Click arrow to get back to main contents page.ISSN 0964-5659
Volume 5 no 40. First published August 1993. ISSN 0964-5659.
Mood and Micronutrients Are the Permafrost Patients Dead Is Time Money? Prostates and Papayas
Letters: Conifers, computers, brain supplements, Periastron, Apogee, nanotechnology,
intertia/apathy
Doctor Patient Relationships in Modern Society Venturists Plan Major Drive Against Superstition. Who'll Scrub my Back An Ideal Trust A Cryonics Lecture to Funeral Directors Mood & Micronutrients
by Douglas Skrecky
Supplementation with vitamin C reduces the biochemical response to stress - at least in chickens.1
Megadose vitamin C either by itself or in combination with EDTA helps human manic-depressive
patients to feel better, although the improvement seen with vitamin C, even when in combination
with EDTA is not as robust as that obtained with standard lithium treatment.2,3 Unfortunately
there is as yet no direct evidence that vitamin C can affect mood in sane subjects. If it did this
might help to account for the popularity of vitamin C supplements. However vitamin C tissue
saturation is obtained with a rather meagre daily ration of 130 mg and a supplement of just 80
mg/day has been found to reduce cold symptoms as much as megadoses do.4 [see editorial
comment.]
The dose/response curve for vitamin C alterations in mood is as yet unknown, but probably
plateaus before megadoses are reached.
Megadoses of vitamin B3 in either its niacin or nicotinamide form has been used successfully for
treating schizophrenia.5 Megadoses of vitamin B5 help to relieve depressive symptoms somewhat
in some arthritic patients.6 Daily supplementation with 150 mg vitamin B6 has little effect on the
mood of women suffering from premenstrual syndrome.7 Great improvements have been obtained
when 0.2 mg/day of folic acid is given to lithium treated depressed patients who have low plasma
folate.8 Depressed patients tend to have lowered plasma B12 levels and injections of very large
megadoses of B12 seemed to have had a remarkable beneficial effect in one preliminary report.9,10
However this effect of megadose B12 might be just counteracting multiple nutritional deficiencies.
Supplementation with just 10 mg each of B1, B2 and B6 causes plasma B12 levels to increase and
further slightly improves the mood of depressed patients who are already on antidepressant drug
therapy.11
A 0.1 mg/day selenium supplement improves mood, even in individuals who consume more than
the 0.07 mg RDA.12 Thus the RDA for selenium set by the FDA is clearly deficient. Plasma
magnesium levels are reduced in depressed individuals and a 256 mg/day supplement of
magnesium (as the chloride) improves mood in about a third of those given it.13, 14 Further
experiments with animals found that large supplements of magnesium in the form of
monomagnesium-L-aspartate hydrochloride greatly increase the resistance of rats to
immobilization stress and reduce fatalities in pigs subjected to transportation related stress.15
Other magnesium salts such as the chloride were found to be relatively ineffective, probably due
to their reduced bioavailablity. Monomagnesium-L-aspartate hydrochloride has recently been
found to be somewhat more effective than lithium in the treatment of manic-depressive
psychosis.16 As lithium can substitute for magnesium in many reactions this raises the possibility
that the benefits of lithium therapy might be due to the correction of a magnesium deficiency.
If one wishes to try supplementation the wisest choice may be a multivitamin-multimineral pill
containing near RDA amounts of all vitamins as well as the minerals selenium and magnesium.
The available research does not yet justify large dose supplementation of any micronutrient
although the results with monomagnesium-L-aspartate hydrochloride must be judged intriguing.
