attorney Bruce Waugh, and I formed a nonprofit organization called the Cryonics Society (www.cryonicssociety.org) to do just that put a polished professional case for cryonics before the public. So far the Society has already put a positive message about cryonics before hundreds of thousands of people. And it has not been easy to do. The Cryonics Society is not affiliated or supported by any cryonics services organization. The only support we get comes from tax-deductible contributions by people in the cryonics community. What we can do in the future depends totally on how much support people give us today. But to the degree that the Society has already raised awareness of cryonics and the need to market it better, our efforts have been well spent. And what should we be most aware of ? That ways to make cryonics more acceptable to the public are there and that there are proven methods to find them. Cryonics can be made appealing, attractive, desirable, even popular. If pet rocks and tobacco and bungee jumping can be sold, cryonics can too. It is simply a matter of studying the market and finding the key. I have always been surprised at the way advocates of cryonics champion science, analysis, and the use of qualified professionals in technical research yet rely on luck, intuScience ition, and guesswork when it comes to marketing. When we learn to apply the same proand the Science of Marketing Marketing cryonics can be a frustrating fessional rigor to social research that we apply business. Perhaps understandably. Existing to cryobiological research, we will take a giant cryonics organizations are not marketing step towards making cryonics a reality. vin Minskys choice for cryonics because most Americans do not know who these worthy gentlemen are. If they saw a Tom Hanks, a Danny De Vito, a Tiger Woods opting for cryopreservation and liking it, would they be more inclined to sign too? The studies predict yes. Or consider families. One reason the growth of family memberships in cryonics is on the rise is that children and spouses and siblings see significant, similar, respected others making the choice for cryonics. They see others do it, and so they make the same choice. The more families join, the more the effect spreads. And marketing policies can be shaped to encourage this and to encourage it in other social networks, possibly with social networks with compatible outlooks such as transhumanists, extropians and other futurists. Another social psychology principle is cognitive dissonance. Get people supporting an idea intellectually, even without commitment, and commitment follows. People who are asked to make a positive case for something end up convincing themselves. One marketing idea along these lines might be to blanket as many universities as possible with the annual offer of a thousand dollars in scholarship funds for a winning essay about why one should sign up for cryonics. The organization would look good for supporting education; students would benefit; and many of them would be thinking and arguing strongly in favor of cryonics membership. Theory and practice suggest memberships would burgeon.

ue operating in Arizona. She directed us to visit with Jim Bush and work out the language that would rectify the error in the original draft. At the same time, others in the Legislature that have become Alcor supporters over the past few years were on alert to make sure that corrective action was taken before the bill could be enacted into law. Had difficulties occurred, there were plenty of stops in the process where we could recommend changes. It turned out that a simple, one word language change, was all that was needed to rectify the problem. Jim Bush agreed with the change and in fact the change was so simple that it was made as a verbal amendment in the Senate Health Committee. But it is important to note that, simple or not, had the deficiency not been noticed and changed during the process our rights under the UAGA may well have been jeopardized.
As we have articulated in the past the legislative process is a marathon, not a sprint. It is important that we continue to be interested, observant and involved. Down at the Legislature, absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Down there, clearly out of sight is out of mind. When it comes to cryonics in Arizona, Alcor is committed to keeping the Legislature mindful of its best interests. Contact the author: aarons1231@aol.com Barry M. Aarons Barry M. Aarons is the owner of The Aarons Company, a public policy consulting firm. Aarons has over 30 years experience in policy development, public affairs implementation and lobbying in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress. He has represented the Alcor Foundation since 2004.
The new Arizona Anatomical Gift Act is clear and protects Alcors interests.
The definitions section defines a procurement organization as: A storage facility that is licensed, accredited or approved under federal law or the laws of any state to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage or distribution of human bodies or parts. Another governing section defining persons who may receive anatomical gifts says: An anatomical gift may be made toa hospital, accredited medical school, dental school, college, university, procurement organization or any other appropriate person, for research or education. When taken together these two statutory declarations absolutely maintain the authority Alcor currently enjoys under the UAGA. An additional protective part of the new law that is generally part of all uniform laws says: In applying and construing this article, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it. Read the revised Arizona UAGA in full: http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/48leg/1r/bills/sb1099c.pdf

Diamond Offers Stable Quantum Computing Building Block
Surmounting several distinct hurdles to quantum computing, physicists at Harvard University have found that individual carbon-13 atoms in a diamond lattice can be manipulated with extraordinary precision to create stable quantum mechanical memory and a small quantum processor, also known as a quantum register, operating at room temperature. The finding brings the futuristic technology of quantum information systems into the realm of solid-state materials under ordinary condiBBC News tions. The results, described this week in Sci5/2/07 ence, could revolutionize scientists approach http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/ to quantum computing, which is built on the tech/6612411.stm profound eccentricity of quantum mechanics and could someday far outperform conventional supercomputers in solving certain To Treat the Dead problems. These experiments lay the The new science of resuscitation is changing groundwork for development of a new the way doctors think about heart attacks www.alcor.org Cryonics/Fourth Quarter 2007
Pill to End Monthly Periods Approved
Lybrel, a birth-control pill that does away with a womans monthly period, was approved May 22 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The estrogen-progestin hormonal pill differs from traditional birth-control pills in that it does not include the week off of placebo pills that leads to a cessation of artificial hormones and onset of menstruation. Lybrel is described as continual contraception but it works the same way as the 21-days on, seven-days off [pill] cycleit stops the bodys monthly preparation for pregnancy by lowering the production of hormones that make pregnancy possible, explained Dr. Daniel Shames, deputy director of the FDAs Office 21
of Drug Evaluation III at the Center for that we are producing far more carbon dioxDrug Evaluation and Research. ide from fossil fuels than we ought to be. And its going to lead to trouble unless we can Health.ivillage.com begin to reduce the amount of fossil fuels we 5/22/07 are burning and using in our economies. http://health.ivillage.com/gyno/gynonews/ 0,,wbnews_bmz3b2sf,00.html BBC News 9/14/07 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ sci/tech/6994760.stm Cooling May Have Helped Save

