On September 6, 2007 we launched the blog Depressed Metabolism for a number of reasons. The most important one was to launch a blog with a strong emphasis on cryonics. Although there are a number of good blogs on aging and life extension, there was not such a blog for cryonics. Another reason was to [...]
Cryoenzymology and cryoprotectant toxicity
The major limiting obstacle to reversible cryopreservation of complex organs is cryoprotectant toxicity. Elimination of ice formation through vitrification requires high concentrations of cryoprotective agents. These high concentrations of cryoprotectants can be toxic to tissues. Over the years, major advances by the cryobiology research company 21st Centrury Medicine have been made to reduce the toxicity [...]
Liberal creationism and transhumanism
In ‘Who is Against Evolution?’, David Friedman discusses the phenomenon that most people who are against teaching creationism tend to avoid and discourage discussing the human implications of evolution themselves:
People who say they are against teaching the theory of evolution are very likely to be Christian fundamentalists. But people who are against taking seriously the [...]
Structure-function analysis of neuroprotectants
In “The chemistry of neuroprotection”, the author argues convincingly that there could be great benefit from a systematic and rigorously scientific study of the physical chemistry of putative neuroprotectants vis-à-vis their pharmacological effect. However, the first example used of the earliest thinking in this direction (which comes, not surprisingly via V. A. Negovskii, the father [...]
The rationality of politics
In his paper “Frog’s legs, shared ends, and the rationality of politics” (PDF), Anthony de Jasay discusses the role of rationality in political philosophy. He writes that “much of the old confusion we deplore in political theory, and much of the fresh confusion we spread when trying to get rid of what has been spread, [...]
Social scientists predict the future
It is well established that investors with a diversified portfolio of index funds can do just as well (if not better) than “professional fund managers.” Now comes a new study that shows that consumers predict inflation as accurately as professional economists.
Thomas and Alan Grant of Baker University in Kansas analyzed surveys of U.S. and Australian [...]
The chemistry of neuroprotection
In a review of the 1998 21st Century Medicine seminars, Cryonics Institute president Ben Best writes:
“The presentations impressed upon me how much witchcraft and how little science has gone into the study of cryoprotectant agents (CPAs). This might be understandable in light of the fact that most cryobiologists are, in fact, biologists. I suspect [...]
We don’t need no education
In a recent opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, “For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time,” Charles Murray writes:
Outside a handful of majors — engineering and some of the sciences — a bachelor’s degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain amount of intellectual ability and perseverance. Even [...]
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Ben Bernanke
An interesting article on Nassim Nicholas Taleb in the Sunday Times:
Last May, Taleb published The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. It said, among many other things, that most economists, and almost all bankers, are subhuman and very, very dangerous. They live in a fantasy world in which the future can be controlled [...]
Edvard Munch’s Death in the Sick Chamber
Edvard Munch’s painting “Death in the Sick Chamber” (1895) portrays death as expressed through the survivors. A striking aspect of this work is that all the people in the room do not console one another and are physically and emotionally isolated.
In “Modern Art and Death”, Carla Gottlieb writes:
….the faces are contorted, not in mourning for [...]
Dietary supplements induce neurogenesis after stroke
A recent study in Rejuvenation Research reports that a combination of dietary supplements confer neuroprotection in stroke. Over a 2 week period rats received either a proprietary formulation of blueberry, green tea, Vitamin D3, and carnosine called NT-020 or vehicle (i.e., the same solution minus the compounds of interest) before stroke was induced through middle [...]
Revitalize aging feet
My mother, being a decidedly well put-together woman, impressed upon me the importance of self-care from an early age. She was obsessed with skin maintenance and especially careful to instruct me in hand and foot care. I was given my first bottle of moisturizer at the age of fourteen (”I heard your skin starts losing its elasticity [...]
Carl Jung on the soul and death
In the future, Carl C.G. Jung may not be so much remembered for his contributions to science as for his beautiful writing, imagination, and wide range of interests. In his meditation on death, “The Soul and Death” (”Seele und Tod”), Jung treats death as the inevitable descent after an ascent up a hill. Jung’s stoic [...]
Thomas Donaldson on cryonics and anti-aging
Just a superficial look at the history of the life extension movement will suffice to show the rise and fall of numerous fads and trends in ideas about the mechanisms and “treatment” of aging. Psychological meliorism and simplistic visions of biochemistry create overly optimistic expectations about extending the maximum human lifespan. But how can we [...]