References
1 Vitamin C Amelioration of the Adrenal Stress Response in Boiler Chickens Being Prepared For Slaughter 569-574 Vol.94A No.4 1989 Comprehensive Biochemical Physiology
2 The Therapeutic Effect of Ascorbic Acid and EDTA in Manic-Depressive Psychosis: Double-Blind Comparisons With Standard Treatments 533-539 Vol.14 1984 Psychological Medicine
3 Vanadium: A Possible Aetiological Factor in Manic Depressive Illness 249-256 Vol.11 1981 Psychological Medicine
4 The Effects of Ascorbic Acid and Flavonoids on the Occurrence of Symptoms Normally Associated With the Common Cold 1686-1690 1979 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
5 Massive Niacin Treatment in Schizophrenia: Review of a Nine Year Study 316-320 Vol.1 1962 The Lancet
6 Calcium Pantothenate in Arthritic Conditions 208-211 Vol.224 1980 The Practitioner
7 The Effects of Vitamin B6 Supplementation on Premenstrual Symptoms 145-149 Vol.70 No.2 1987 Obstetrics and Gynecology
8 Folic Acid Enhances Lithium Prophylaxis 9-13 Vol.10 1986 Journal of Affective Disorders
9 Neuropsychiatric Disorders Caused by Cobalamin Deficiency in the Absence of Anemia or Macrosytosis 1720-1728 Vol.318 1988 New England Journal of Medicine
10 Subtle Vitamin B12 Deficiency and Psychiatry: A Largely Unnoticed but Devastating Relationship? 131-140 Vol.34 1991 Medical Hypotheses
11 Brief Communication: Vitamin B1, B2 and B6 Augmentation of Tricyclic Antidepressant Treatment in Geriatric Depression With Cognitive Dysfunction 159-163 Vol.11 No.2 1992 Journal of the American College of Nutrition
12 The Impact of Selenium Supplementation on Mood 1092-1098 Vol.29 1991 Biological Psychiatry
13 Magnesium, Schizophrenia and Manic-Depressive Disease 79-81 Vol.23 1990 Neuropsychobiology
14 Unrecognised Magnesium Deficiency Masquerades as Diverse Symptoms: Evaluation of an Oral Magnesium Challenge Test 117-125 Vol.11 No.3 1991 International Clinical Nutritional Review
15 Prevention of Stress Induced Damage in Experimental Animals and Livestock by Monomagnesium-L-Aspartate Hydrochloride 34-39 Vol.6 1987 Magnesium
16 A Pilot Study of Magnesium Aspartate Hydrochloride (Magnesiocard) as a Mood Stabilizer
for Rapid Cycling Bipolar Affective Disorder Patients 171-180 Vol.14 1990 Progress
Neuro-Psycholpharmacol & Biological Psychiatry
Editorial Comment.
The reference to this statement is from a paper written in 1979. I have not seen this paper, but I
am aware that many studies in that era that oppose megadosing with vitamins were either flawed
or were funded by authorities trying to stamp out the concept. If this paper was written recently I
would have taken more notice of it. A common flaw in early experiments was to dissolve vitamins
in experimental animals' drinking water. The vitamins oxidised and decomposed during the day,
and therefore the animals did not get the full benefits except from their first drink.
An friend's experience may reinforce this idea: she had a craving for oranges when severely
depressed, and would eat nothing else. Maybe her body was telling her she needed vitamin C?
Are the Permafrost Patients Dead?: A Reply
by Douglas Skrecky
I would like to thank Klaus Reinhard for providing the information in the article Are the
Permafrost Patients Dead? that some of the permafrost patients were protected by metal caskets.
Certainly this is a step in the right direction and in combination with adequate fixation might give
these patients a minimal chance for some sort of revival1. The fate of permafrost patients does
depend however on the permanency of the permafrost in an age of global warming. In northern
Europe up to 300 freeze/thaw cycles can occur in a given year and according to experts in the
field this can reduce non-air entrained high strength concrete to rubble inside a decade. This same
cumulative freeze/thaw damage applied to fixed tissue would likely eliminate any possibility of
revival in just a few years, never mind a few centuries.
I would like to emphasize in any case that freezing itself is not sufficient to provide a basis for
revival as the deterioration of tissues at high sub-zero temperatures occurs at such a rate so as to
preclude any chance for revival. Klaus makes mention of the survival of some bacteria obtained
from victims of the Franklin expedition. However a microscopic survey of tissues obtained from
the frozen corpse of Petty Officer John Torrington from the Franklin Expedition showed complete
loss of cellular detail in all tissues, while all that was left of the brain itself was a yellow granular
fluid2. The fate of permafrost patients hangs on the very slim thread of chemical fixation.