NFL Players Spine

When paramedics wheeled Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett into Buffalos Millard Fillmore Hospital September 9, a life-threatening spine injury had rendered him functionally quadriplegic and potentially paralyzed for life. But an experimental treatment may have drastically improved his chances of walking again, according to some doctors. The treatment, which involves an infusion of ice-cold saline, nudges the body into a state of hypothermiaa step aimed at limiting the cascade of events in the body that can lead to further spinal cord damage after an injury. Dr. Kevin Gibbons, one of the neurosurgeons at Millard Fillmore Hospital who operated on Everett, said that his team had decided to go forward with the cooling after Everetts body temperature rose dramatically after his injury. Although we are not sure that cold temperature is good, we know high temperature is bad in a neurological injury, Gibbons said. But the procedure may have done more than simply cool Everett down; it may also have helped limit the damage caused by the injury. ABC News 9/12/07 http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ story?id=3592871&page=1

found in red wine called resveratrol can protect against neuron degeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimers disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The researchers demonstrated that activating SIRT1 and injecting resveratrol, which have both been previously associated with life-span extension in lower organisms, can also prevent cognitive problems in the mice. Thus, resveratrol is not only neuroprotective, it also improves cognitive function after severe neurodegeneration, says Li-Huei Tsai, the professor of neuroscience at MIT who led the research with David Sinclair, a professor of pathology at Harvard. MIT Technology Review 7/23/07 http://www.technologyreview.com/ Biotech/19080/
Universal Flu Vaccine Being Tested on Humans
A universal influenza vaccine that has been pioneered by researchers from VIB and Ghent University (Belgium) is being tested for the first time on humans by the British-American biotech company Acambis. This vaccine is intended to provide protection against all A strains of the virus that cause human influenza, including pandemic strains. Influenza is an acute infection of the bronchial tubes and is caused by the influenza virus. Flu is probably one of the most underestimated diseases: it is Resveratrol is shown to protect against neuron highly contagious and causes people to feel degeneration in animal experiments. It is deathly ill. An average of 5% of the worlds found in grapes, wine, grape juice, peanuts, population is annually infected with this virus. and berries. In grapes, resveratrol is found This leads to 3 to 5 million hospitalizations only in the skins. The amount of resveratrol in and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths per year, with grape skins varies with the grape cultivar, its totals much higher should a pandemic develgeographic origin, and exposure to fungal infecop. Todays flu vaccines need to be adapted tion. The amount of fermentation time a wine spends in contact with grape skins is an impor- every year and, consequently, they must also be administered again every year. A universal tant determinant of its resveratrol content. flu vaccine that provides broad and lifelong Source: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/ protectionlike the vaccines for polio, hepaphytochemicals/resveratrol/ titis B or measlesis not yet available. However, in the 1990s, VIB researchers connected to Ghent University, under the direction of Saving Memories Prof. Emeritus Walter Fiers, invented a uniPhysicians can treat the symptoms of versal flu vaccine. After further development, Alzheimers disease and other neurodegenera- phase I clinical trials of the vaccine are now tive disorders, but there is no way to prevent underway. or reverse the underlying degeneration and death of neurons that characterize these disIntern Daily eases. Now research by scientists at Harvard 7/18/07 and MIT suggests a potential new therapeutic http://www.interndaily.com/reports/ approach. The scientists have shown that a Universal_Flu_Vaccine_Being_Tested_ gene called SIRT1 and a plant compound On_Humans_999.html

