SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Some bitcoin enthusiasts have used their cryptocurrency to travel around the world. Others have spent it on a trip to space. But the very earliest user of bitcoin (after its inventor Satoshi Nakamoto himself) has now spent his crypto coins on the most ambitious mission yet: to visit the future.
Hal Finney, the renowned cryptographer, coder, and bitcoin pioneer, died Thursday morning at the age of 58 after five years battling ALS. He will be remembered for a remarkable career that included working as the number-two developer on the groundbreaking encryption software PGP in the early 1990s, creating one of the first “remailers” that presaged the anonymity software Tor, and—more than a decade later—becoming one of the first programmers to work on bitcoin’s open source code; in 2008, he received the very first bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto.
Now Finney has become an early adopter of a far more science fictional technology: human cryopreservation, the process of freezing human bodies so that they can be revived decades or even centuries later.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kaszz on Friday August 29 2014, @06:03PM
You are right. Asfaik what happens unless someone has done some breakthrough is that the water in the body will form ice crystals and cut your body into pieces on a molecular/cellular level. So unless comes up with a way to mix that water with a super antifreeze that isn't poisonous or simple replace ALL water. Any attempt to freeze mammals (humans) will end up bad. That is unless someone makes smart enough nanobots that can repair enough cells in the body.
An alternative is if someone comes up with a way to more or less instantly freeze the whole body in one go.
For anyone with cryo desires. Put one tomato in the fridge and the other in the freezer. Wait 24 hours. Then let them heat up. Touch them and question if you really want to do this to your body? oh and pay for the pleasure.
Preservation can likely be made. BUT we don't have the technology just yet.
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Friday August 29 2014, @06:07PM
We routinely freeze and unfreeze unicellular living things.
Therefore, all you need is a good scalpel now, and a big LEGO-like reassembly manual post-defrost.
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday August 29 2014, @07:05PM
That should be simple. We just need to number them!
Do be sure to get someone who can count higher than 3, though. That would be... problematic.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 30 2014, @03:06AM
One cell, perhaps even a few cells may work. But not complex mammals :P
(Score: 4, Interesting) by opinionated_science on Friday August 29 2014, @08:24PM
modern surgical techniques are attempting to harness cooling of the patient to prevent damage due to lack of oxygen.
The trick it seems is to cool fast enough. People falling in lakes have been recorded as surviving several hours, when they should have been dead.
The attempt to use cooled saline has been attempted I believe in animal experiments. There are trauma centres and military theatres that will no doubt get permission to try this on gunshot victims, when chance of survival is already close to zero.
My biological sense is that stopping metabolism first, is key so that the metabolic components are not damaged. So if we get to get to about 4C....
Going lower than that will require something to protect the cells from ice crystals. For microbes we use glycerol, but they are much smaller than human cells.
Mammalian physiology is complex, so the question becomes "how much damage can you cause in freezing and still revive the patient".
My sense is most of the body can repair itself, but nerves need to be kept intact (including the brain, of course!).
Getting some cryo-protective compound to every cell in the body is a real problem. But if you are already cold (4C), it might be possible to take a long time and let diffusion take over.
Finally, it might simply be better to get the genes from the frogs that have evolved this trait, and splice them in!!!
If this was ever shown to be successful (say 1 year and a day in the fridge ), I think that would be newsworthy.
This in itself, is a very strange thought...
(Score: 3) by nightsky30 on Friday August 29 2014, @09:05PM
It doesn't sound like he was cooled quickly, because he was transported, then cooled slowly after having his fluids drained.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 30 2014, @03:40AM
Perhaps one can just synthesize the frog enzymes?
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday September 17 2014, @04:09AM
I'm sure I heard somewhere they had sussed out that 'snap freezing' the body didn't form the usual ice crystals, however I can imagine them building up slowly like in frozen mixed veges.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday September 18 2014, @11:07AM
The body is too big to freeze fast enough.
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Thursday September 18 2014, @10:39PM
good point, guess it's time to break out the chainsaw. }:)