161–170 of 363 posts
I am very upset about that... In my opinion he's the best living science fiction author... but not for long, I guess... :-( I've read most of his books (all of his SF books). The Culture is an amazing universe, but the rest of his works are also outstanding.
What do you recommend as a first book to read? (edit: never mind, sibling thread has it covered: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5485695 )
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The cell damage inflicted by the cryo process is readily acknowledged by its proponents. They argue that the neurological damage is not so large that the original brain can't be reconstructed either by scanning it while still frozen or by repairing it with nano-bots. Much like data from a wiped hard drive can still be recovered by digital forensics. As for the problem of outer layers freezing faster than inner layers…
> Now, I'm rather skeptical of the whole process myself, but the crynoics guys understand biology 101. Actually, they mostly understand Psychology 101, which is that people are willing to pay unlimited amounts of money for the promise of life after death. SEE ALSO: turning lead into gold.
Is there really no preventative tests we can take periodically to discover these things before they get out of control? I have the feeling that future generations are going to ask WTF we were thinking.
I can only guess the costs for the tests are too expensive. Still couldn't insurance cover the tests?
I am very upset about that... In my opinion he's the best living science fiction author... but not for long, I guess... :-( I've read most of his books (all of his SF books). The Culture is an amazing universe, but the rest of his works are also outstanding.
I only just started reading the Culture, after the first book I was already hooked. He is a great writer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> ... is not so large that the original brain can't be reconstructed either by scanning it while still frozen or by repairing it with nano-bots. You might as well argue that nano-bots will be able to reanimate a body that has decomposed, and save money on all the freezing equipment. Perhaps that will be the case if given enough time, but we seem to be a long way away from that technology. The business model seems to…
>You might as well argue that nano-bots will be able to reanimate a body that has decomposed, and save money on all the freezing equipment. Perhaps that will be the case if given enough time, but we seem to be a long way away from that technology. No, you might not as well argue that. If you think you can, then please argue how you can retrive information from a completely decomposed brain. On the other hand, it's pr…
No! That's not at all reasonable. We understand very little about brains. We understand even less about deep-frozen brains.
I am very upset about that... In my opinion he's the best living science fiction author... but not for long, I guess... :-( I've read most of his books (all of his SF books). The Culture is an amazing universe, but the rest of his works are also outstanding.
What do you recommend as a first book to read? (edit: never mind, sibling thread has it covered: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5485695 )
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except diseases like cancer are almost exclusive to "western" society. The more affluent we become, the more cancer and other non-contagious diseases we get. We are killing ourselves and it starts with the stuff our mothers eat, is made worse by what we eat, and is topped of by the environment we live in.
Err.... no. It's more prevalent in some societies because we live longer and we don't any longer die of preventable infections. Our air is cleaner than it's been for a long time. Decent nutrition has never been cheaper or more widely available. Life expectancy has never been longer. We are not killing ourselves. OK so some are by overeating and doing no exercise, but in general you're talking nonsense.
People in older baby boomer cohorts are doing better than younger generations.
"Decent nutrition has never been cheaper or more widely available."
Sugar/fat has also never been cheaper or more widely available.
In keeping with his macabre sense of humour I hope he has a suitable Culture Ship names for the coffin. Dwindling Gravitas (VFP)?
Is there really no preventative tests we can take periodically to discover these things before they get out of control? I have the feeling that future generations are going to ask WTF we were thinking.
I agree. I go to the dentist twice a year to check for cavities. I can only guess the costs for the tests are too expensive. Still couldn't insurance cover the tests?
The problem with MRIs is that there are so many false positives, but maybe regular scanning would help reduce that noise?
It is thought that most people fight cancer 5-6 times in their life before anything is ever detected.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So your argument is that until it's "proven" that we can cryopreserve and then restore brains, the probability of success is zero? If you agree that the probability is non-zero, then you agree with the cryopreservation advocates. In addition, if you agree that it's non-zero, you must agree that it's better than doing nothing (which clearly has a zero chance of revival). Cryopreservation advocates do not claim that th…
What is the probability of dying and a super-natural being transferring you to heaven? It's non-zero. I've heard the same exact argument from ultra religious people. I am all for keeping a bit of hope alive, but a non-zero chance argument on its own is not enough. What is the probability exactly, can it be proven.
The "non-zero" argument can be fixed simply by comparing relative likelihoods, or noting that while one can't ever rationally believe with 0% probability, you can use epsilon as a substitute for "it's more than 0 but I can't measure how much because it's so small". Personally I think there's enough evidence to put religious ideas of afterlife far below the probability of a single sha256 hash resulting in a new block in the bitcoin blockchain: http://blockexplorer.com/q/probability