Bush Aide Says Warming Man-Made
Professor John Marburger, who advises President Bush, said it is more than 90% certain that greenhouse gas emissions from mankind are to blame for global warming. The earth may become unlivable without cuts in carbon dioxide output, he said, but he labeled targets for curbing temperature rise as arbitrary. His comments come shortly before major meetings on climate change at the UN and the White House. Despite disagreement on the details of climate science, he said: I think there is widespread agreement on certain basics, and one of the most important is
Some people who live past 100 may have a natural genetic tendency for lower insulin signaling in the brain.
Insulin Signaling Possible Key to Extended Longevity
New research shows it may be possible to one day take a life-extending pill that mimics the healthy effects of exercise and a low-calorie diet by lowering insulin signaling in the brain. The key to a longer life is lower insulin levels, said Morris White, a pediatrician and endocrinologist at Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Less insulin helps cells fend off diseases that lead to an early death, like cancer, said White, whose study appears in the July 19 Science. With calorie restriction and exercise, cancer, diabetes, cardiac disease and others all get postponed. It still happens, but at a later age. Its thought to be at least partly involved in the longer life span, White told United Press International. Insulin is the substance made by the pancreas that allows cells to metabolize glucose. But recent research shows that too much insulin is far from helpful and instead makes cells vulnerable to diseases that may shorten life, like cancer, artery disease, Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease. While lowering insulin throughout the body can lead to a diabetic state, scientists found that the life of mice was extended by allowing insulin levels to be high throughout most
of the body, while lowering the insulin sig- in this condition for years, the researchers naling only in the brain through genetic say. Patients in a minimally conscious state, manipulation. often the result of severe brain trauma, show only intermittent evidence of awareIntern Daily ness of the world around them. Typically, 7/20/07 they are assumed to have little chance of http://www.interndaily.com/reports/ further recovery if they show no improveInsulin_Signaling_Possible_Key_To_ ment during their initial 12-month rehabiliExtended_Longevity_999.html tation program. In the latest case study, Nicholas Schiff of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, and his colleagues describe how they implanted electrodes in Memory Seen in the Making The physical changes that occur when the the brain of a 38-year-old man who had brain makes a new memory have been been in a minimally conscious state for observed for the first time, say researchers, more than six years following a serious who hope to go on to map the distribution assault. By electrically stimulating a brain of memory across brain regions. Gary region called the central thalamus, they Lynch of the University of California, were able to help him name objects on Irvine, and his colleagues examined the request, make precise hand gestures, and junctions between neuronssynapsesin chew food without the aid of a feeding three dimensions using a technique called tube. restorative deconvolution microscopy news@nature.com (RDM). In previous work the group devel8/1/07 oped a fluorescent marker that attaches to http://www.nature.com/news/2007/ synapses in the brain that have recently 070730/full/448522a.html undergone a certain type of neuron-toneuron connection believed to be responsiContact the author: ble for encoding memory, called long-term mike@alcor.org potentiation (LTP). In the current study the team exposed live rats to a novel environment and allowed them to learn its layout. They then removed the animals brains to examine the hippocampusa region involved in memoryusing RDM to observe individual synapses. A second group of rats was shown the new environment but not allowed to explore it before their brains were examined. A third group was allowed to learn the same new environment but given a drug to block LTP. Only rats that had undergone learning and memory acquisition without blockage of LTP showed new synaptic growth. Nature.com 7/25/07 http://intl.emboj.org/nature/journal/ v448/n7152/full/448397a.html

Cryonics/First Quarter 2010

www.alcor.org

Executive Directors Report

Jennifer Chapman

he first quarter of 2010 has been a busy time. We navigated a lastminute case, prevailed in an epic legal battle in the state of Colorado on behalf of patient Mary Robbins, and negotiated a favorable resolution with a medical examiner in the state of Florida for a long-time member. Although all three were straight freeze cases, an outcome we intently try to avoid, we fought hard for the best interests of these patients and gained important experience in the process. We continue to monitor several members facing various degrees of risk, while moving ahead with our technical development and patient care initiatives. We also processed our first membership dues increase in nearly a decade. Read on for a more detailed explanation of recent happenings at Alcor.
the son secured release of the individual from the medical examiners office and signed the membership agreements, we approved A-2469 as an Alcor patient. We placed the patient on dry ice and drove her back to Alcor for neuroseparation and a straight freeze procedure. A-2469 became Alcors 90th patient.
http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/ pr2010-02-22.html March 1: Colorado Springs Court Upholds Desire of Alcor Member to be Cryopreserved http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/ pr2010-03-01.html March 3: Alcor and Robbins Family Reach Amicable Settlement http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/ pr2010-03-03.html Three Alcor representatives testified at a hearing about this matter, and the court found our testimony credible. After weeks of Alcor coordinating remote deployments, maintaining relations with the funeral home, working with the attorneys, and dealing with the media, it was quite a relief to finally have Mary Robbins as Alcors 91st patient on March 5th. This case emphasized the importance of being very cautious about the funding arrangements we accept. In the case of Mary Robbins, we approved a special funding arrangement whereby Alcor was not the irrevocable beneficiary of Marys annuity. Although she agreed not to change the beneficiary, authorization from Alcor was not required from the insurance companys standpoint. Mary kept her end of the bargain, but the beneficiary was changed by Marys power of attorney, just before her death, without Alcors knowledge or consent. Our current membership requirements follow the principle that we only accept arrangements requiring Alcors signature for substantive changes to the funding mechanism. However, some funding arrangements approved in the past do not follow this principle. In the coming days, we will consider what can be done to address this issue, and others, raised by this case. 3
A-1926: Fighting For Your Rights
On Friday, February 6th, we were contacted by the family of Mary Robbins (A1926). Mary had been admitted to the hospital for complications associated with a recent cancer diagnosis. In fact, Mary had contacted Alcor herself only a month prior, after learning of her diagnosis, to ensure her Alcor membership was in order. Unfortunately, her health rapidly declined, and she was admitted to hospice care in Colorado Springs a few days before pronouncement of legal death. As her condition worsened, her family became less communicative. Alcor was not immediately informed of her death, despite having deployed Aaron Drake to Colorado to check her condition, and so began a three-week dispute between the Robbins family and Alcor. Mary was maintained on dry ice at a local mortuary until a court ruled in Alcors favor. Despite the favorable ruling, a settlement agreement was signed between the parties. We were well represented by our legal team in Colorado. The media quickly took interest in the legal dispute, prompting us to explain that Alcors motives were purely to uphold the wishes of our long-standing member. We spearheaded the effort to keep the public informed by distributing the below press releases available on the News Media page of our website: February 22: Alcor Attempts to Fulfill Wishes of Colorado Springs Woman

Louis had entered an extended care facility, we sent an abbreviated medication kit to the head nurse of the facility. We continue to maintain communications regarding this member, with both his family and health care providers. I was pleased to recently speak with the Texas regional group leader, Steve Jackson, about activities involving our emergency response network. The Texas group is proactively seeking medical professionals for their team and taking other actions to build their capabilities, such as establishing contact with the chief medical officer at a local hospital and locating friendly funeral homes. Our caseload is quite high right now, averaging about one case per month since December. We continue to work with the regional teams to aid their development when possible and replenish their inventory as needed. We hope to restore our training program in the second half of the year. As a supplement to the in-person training, we have started production on a training DVD with supporting documentation. In this video, Aaron Drake will demonstrate how to perform certain emergency response skills on cryonics patients.

