zlacker

Interesting fact: Minsky is an Alcor member[1], so he's probably being cryopreserved right now. Though if he died from a cerebral hemorrhage, I'm not sure how well they'll be able to preserve his brain.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcor_Life_Extension_Foundatio...

>>ggreer+(OP)
One can hope that they'll make the attempt regardless. Alcor's position is to carry out their directive from a member regardless of third party opinions on viability where they can, as having the reputation for doing this minimizes the very real problem of interference from family members (for reasons economic, religious, etc). Also it is very hard to say at the time (as time is critical) how much damage is done via fatal brain injury of this nature, and of course at this point next to impossible to say what that will do the the odds and difficulty of future restoration.

Brain injury kept Roy Walford from being cryopreserved, though there it was clearly an extension of his own thoughts on the matter: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/dsp.cgi?msg=24045 I see that as a terrible shame; it is guessing in advance as to the limits of what can be restored.

>>ggreer+(OP)
Ironic that he died from cerebral hemorrhage!

EDIT: I find it ironic - as he was my first exposure to the science of mind and thought etc... I find it ironic that his own death was due to a failure of the brain/mind in some way given how much he has contributed to the idea of thought and mind in his career.

>>reason+c1
Agreed. Not trying guarantees failure; trying leaves some possibility of success.

>>ggreer+(OP)
Was his cerebral hemorrhage a sudden/unpredictable death? If not, I'm surprised he didn't first relocate to cooperative hospice care in Scottsdale near Alcor to cryopreserve himself before damage became (possibly) irreversible.

>>evc123+v2
And spend his last days away from his friends, family, and colleagues, away from his wonderful house and his piano? No, I think that even with foreknowledge he would have chosen to die in Boston.

>>JoshTr+M1
Agreed...given the resources and money there's nothing wrong with hedging your bets...

>>rspeer+1a
And ruin his obviously intentional cryopreservation plans? No, I think that even with foreknowledge he would have chosen to do exactly what he chose to do and be cryopreserved.

>>ggreer+(OP)
Under "Policies and Procedures" it says that he's not only a member, but on the Scientific Advisory Board.

>>btgeek+Xg
Who knew there was "science" involved in those things.

I mean apart from the technical expertise on freezing etc, the rest is mostly wishful thinking about how such a facility will survive long enough in tact (and the US wont itself go the way of the Assyrian, the Persian, the Roman, the British and other empires, in 1 or 2 centuries time), technical/medical resurrection will be possible, and future people will care to resurrect those in there.

Even if a great current mind was preserved there, if people of the future are, say 2x brighter than us (not to mention having access to advanced AI) it would make little sense want to resurrect them for that alone. And as for having access to 20th-21st century info, with our trillions of bytes of video, images, texts and sound recorded every day, they'll likely want LESS, not more information about our times.