There is no need for this sorry state of affairs to continue to remain in effect since complete
desiccation is not particularly difficult to achieve. For instance partial dehydration can easily be
accomplished even without the use of a fan. Perfusing the (fixed) patient with a saturated solution
of sucrose will eventually drive out up to about 50% of the water since a saturated sugar solution
is 50% sucrose3. What about the remaining moisture? We could borrow a strategy used by the
manufacturers of military rations. Complete dehydration of rations is time consuming and
expensive so canned foods are partially dehydrated instead and stored with an in package
desiccant such as calcium oxide to gradually remove all of the remaining moisture. This simple
strategy could also be used to dramatically improve the chances for revival of permafrost stored
patients.
Notes and references:
1 A helpful addition 2 The Last Franklin Expedition 3 To prevent osmotic shock Is Time Money
Yvan Bozzonetti
Assume first you put 1000 pounds on an account with 3% interest rate, outside inflation. With the
compound interest law, your capital value will double in something as 23 years. In the current
economic world, this assumption may be seen as a very conservative objective.
Now, assume you have plenty of time, say some centuries. You need not to think you will live
that duration, some projects may be valuable even if you did not see yourself the outcome. If your
investment can wait for 230 years, that is ten doubling periods, it will be multiplied by two at the
power ten or 1024, say one thousand. With 230 more years, the spared sum will amount to more
than one million times the initial saving.
In the current era, such very long term projects are unknown. That was not always the case in
history. Some 230 year ago, the Mornay forest was established in France. Its productivity was
planned to start two hundreds years later. The objective was very strategic: The trees from the
forest would give the raw material to build the ships of the 20th century roy (king in old French)
of France. That naval power was seen as the perfect tool to beat the hereditary foe: the English.
Nobody can know what tomorrow will be made of, but some basic facts remain forever. In the
second part of the 20th century there will be a King in France and its main problem will be to kill
the King of the United Kingdom. To do that, sail ships will be the first commodity to go through
the channel.
Imagine you can go back in time and speak to the French people of that old era; you may say
there is a Queen in U.K. not a King, this looks not too strange, then going a step further you start
to describe the French political system, there is no more king or kingdom. From that old time,
France has discovered other hereditary foes: Germans, Russians ... Alas, in the modern world, you
can't count on an enemy. In the world of the finishing 20th century new adversaries arise when
suitable weapons appear for them.
If all of that was unfolded 230 years ago, the Mornay forest project would be cancelled, a sad
issue in present day viewpoint. The good timber remains a valuable asset, the forest is an
ecological reserve, a trap for dust from industrial sources, a protection for underground water and
a nice recreation area. In 230 years the world has evolved, not along the lines foreseen at the
origin. On the other hand, a valuable basic asset has found new uses and nothing is lost on the
economical ground.
The lessons from that story seem straightforward: A basic commodity keeps its value, whatever
the uncertainties introduced by long time periods. To get that "time sturdiness", very long term
investments with low yearly return are the key to the success.
The political society.
The preceding story may be taken as a chance decision in a political world. Political systems are
not attracted by very long term commitments, usually, one year is all they can foresee, at most the
horizon is clogged by the next election period. But increasingly, political systems, that is states,
become the tip of the iceberg. Speculative economic flux may amount in one or two days to the
annual budget of the biggest nations. The largest corporations have a power far more greater than
most states with a seat at the general assemblies of the United Nations. Brazil is a dwarf when put
side to side with IBM and Spain count for nearly nothing against Dai-Ichi-Kangio, the first
Japanese (and world) bank. Unfortunately, that system uses electronics communications and
computers to work on smaller and smaller time durations. So, it outperforms the political state
system in shortsightedness. Its operations becomes more and more distantly related to the real
physical world, where short term shifts are the exception, not the rule.
To go from a politically driven world to a speculative driving force produces two things: a short
term larger gain and a long term structural instability. At first, only the larger gain reveals itself, so
everybody see the shift as a progress. When catastrophes arise they are put on the account of bad
luck, not on the intrinsic properties of the system. Here, catastrophes include uncontrolled bear
stock exchange moves as well as ecological disturbance. In each case, it is the lack of linkage
between the real world and its economic copy than define the faulty element. When credit and
mortgages amount to more than ten times the real physical asset, stability is an utopian objective.
If a market allows such things, it is too far from reality to work properly with the physical
constraints of the world. That translate into miss-management, spillage, ecological problems and
so on.