Cryonics Experiments

In late January, we were presented with a rare opportunity for training, equipment testing and information-gathering about the effects of cryopreservation on the brain. A woman in Florida had donated her body to Alcor, not for the purpose of being cryopreserved, with the hope of revival, but for the purpose of research. The matter was discussed extensively with Alcors technical staff and several advisors, as well as Suspended Animation, Inc. The pros and cons of proceeding were conscientiously weighed. In the end, several factors resulted in a declination of the anatomical gift. Factors that were considered included cost, the risk of communicable disease, the lack of forewarning of her death, legal concerns, and the need to restore readiness after the A-2469 case. Although we believe that donations of this nature could be an important resource for Alcor, proper preparations must be made in advance of such opportunities in the future. Along the lines of information-gathering regarding cryonics procedures, we entered into an agreement with Advanced Neural Biosciences, Inc. (ANB) that will help Alcor address long-standing issues relevant to the field of cryonics. Part of the agreement involves ANB conducting experiments requested by Alcor. The details of these experiments are still being worked out, but it will likely involve validating existing and potential www.alcor.org

is easy to imagine that someone might attempt to convince us to cancel our decision to be cryopreserved. 7) To give items five and six even more weight, you may want to make a video that documents your wishes. This can be a simple statement that you record on your own and then forward a copy to Alcor in case it may be needed in the future. Ensure that your cryopreservation funding is rock solid. Most people use a life insurance policy with Alcor as the owner, or joint owner, and beneficiary. Rudi Hoffman wrote recently that he was not aware of a single suspension that was delayed for funding considerations when there was adequate life insurance in place in a verifiable manner. The healthier Alcor is the better it is for all of us, so if your funding vehicle has more funds than are needed for your cryopreservation, consider assigning some or all of the additional funds to Alcor. Alcor can provide the forms to assist with this.
instructions for what you want done if you are incapacitated and not able to communicate your wishes. At the end of this article is an example AMD kindly contributed by Dr. Newport. Feel free to send an email to mgeisen@gmail.com if you would like an electronic version of this AMD. Youre welcome to use this as a template for creating your own AMD, however, you may want to consult with your doctor and/or lawyer. 13) Set up a Durable Power of Attorney so that if you are incapacitated, people you trust will have the ability to act on your behalf. Again, Dr. Newport has contributed an example at the end of this article. Feel free to use this as a template for your own version and, once again, you may want to consult with your doctor and/or lawyer. 14) Set up Next of Kin Status Assignment (may also be called permission to release medical information) to give Alcor access to your medical information. You may also choose to include people that you trust. Again, you may want to consult with your doctor and/or lawyer. It would be a good idea to provide copies of items to Alcor. Taking action on any one of these 14 steps can significantly improve the odds that you will have a high quality cryopreservation, which, in turn, may lead to an earlier and higher quality resuscitation. I
10) If there is any indication that your health may be at risk, alert Alcor immediately. Members do this on a frequent basis and the Alcor staff appreciates knowing of any significant risk to your health because it helps them be prepared for a quick response. Depending on the circumstances, an Alcor staff member may talk with your medical representative or begin preparations to mobilize people and equipment to standby for your safety. 11) If there is any concern that your life may be at risk, seriously consider relocating to Scottsdale, near the Alcor facility. By relocating to Scottsdale you will substantially improve the odds of your getting a high quality cryopreservation. Contact Alcor to discuss options for this decision. 12) Set up an Advance Medical Directive (AMD). An AMD is a written list of

How to Protect your Cryonics Arrangements from Interference by Third Parties

By Rebecca Lively

n December 15, 2004, Orville Richardson signed up with Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Inc., to have his body cryopreserved in the event of his legal death. This was not a simple matter for Orville. When Orville signed up with Alcor, he paid an upfront lump sum payment of $70,000. He also had to read and fill out at least three lengthy legal agreements expressing his intentions. Ultimately, before Orvilles arrangements with Alcor could become final he had to gather two witnesses and a notary and attest to his wishes publically. On February 21, 2009, Orville Richardson was embalmed and buried. Orville had not changed his mind about his 14
arrangements prior to his legal death. Orville did not want to be buried, and we have reason to believe the people who made the arrangements to bury Orville knew it. Yet, despite the contracts he had signed, the money he had paid, and the people he had told, no one stepped in to protect Orvilles wishes or inform Alcor of his legal death. How did Orville go from a signed up cryonicist to embalmed and buried six feet underground? Unfortunately, Orville did not do enough to ensure that his cryopreservation would begin as soon as possible after his legal death. The unfortunate truth is that the family members of cryonicists often pose the greatest risk to a prompt cryopreservation. Orvilles expressed wishes Cryonics/First Quarter 2010
for cryopreservation were not upheld by his own brother and sister after he became unable to take care of himself. Accordingly, it is critical for cryonicists to manage the risk that family members pose to a successful and prompt cryopreservation. The purpose of this article is to suggest legal and practical strategies to minimize the risk of unsupportive family members and to limit the amount of time which passes between legal death and the start of cryopreservation procedures for as many cryonicists as possible. While a precise description of the laws and policies in every state and country is far beyond the scope of this article, the below categories are intended to point cryonicists in www.alcor.org
the right direction to avoid devastating conflicts with their arrangements. However, nothing can replace hiring a knowledgeable and cryonics-friendly attorney in your jurisdiction. I. Sign Up With a Cryonics Provider
The September 1989 issue of Cryonics magazine contained a survey of 109 people who identified as cryonicists. Of the respondents, 34% indicated that they were not signed up with any cryonics organization. While this percentage has likely improved in the twenty-plus years since the survey was taken, it is safe to assume that at least some of the intended readers of this article have not yet signed up with a cryonics organization despite identifying as cryonicists. Obviously, the first and most important step toward cryopreservation is signing up and arranging funding. The excuses for not signing up are varied and range from not having family support to not having the money to being young and healthy and waiting until you need cryonics to sign up. Regardless of the reason, if you are not signed up for cryonics your best case scenario at legal death involves suffering ischemic damage while a friend or loved one makes last-minute arrangements for your cryopreservation. Of course, the more likely scenario is that such last-minute arrangements will not be possible. Being young and healthy is no excuse either. First, young and healthy people die every day. Second, the best time to arrange for life insurance to fund your cryopreservation is when you are young and healthy. Locking in the relatively low life insurance premiums generally available to the under-forty set is reason enough to arrange funding and sign up as soon as possible. While signing up with Alcor seems like the simple and obvious solution, it is the most important step you can possibly take toward ensuring you are cryopreserved at the time of your legal death. II. Designate a Guardian Orville knew his family was not supportive of his decision to be cryopreserved. Indeed, the brother and sister who cared for Orville after he was unable to care for himself admitted in court documents that they tried to talk [Orville] out of his plan www.alcor.org