A critical journey from DVT to post-mortem blood coagulation
P. Colm Malone and Paul S. Agutter have written a remarkable book about deep venous thrombosis (DVT) called “The Aetiology of Deep Venous Thrombosis: A Critical, Historical and Epistemological Survey” (2008). The book is remarkable for the following three reasons. The authors discuss the aetiology of DVT in a historical, philosophical and epistemological context. Secondly, [...]
Robert Prehoda in Cryonics Reports
Now online is an old interview with Robert W. Prehoda. Prehoda was a prolific science writer who published on topics such as aging, life extension, and technological forecasting. In 1969 Prehoda published the book “Suspended Animation: The Research Possibility That May Allow Man to Conquer the Limiting Chains of Time.” In this visionary book, Prehoda [...]
Philip Ball on water in biology
Philip Ball, author of “Life’s Matrix: A Biography of Water”, and publisher of the excellent blog, Water in Biology, reports on recent papers about the interaction of water and bio-molecules, including a recent study on trehalose:
H. Nagase of Hoshi University in Tokyo and his coworkers have continued their exploration of the molecular mechanisms of anhydrobiosis [...]
Interview with Cryonics Institute president Ben Best
This is the first in a series of interviews with individuals in the life extension and cryonics movement. We start off with an interview with Ben Best, president of the Cryonics Institute.
What is your philosophy toward life?
I think that “sense of life” or emotional involvement in life is the most crucial determinant of orientation [...]
Suspended animation is not cryonics
On the Immortality Institute cryonics forum, Alcor Board member and researcher Brian Wowk has posted some insightful comments on the difference between suspended animation and cryonics. Although impressive technical advances in cryonics to date, such as vitrification, have failed to translate into increased membership growth for cryonics organizations, many cryonics observers believe that demonstration of [...]
Recent developments in the treatment of Alzheimer’s
The full text of the Life Extension Foundation magazine article (August 2008) describing the use of Enbrel for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and announcing LEF’s new Enbrel trial, is now available. As previously discussed, Enbrel (entanercept) has been shown to provide immediate benefits in Alzheimer’s patients, improving memory performance and less frustration and agitation [...]
The history of scientific immortalism
Now online is Mike Perry’s article “Historical Steps Toward the Scientific Conquest of Death.” This article was previously published in 2003 in Physical Immortality, a short-lived publication by the Society for Venturism.
The article is adapted from Chapter 2 of Mike Perry’s book, Forever For All: Moral Philosophy, Cryonics, and the Scientific Prospects for Immortality.
This book [...]
The wonders of lambic beer
If there is one beer style that can compete with wine in terms of complexity it is the lambic beer. Unfortunately, if lambic beers are known at all, it is typically because the name is also used for the sweet fruit beers that are produced by some macrobrewers. Traditional lambics, however, are rarely sweet and [...]
Mike Darwin on obstacles to progress in cryonics
The blog dw2-0 reports on Mike Darwin’s recent ExtroBritannia talk in London:
“Mike Darwin made the same connection at an utterly engrossing UKTA meeting this weekend…. He spoke for over two hours, and continued in a formal Q&A session for another 30 minutes….
….The most poignant part was the description of the people issues during the [...]
Mike Perry on the first cryonics case
James Bedford’s freezing in January 1967 is usually regarded as the first true cryonic suspension, done immediately after legal death under controlled conditions which, though primitive by today’s standards, may have opened the possibility of eventual reanimation. Yet there was an earlier freezing that, while more problematic from the standpoint of viability, was nonetheless important [...]
Arthur C. Clarke’s The Last Theorem
As mentioned in a previous contribution, Arthur C. Clark was no stranger to cryonics. The famous science fiction author once stated in a letter in support of cryonics, “Although no one can quantify the probability of cryonics working, I estimate it is at least 90% — and certainly nobody can say it is zero.” And [...]
Herbert Marcuse on the ideology of death
Although critical philosophers like Herbert Marcuse (1898 – 1979) are not known for their contributions to economics or analytical philosophy, Marcuse’s essay “The Ideology of Death” (1952) should appeal to those who think that death is not a necessary part of existence, let alone something to celebrate. In this essay, the author discusses the phenomenon [...]
Serendipity and drug discovery
The blog Soft Machines writes about a new opinion piece in the Financial Times by David Shaywitz and Nassim Taleb on biomedical science and drug discovery. The molecular revolution in biology was supposed to substitute rational design of drugs for trial and error and handwaving. So why do pharmaceutical companies have so little to show [...]