At the time of writing, French newspapers are full of horror stories about devastating mud flow
sweeping towns in the south of France. Large storms are blamed. The reality is not so simple: To
gain speculative surfaces in central areas, some rivers have been channelled between high concrete
walls. In the country, trees have been cleared to sell wood and build residential area on the former
forest. In a storm, tree roots slow down the running water on a hill side and the river in the valley
get the water discharge in one or two days. When houses are built, water goes directly from the
roof to the sewage system and get its way to the river in some minutes.
True: the houses on the hill are more valued than the forest and in the town the supermarket looks
better than the large sandy river bed. Nevertheless, the final result is a hundreds millions
destruction and 35 casualties. Do we need to reverse to political environmentalism? The true
solution is not at that level; what is called for is a rational, physically constrained economical
system.
Today, the problem, at least in ecological terms, starts to be understood in the south of France.
What will remain of that understanding twenty years from now? What that sad experiment will
teach tomorrow in Brazil, Southern Asia or Italy? I bet the learning effect is near zero. Political
and economical systems have no memory, they are time blind.
There is the central problem: distance from the physical laws imply too time forgiveness and
finally mere stupidity in the ruling of the society.
The present state.
For most of that century, human society has worked on a false choice: Capitalism or Communism.
In its principles, there is nothing bad with Communism: it suggests putting the work force of
many people together to fulfil some objective and then distribute the resulting wealth between all
participants. In an economic system, you can contribute to a project in two ways: you give your
time, capacity, knowledge and work to the common objective, or you put you money to pay
someone elsewhere to do your part of the job. You get the money in working or contributing in
some way to another project.
Seen in this way, Communism is nothing more than the recipe applied by all Capitalistic system.
You give your money and get some shares. When there are some benefits, you get a part of them
proportional to your monetary investment. In that way, basic Communism thrives in the private
sector of all free market countries. Historical circumstances have given a well different picture of
Communism loaded with political adornments without interest. Most person hate the word
"Communism" on a religious basis. That has nothing to do with economical planning, whatever
the Muslim opinion who forbid loans with interest.
If basic Communism is not the negation of capitalism, what is that antithesis? Capitalism, to get at
the roots of the words, is a economical system based on capital, that is investment.
Fundamentally, we can redefine it as time enduring money or work. That looks very good. A
time-fitted economy is sustainable by its very definition and must take into account the physical
reality of the world. What we see today under the brand name of "capitalism" is far from that ideal
system. Speculation (from specular, to see far) sees in fact swiftly but with a very short sight. If
we take the basic sense of words, speculators must be long term investors. The reality is at the
opposite of that, they invest in nothing real and displace continuously giant sum of money without
real physical basis behind to get some foot on hard ground.
Credit is the real negative of capital investment. If credit is exploited to make an investment, the
negative effect of credit is counterbalanced by the positive investment, the whole operation is
economically neutral, at least in its linear time approximation. If nonlinear effects are taken into
account, there is a net gain or loss.
The first nonlinear effect is the so called interest rate. Money is borrowed against a defined price
per unit of time, this is the credit interest rate. On the other side, the investment produces some
net return after inflation and time depreciation. If that investment rate get larger than the credit
rate for a given duration, the operation is beneficial on that period. The sum over all possible
periods gives the net return of the global undertaking. There are higher nonlinear effects, when
the interest rates are not constant in time or on all possible periods (for example the credit is fully
refunded before the end of the productive life of the investment).
Most states, if not all of them use credit to finance day to day expenses. There is no investment
and the full operation is a mere anticapitalist process. In that respect, the USA, Italy and Japan
governments are the most anticapitalist systems in the world. In these countries, the civilian
society remains based on capitalism and, globally, Japan remains a capitalist system. On the other
hand, US public deficit "outperforms" the civilian activities and the county is now the largest
borrower and anticapitalist society in the world. That is fact, the words of protest are allowed, but
change nothing.
A better system?
Can we devise a better system? If yes how to implement it? From the preceding analysis, the
answer to the first question is yes. A better system will be a true basic capitalism committed to
investment on a very long time basis. That investment will be chosen so that it fits well with
physical laws and local space-time state (the reference point of the system). Return will be low but
security very great. Time duration is the key word to fit the system to the physical reality.