explaining your wishes and desires. This video can provide further evidence of your strong desire to be cryopreserved. VII. Conclusion In the end, the Illinois Appellate Court has ordered that Orville Richardson will get his wish to be cryopreserved. However, well over one year has passed since his burial in February 2009. The damage that has occurred in that time is an unthinkable disaster that no cryonicist should endure. This disaster may have been prevented if Orville had taken the proper steps to prevent his siblings from having medical decision making authority, made his last wishes known, and removed all financial incentives to hindering his cryopreservation. The ultimate outcome of the Orville Richardson legal case is hopeful and the precedent it has set will help future cryonicists. However, the presence of supportive legal precedent will not save you from the ischemic damage which will occur while you wait for a court to rule. Do not become the next cryonics legal battle. If you have already put the time and money into signing up with a cryonics organization, put in a little bit more effort and safeguard your arrangements in as many legal and practical ways as you can. I

About the Author

Rebecca Lively Rebecca is an attorney living in San Antonio, Texas. While she primarily practices intellectual property law, she is also interested in the legal aspects of estate planning for members of cryonics organizations.

By Aschwin de Wolf

dvocates of human cryo- and legal consequences? change someones existing chance at revival preservation argue that death is not A related problem is the termination of from possible to impossible. The example an event but a process. Cryonics cryonics procedures. Advocates of cryonics also illustrates the role that probability of patients are stabilized at low temperatures agree that a person who has not chosen resuscitation plays in such considerations. in anticipation of a second medical opinion cryonics should never be forced to be cry- Few people would argue that it does not in the future. This raises an important opreserved. But what is the right course of matter at all how credible resuscitation of ethical issue. What is the moral status of action when such a person is already cryop- cryonics patients is for making decisions cryonics patients? It is not possible to argue reserved? Can we just thaw him out? Let us about the moral status of cryonics patients, that cryonics patients will be resuscitated in consider the case of a person with a Do interference with cryonics procedures, and the future. But it is not possible to rule this Not Resuscitate (DNR) order who is acci- the decision to terminate somebody already out either. As a matter of fact, evidence dentally resuscitated because paramedics in cryostasis. from cryobiology, neuroscience, and were not aware of his wishes on the matter. We want certainty in a universe that only synthetic biology support the technical fea- Few people would argue that this person offers us probabilities. The ethical and legal sibility of cryonics. As a consequence, should be killed before he gains awareness issues surrounding cryonics are not unique to cryonics patients are somewhere on a to honor his wishes. Now let us consider a cryonics. It is not just in cryonics where issues continuum between alive and of moral obligation are discussed irreversible biological death. The ethical and legal issues surrounding in the context of uncertainty, What does this mean when probability and risk. It will be someone interferes with a cryonics are not unique to cryonics. rewarding to review these philopersons wish to be cryopresophical and legal debates and see served? In essence, those who successfully situation where it is discovered that a how debates about interference with cryonics prevent the cryopreservation of a person person was cryopreserved against his will can be framed from these perspectives. have altered the probability of future but at a point in the future when the In the meantime, people who have revival from possible to impossible. prospect of resuscitation becomes increas- made cryonics arrangements are not comFor example, let us assume that cryonics ingly likely. In such a case, the issue would pletely powerless against hostile interferpatients can be resuscitated in the future. be similar to a resuscitated DNR patient in ence. They can alter their cryonics What does this mean for those who were deep anesthesia. paperwork and living will to ensure that not cryopreserved because of hostile interThis example illustrates a number of there is little incentive for greedy relatives ference? Have they been killed? Most issues. There is a meaningful distinction to intefere. As a matter of fact, one could people would agree that such a verdict is between ignoring someones wishes not to change ones last wishes to ensure that too strong. But do we believe that a person be cryopreserved and terminating the cryo- interference would trigger the worst who knowingly changes the prospect of preservation of an existing patient. financial outcome for greedy family future revival from possible to impossible Honoring a persons wishes not to be cry- members and others who would stand to (or decreases those probabilities by causing opreserved requires non-interference. Thawing benefit from a person not getting cryopredelays) should be free from moral blame out an existing cryonics patient is an act to served. I