Today, speculators think in hours or days, politicians in years or legislative periods, individuals
sometimes in term of generations; "I do that for my children" ... Thirty years define a good limit
for the modern thinking. Now, a tree lives for many centuries, a river watershed evolves in some
hundreds of thousands of years as does the global climate. Mountain ranges surge and erode as
continents wander in some hundred millions years. Stars and our sun with them, burn their nuclear
fuel in some tens of billions of years, at least for dwarf stars as our own. That is the range of the
known physical laws; we have a long way to walk on before economy is at the scale of physics
science.
Why that disparity between human knowledge? The answer holds in that: Physics is fully
cumulative. To practise it needs a long training to learn all that the preceding experimenters have
done. Each experiment tests for a misconception, sometime that one reveals a lower bias than the
preceding view and becomes the new paradigm in its domain. Each researcher builds on preceding
works, in that he never start from scratch. All things behave as if there was experimenters with
many centuries life duration. Present day physicists are two hundred years old. All real sciences
work that way, biochemists are near one equivalent century old, chemists somewhere between
physicists and biochemists.
To have a learning economical system, we first need to define an objective with unbounded, or at
least very long time objective. When a physicist devises an experiment to validate a theory, he
never bothers about how long the physical laws underlying its validity will hold.
The first criterion will be then to behave as if eternity was at hand. The investor must think in term
of unbounded duration. That is the essential part of all the building, everything else follow from it.
For practical purposes, time need to be broken into some duration range. An similar sum of
money will be then devoted to each time slice.
The first slice is the computer time of present day speculators, it expands from minutes to days or
few months.
A second slice defines the political time duration, from month to year(s). One week and ten years
are extreme limits here.
The third period is the family one: From some years to one generation or slightly more, say from
five to thirty years.
Beyond that, it is usually only scientists who build today some large facilities with useful life longer than that, for example at the CERN particles' accelerator centre. Urbanists work often with an effect beyond the 30 years limit but without consciousness of what they do. The preceding story of inundation in southern France is a case in point. Space science needs planning for tens of years travels in the solar system, that time span is a major hindering in present day political organization.
A fourth duration goes from 20-30 years to some centuries, it is the Mornay time scale.
Beyond, come the historical domain with millennia extension. It is difficult to go in the geological
or astronomical time today. For each period, a fair return must be computed. Industrial
obsolescence takes something as five or six years, that implies a raw return near twelve per cent
per year. Nothing will be judged interesting in a political time if it cannot get that threshold. Three
to five per cent outside inflation is good at a family time scale, this is the typical return of a rented
house.
Now, comes the new domain: In Mornay time, one per cent is good, for historical undertaking 0.1
% fits well. What we buy with the reduced return is a sturdy behaviour against catastrophic
failures. If 1% is good for Mornay time it is because more profits computed on shorter time don't
give as much when extended to that scale, repeated failures reduce the overall result at a lower
mark.
How to implant the new system?
It is not an ideology and needs not to convince a large number of people by some faith. The key is
to use it and publicise it when it is exploited. Example will speak for itself.
In practical terms, all sum of money will be split into five equal parts, each one attributed to one
time period with its programme. If a project needs more money than there is at hand for one
period, it can borrow to another period if there are multiple objectives, at least one in each
concerned time span. Here I describe a practical possibility spanning three time zones.
Use of fossil fuels build up carbon monoxide in the atmosphere, a way out is to sequester it in
long living trees. On isolated islands, lack of space drives most of animal species to extinction. Big
grazers give up in all cases and let plants without ecological pressure to grow rapidly or
reproduce swiftly. Longevity becomes then a real advantage to become larger than competitors
and produce more offsprings. In the Pacific zone, some trees survive for up to five millennia and
becomes the ideal carbon reserve for historical time durations. The economical return at the
present epoch comes from a carbon tax system to be inserted soon.
At Mornay time, genetic sequencing of long lived species must produce a pool of useful genes for
genetic engineering. At family time span, biochemical extracts from the trees may be sold.
Political time asks for swift return and expandable commodities. The greenhouse harbouring the
young trees may be sold as lots in a leisure camp with thematic activities oriented towards natural
medicine.
From that activity encompassing four time domains, two are rooted in what appear distant future
in common thought. Today, investment on these periods can fall only in the research area. So, we
are left with a project centred on a campground with half its budget in the research domain, a
somewhat unusual investment scheme in present day economies.