Preliminaries

Cryonics arrangements themselves are the basic preliminary for addressing the problem of ones clinical death, whatever might be involved. At the time arrangements are made some thought should be put into the possibility that intervention may be needed to escape damage to the brain, or that mental impairment may occur despite any efforts to avoid it. Stating ones wishes and preferences in writing is a good starting strategy which can be worked out with ones cryonics service provider. Among the desirable choices is for a durable power of attorney to make decisions in case one is incapacitated. Saving personal information in such forms as notes, diaries, photos, and audio or video clips is also highly advisable as a way to allow reconstructions of memory in case the brain is inadequately preserved. If possible, one should choose ones associates to be sympathetic and understanding of the intentions and procedures of cryonics. A friendly, supportive community of fellow cryonicists will help ensure the best results. Some discussion is in order about philosophical issues. Resuscitation from cryopreservation is a subject that has many divergent points of view even among those who accept the basic idea of cryonics. Most agree that with good preservation resuscitation is a worthwhile goal that might be Cryonics/First Quarter 2010
hope to recreate individuals, if no other data about them survives. Other possibilities for information storage exist but all are presently underdeveloped and underutilized for the purpose of backing up cryopreservations. Feedback from interested parties is badly needed.
Brain Disorders: Dealing with Symptoms
Dementias and malignant brain tumors are things we hope we never have to confront. Unfortunately they happen all too often so we must be prepared as far as possible. Very often the cryonics member has advance warning. A diagnosis is made that provides a time window before serious impairment can be expected. A reasonable course would be to deanimate before such has occurred. Due to laws in most jurisdictions, however, cryopreservation procedures cannot simply be started as in the case of a pet but special approaches must be used. A simple, straightforward approach in the case of a brain malignancy might be voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED) until clinical death occurs. This can be accomplished with hospitalization or hospice care, as has occurred with some Alcor cases Ive witnessed. One public case of this sort was Arlene Fried who was cryopreserved (as a neuro or head-only) at Alcors facility in Riverside, California in June 1990.2 Ms. Fried, who is Linda Chamberlains mother, had the loving, attentive support of her daughter and her son-in-law Fred Chamberlain, two cryonics pioneers who well understood and sympathized with her views and what she was attempting. Ms. Fried was cared for during approximately 10 days while her VSED was in progress, receiving only some moistening of her lips and mouth from time, and very limited amounts of fluid internally. She bravely toughed it out and accomplished her mission of cryopreservation, escaping both the ravages of the tumor in her head and the autopsy that would have followed had she chosen an easier exit. In her case the burden was lightened, to some degree at least, by the fact that her illness (actually lung cancer metastasized to the brain), was legally terminal. Thanks to this, hospital personnel were more sympathetic and beneficial to the course that was followed. A slower-acting but still lethal brain malady such as Alzheimers is not similarly classed as terminal and victims may find it harder to obtain assistance from www.alcor.org

the medical establishment. Starvation/dehydration is still arguably the best means of hastening ones death to escape brain impairment or otherwise speed ones cryopreservation. States in which assisted suicide is legal (currently Oregon, Washington, and Montana) allow that a physician can prescribe lethal medication which then must be self-administered by the patient (rather than administered by another party). To date no cryonicist has attempted to use the assisted suicide law of any of these jurisdictions to hasten deanimation. It would arguably be very risky to do so, in view of the unconventional nature of cryonics, which might invite bureaucratic interference.
Summary and Afterthoughts
In confronting the possibility of brainthreatening illness and mental impairment, cryonicists have two sorts of options, (1) preparation in advance, (2) intervention when symptoms appear. Preparing in advance includes choosing someone to act as representative and decision maker if one is incapacitated, and also, storing information to be used in restoring damaged memory or other brain functions. Interventive strategies when symptoms of intractable brain illness appear, include ways to hasten ones deanimation so cryopreservation can halt the destructive process. At present the safest such strategy appears to be voluntary stopping of eating and drinking. Deanimation is hastened in a way that is considered natural and does not require autopsy, so that cryoprotective procedures can begin without interference. The situation of course is far from ideal. Ideally, cryopreservation would be treated as a medical procedure which could be freely chosen and started at any reasonable time. This appears to be a long way off. Meanwhile we must work together to increase whatever options are feasible. This is a matter that affects us all, since we all have a terminal disorder (aging) which can drastically impair our mental functioning. I References
VSED: The Best Option for Now
In balance it appears that voluntary stopping of eating and drinking is the best of currently available means to hasten ones deanimation without inviting autopsy or legal recriminations. The following summary of VSED is adapted, with kind permission, from a review by David Brandt-Erichsen of the book, A Hastened Death by Self-Denial of Food and Drink, by Boudewijn Chabot, MD, PhD (Amsterdam, 2008, 64 pages; available from the Hemlock Society, email to fayegirsh@msn.com).3 The author, who in the book refers to the method as STopping Eating and Drinking (STED), studied 110 cases of VSED in the Netherlands. His book is a practical guide to VSED for both patients and health care givers. If water intake is stopped completely rather than tapered off, VSED takes about two weeks to cause death by dehydration; death is almost certain within 16 days. The discomfort involved is generally mild but will vary with individuals. Hunger usually disappears after a couple of days, and after a week of fasting, metabolic by-products generally cause a sense of well-being, even elation. Electrolyte imbalance (especially potassium loss) eventually causes cardiac arrest during sleep. The bowels should be cleansed at the start of VSED to avoid gastric distress later on. The most important comfort measure is adequate mouth care. The mouth can be kept moist with small amounts of ice chips, sugar-free popsicles or gum, or saliva substitutes. VSED itself generally does not require pain medication but the patients other health problems may require it for palliative care. Benzodiazepines (such as Valium) may be prescribed for anxiety if needed. Cryonics/First Quarter 2010

Linda Ganzini, M.D., M.P.H., Elizabeth R. Goy, Ph.D., Lois L. Miller, Ph.D., R.N., Theresa A. Harvath, R.N., Ph.D., Ann Jackson, M.B.A. and Molly A. Delorit, B.A., Nurses Experiences with Hospice Patients Who Refuse Food and Fluids to Hasten Death, New England Journal of Medicine 2003, 349:359-365 (July 24, 2003), http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/ NEJMsa035086#articleMethods (accessed 26 Jul 2010). Linda Chamberlain, Her Blue Eyes Will Sparkle, Cryonics Dec. 1990, 16, http://www.alcor.org/cryonics/cryonics 9012.txt (accessed 22 Apr 2010). http://www.choicesarizona.org/files/N ewsletter-2009-1.pdf, 8 (accessed 22 Apr 2010). My thanks to David Brandt-Erichsen, Hugh Hixon, Cairn Idun, and Ralph Merkle in preparing this article.

LONG LIFE?

Author: Robert Begam [Dallas, TX: Durban House Press, 2008] book review by Mike Perry
veteran trial lawyer with a penchant for courtroom fiction, Robert Begam achieved critical acclaim with his first novel, Fireball (1987). He now offers a cliffhanger sequel which in fact is a tale about cryonics. Kent Eastman, a young adventurer with a Ph.D. in physics, is injured in a skiing accident and gets AIDS from a bad blood transfusion. He has meanwhile made acquaintance with Rebecca Adler, the young CEO of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Omega Terrace which does high-priced human cryopreservations. As the end approaches he makes a decision based on his hopes of seeing the future despite his illness. My head is still working, he tells Rebecca, but my body is rotting away, and before this disease starts eating at my brain, I want out. I want you to freeze me, suspend me. Rebecca is horrified at the risk he is asking her to taketo give him a premortem preservation, inviting charges of homicidebut out of sympathy and compassion agrees to help. Kent, now wheelchairbound but still alert, visits the facility with his parents who understand and accept his intentions, though his mother is conflicted with religious misgivings. Taking personal charge when backs are turned Rebecca starts the procedure. Despite efforts at concealment the secret leaks out and she is charged with capital murder. Joe Purcell, fresh from his victory in the Fireball case, is asked to defend. At first the case looks hopeless but he hits on the strategy of raising the issue, is the victim really dead? At this point Im thinking, g story so far, reat but the case does look hopeless. What do you do? Two decades ago Thomas Donaldson, a real-life brain cancer patient, sought permission in the California courts for a premortem cryopreservation and was turned down. The arguments against him were based straightforwardly on legal definitions. Cryopreserved people meet the criteria for legal death just the same as if they were buried or cremated. Anyone assisting in a premortem cryopreservation would be complicit in a homicide. Homicide victims are autopsied, in addition to the complications for the perpetrators. 22

Robert Begam A graduate of the college and law school of Yale University, Robert Begam is the founding partner of Begam, Lewis & Marks, a nationally prominent law firm of litigation specialists. Long recognized as one of the most skillful trial lawyers in the United States, he is past president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, comprising 60,000 trial lawyers in all 50 states. www.alcor.org

Membership Statistics

On December 31, 2009, Alcor had 913 members on its Emergency Responsibility List. During the year of memberships were approved, 4 memberships were reinstated, 24 memberships were cancelled and 5 members were cryopreserved. Overall, there was a net gain of 38 members for the year of 2009 to date. The chart on the left displays the year-end monthly average net gain since 2002.
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R. Michael Perry, Ph.D.
Solar Cells Made through Oil-and-Water Self-Assembly
Researchers have demonstrated a simple, cheap way to create self-assembling electronic devices using a property crucial to salad dressings. It uses the fact that oil- and water-based liquids do not mix, forming devices from components that align along the boundary between the two. The idea joins a raft of approaches toward selfassembly, but lends itself particularly well to small components. The work is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Crucially, it could allow the largescale assembly of high-quality electronic components on materials of just about any type, in contrast to inkjet printed electronics or some previous self-assembly techniques. Such efforts have until now exploited the effect of gravity, assembling devices through so-called sedimentation. In this approach, blank devices are etched with depressions to match precisely-shaped components. Simply dumped into a liquid, the components should settle down into the blank device like sand onto a riverbed, in just the right places. Thats what we tried for at least two years and we were never able to assemble these components with high yield gravity wasnt working, said Heiko Jacobs of the University of Minnesota, who led the research. BBC News 1/12/10 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ science/nature/8452912.stm __________________________________