Nearly everything can be moulded into the new economical system. For example I write a "How
to" book on large instruments in amateur astronomy, that needs a lot of test and experiments. My
cost for them will be covered by book selling in a political period. The instruments built here may
be put on a rent scheme for a family time and information gathered on plasma dynamics inside
distant stars may turn to practical usefulness in thermonuclear generators in a Mornay duration.
For anyone, astronomy is a research activity without development side. That is not the case in the
new system, even fundamental works have a practical objective, that put them in an utterly new
light.
Taking longer time into account, allows too get a better look at many technological issue. The
relief brought back, suppress the need to compress any project inside common old time span. If
we think in term of some dacrydium tree lifespan, then we must think about what we will do three
or four millennia from now. From space projects to mere housing, that will be a revolution of the
mind.
Large possibilities.
Twenty years ago, the French telephone service started to distribute free some three millions
Minitels (computer terminals giving written information from data banks on a monochrome
display). Every time an user connects its Minitel to a service, a tax is perceived. That tax pays for
the terminal in some years. The whole operation get its first financial benefit that year. The
investment was a long term one, far more longer than first planned. Today, more than ten
thousands services are one - the Minitel directory - and it is a large industry in France. The same
system was sold in many countries, there the paid terminals never attracted a critical mass of
customers to run an information industry.
That example demonstrates the value of long term investment to build a market from nothing.
That investment is the catalysis of a starting industry. Now, the consumer electronics world
speaks endlessly about new TV systems and norms. The real problem is to produce a market for a
new technology. Giving TV sets and pay per view is the best way to create anywhere a powerful
industry. The only requirement is to accept long term investments. Who will learn that lesson?
The same may be applied to small electric urban cars and many other unemployment remedies.
Prostates and Papayas
by Douglas Skrecky
Most epidemiologic surveys find either an unchanged or a mildly reduced cancer risk associated
with increased dietary beta carotene intake. So it was with some surprise that researchers found
an increased risk of prostate cancer correlated with a high carotene consumption in a Hawaii
survey! However when a more detailed breakdown by individual high carotene fruits and
vegetables was done to clarify matters, an increased cancer risk was found to be associated only
with increased papaya consumption. No harmful effects were found for other fruits or vegetables.1
This difference is probably due to the presence of large amounts of the protease papain in the
papaya fruit. It has generally been thought that fruits and vegetables at the very least are not
harmful to one's health. This may not always be the case and in particular it is probably a good
idea not to consume papaya on a regular basis.
1 Vegetable and Fruit Consumption in Relation to Prostate Cancer Risk in Hawaii: A Reevaluation of the Effect of Dietary Beta-Carotene Vol.133 No.3 1991 American Journal of Epidemiology
Letters
From Mr Yvan Bozzonetti
Growing tropical conifers culture from cuttings was unsuccessful. A new trial using root growth
promoting hormones will start in the next weeks. The objective is to get the cell culture source for
agar gel multiplication of useful plants. Cutting propagation may allow the gain of many years
compared to seeding. Some of these trees produce sap derivatives known collectively as copal.
Copal was used by ancient Chinese as a mummy conservation agent. In the long run it
polymerizes to form amber with protective capabilities going to tens of millions of years. Sixty
years ago, copal was collected by tens of thousands of tons to produce paint.
Culture from seeds put in open air in southern France have undergone too a 50% destruction from
frost. The site, near the sea, suffers from heavy dew deposit and frosting in winter. Dew protected
plants are not damaged. The final choice for extensive field culture must be somewhat farther
away from the sea or use very large greenhouses.
There was an intensive investment in computers, including 3 new PC 386DX40 and 486DX33
with 5 supplementary hard disks. Five supplementary screens and high speed modems have been
ordered from Taiwanese producers. When completed this system must allow me to tap into
scientific data banks filled with genetic information. This is the first step in the common cold
vaccine project and some similar undertakings. Two sites will have the same 386 based computer
system, one in Paris and another in southern France.
The 486 system will be dedicated to software creation and heavy statistical computing on a set of
astronomical experiments on quantum effects. In physics, astronomy is often the poor's
laboratory. A better understanding of some issues in quantum physics and its connection to
macroscopic domain, may be a key component in a better mastering of cryonics or freeze drying
induced damages. Two more 486 computer motherboards were ordered as element of a coming
larger project in this domain.