US Military to Make Jet Fuel from Algae
If military researchers in the US are right, jet fuel produced from algae may soon be Cryonics/First Quarter 2010
developed the prototype on which the new 3D bio-printer is based. The first production models will soon be delivered to research groups which, like Dr Forgacss, are studying ways to produce tissue and organs for repair and replacement. At present much of this work is done by hand or by adapting existing instruments and devices. The Economist 2/18/10 http://www.economist.com/ science-technology/ displaystory.cfm?story_id=15543683 __________________________________
Lame Mosquitoes to Stop Dengue
Scientists are breeding a genetically altered strain of mosquito in an effort to curb the spread of dengue fever. The dengue virus is spread by the bite of infected female mosquitoes and there is no vaccine or treatment. Experts say the illness affects up to 100 million people a year and threatens over a third of the worlds population. Scientists hope their genetically altered males will mate with females to create female offspring that will inherit a gene limiting wing growth, making them unable to fly. The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists say their approach offers a safe, efficient alternative to harmful insecticides and could be used to stop other diseases spread by mosquitoes, like malaria. Researcher Professor Anthony James, of the University of California, Irvine, said: Current dengue control methods are not sufficiently effective, and new ones are urgently needed.
predictingwith up to 99 percent accuracy the fate of stem cells. Using advanced computer vision technology to detect subtle cell movements that are impossible to discern with the human eye, Professor Badri Roysam and his former student Andrew Cohen can successfully forecast how a stem cell will split and what key characteristics the daughter cells will exhibit. By allowing the isolation of cells with specific capabilities, this discovery could one day lead to effective methods for growing stem cells on a large scale for therapeutic use. If you have many cells in a culture, they all look the same. But our new method senses all sorts of tiny differences in the shapes and movements of the cells, and uses these cues to predict what kind of cells it will divide into, said Roysam. We believe this method will be beneficial for one day taking cells from a patient, and then growing large amounts of the kind of cells that patient is in need of. This could enable many new and exciting types of medical treatments using stem cells. Results of the study, titled Computational prediction of neural progenitor cell fates, were published recently in the journal Nature Methods. Clone Age 3/3/10 http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/ Predicting_The_Fate_Of_Stem_ Cells_999.html __________________________________
Academy of Sciences, opens a powerful, mathematical route for conducting stem cell research and shows the power of interdisciplinary collaborations in science. It also demonstrates that using computers to mine existing databases can radically accelerate research in the laboratory. Ultimately, it may lead to advances in diverse areas of medicine such as disease diagnosis or cancer therapy. ScienceDaily 3/16/10 http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2010/03/100315161915.htm __________________________________

Reversal of the Developmental Aging of Normal Human Cells
BioTime, Inc. (NYSE Amex:BTIM), a biotechnology company that develops and markets products in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine, on Mar. 16 announced publication of a scientific paper titled Spontaneous Reversal of Developmental Aging in Normal Human Cells Following Transcriptional Reprogramming. The article was released online in the peer-reviewed journal Regenerative Medicine in advance of the print publication. Using precise genetic modifications, normal human cells were induced to reverse both the clock of differentiation (the process by which an embryonic stem cell becomes the many specialized differentiated cell types of the body), and the clock of cellular aging (telomere length). The on-line version of the article can be found at h t t p : / / w w w. f u t u r e m e d i c i n e. c o m / doi/abs/10.2217/rme.10.21. This is just the beginning of some really fascinating new possibilities for intervening in age-related disease, said Michael D. West, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of BioTime. We believe that these technologies will have a significant impact on the future of medicine. However, it is important to underscore that much work needs to be done to translate these findings into safe and efficacious therapies. Earthtimes 3/16/10 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/ show/biotime-inc-reports-peerreviewed-scientific,1206294.shtml __________________________________
Computational Feat Speeds Finding of Genes to Milliseconds Instead of Years
Like a magician who says, Pick a card, any card, Stanford University computer scientist Debashis Sahoo, PhD, seemed to be offering some kind of trick when he asked researchers at the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine to pick any two genes already known to be involved in stem cell development. Finding such genes can take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars, but Sahoo was promising the skeptical stem cell scientists that, in a fraction of a second and for practically zero cost, he could find new genes involved in the same developmental pathway as the two genes provided. Sahoo went on to show that this amazing feat could actually be performed. The proof-ofprinciple for his idea, to be published online March 15 in the Proceedings of the National
BBC News 2/23/10 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ health/8528417.stm __________________________________
Predicting the Fate of Stem Cells
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a new method for

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What is Cryonics?

ryonics is an attempt to preserve and protect the gift of human life, not reverse death. It is the speculative practice of using extreme cold to preserve the life of a person who can no longer be supported by todays medicine. Will future medicine, including mature nanotechnology, have the ability to heal at the cellular and molecular levels? Can cryonics successfully carry the cryopreserved person forward through time, for however many decades or centuries might be necessary, until the cryopreservation process can be reversed and the person restored to full health? While cryonics may sound like science fiction, there is a basis for it in real science. The complete scientific story of cryonics is seldom told in media reports, leaving cryonics widely misunderstood. We invite you to reach your own conclusions.

How do I find out more?

he Alcor Life Extension Foundation is the world leader in cryonics research and technology. Alcor is a non-profit organization located in Scottsdale, Arizona, founded in 1972. Our website is one of the best sources of detailed introductory information about Alcor and cryopreservation (www.alcor.org). We also invite you to request our FREE information package on the Free Information section of our website. It includes: A fully illustrated color brochure A sample of our magazine An application for membership and brochure explaining how to join And more! Your free package should arrive in 1-2 weeks. (The complete package will be sent free in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.)

How do I enroll?

igning up for a cryopreservation is easy!
Step 1: Fill out an application and submit it with your $150 application fee. Step 2: You will then be sent a set of contracts to review and sign. Step 3: Fund your cryopreservation. While most people use life insurance to fund their cryopreservation, other forms of prepayment are also accepted. Alcors Membership Coordinator can provide you with a list of insurance agents familiar with satisfying Alcors current funding requirements. Finally: After enrolling, you will wear emergency alert tags or carry a special card in your wallet. This is your confirmation that Alcor will respond immediately to an emergency call on your behalf.