A light quantum detector with its software and specialized electronics interface card to a
computer was purchased, a $4,000 expense. A special platform for using it with an array of
telescopes is on order, this is a further $2,000 investment. A request for collaborative works on
these subjects was launched towards two large international amateur-professional scientific
organizations. The first objective is to test the quantum-Euclidean interface as it holds the key for
all nonlinear systems able to work on chaos border systems as life. (See also Mr Bozzonetti's
articles in Fractal Report - ed.)
Some contacts were made to establish a French based cryonics-freeze drying centre. The objective
is to include man, animals from endangered species, and rare plants together with experimental
devices to test large time uncertainty in long waves and plasmon physics at a later stage.
A specialist in high temperature superconductors, able to build the required key components, was
eventually found.
Another Publications Listings Sheet
We received another small publications listings sheet early in June. Dated April, it contained over
1000 addresses of alternative, underground, occult and magic, sex and rock and roll publications,
including personal contacts clubs, with a one or two line editorial comment on each. Life
extension and cryonics were well represented, with every publication that I can think of given a
mention. In addition, the editor mentioned that cryonics was one of his pet subjects, although he
admitted in a letter that he could not afford to subscribe to Longevity Report, and he let a
subscription he took out to The Immortalist last only a year. The new listings sheet is called
Apogee and costs 5 or $10 mailed anywhere. Write to Dag Haslemo Skogstua 1560
Larkollen Norway.
I hope that this publication is a success and that as a result the editor manages to exchange his
typewriter for a word processor that can list publications in alphabetical order!
From a reader who prefers to remain anonymous:
Enclosing a photocopy of Douglas Skrecky's article on Alzheimer's disease and CoQ10, he asked
Can you tell me exactly one can do against the decay of grey matter?
Response:
The problem with specifics with regards to reducing or eliminating brain aging is that there are
many substances available that show a lot of promise in animal tests. Most experimental animals
are considerably shorter lived than humans. But it would take so long to do clinical trials in
humans that people alive today would not benefit. And, of course, there is the problem that what
helps one person doesn't help another.
Therefore life extenders take certain substances, Deprenyl being the most famous, on the basis
that it has proven successful in animal tests and therefore may work on man. Usually they have
taken advice from their physician that it will do them no harm. Often the life extension dose is
smaller than the dose for treating clinical conditions, therefore the risk of side effects is
proportionately reduced. We do have a book Mind Food and Smart Pills that details some of the
substances and their effects. But as most are prescription only medicines (POMs), you need the
services of a physician to use them unless your country is one that allows import of POMs from
abroad for the personal use of the importer.
Incidentally CoQ10 and vitamin B6 mentioned in the article you photocopied are not POMs in the
UK, and are often found in multi-vitamin mixtures. I don't know about sodium ferrous sulphate,
but I should have thought one should be able to get that also.
Periastron
Volume 2, no 5 of Periastron starts with news and comment about the benefits and costs of
storing cryonics patients at the warmer temperature of -130oC. Mention is made of the new
scientific journal, with talk about forming a non-profit corporation. SO it looks as though they
plan to ask for donations not investments again. Undoubtedly the reasons for this have been
gone into carefully, but I must comment, as I have done before, that those who offer investments,
such as Mr Milan Panic (Ribavirin research and development) and Dr Morton Schulman,
(Deprenyl development) seem to have got far greater funding as a result. Both these men have
expressed anti-death sentiments in their objectives.
However Periastron has some bad news for Dr Schulman in this issue: an article reviewing recent
research mentions a Deprenyl study on mild Alzheimer's disease patients undergoing a 15 month
double blind program. After two months, no patient showed any sign of improvement. However
this does not rule out Deprenyl giving benefits to normal elderly people, and other work
mentioned in the review still suggests that it is of benefit.
Other articles covered brains, memory, nanotechnology etc. Again, Dr Donaldson seemed to be
the sole writer.
Periastron PO Box 2365, Sunnyvale, California 94087. Subscriptions cost $2.50 per issue. If you
pay for many issues in advance, you avoid any possible price rises. If the newsletter does not
continue for any reason, unused subscriptions will be refunded with interest!
From Dr Thomas Donaldson
In Longevity Report 39 page 11, you summarized my opinions about nanotechnology in a manner
which made me feel that they had been distorted in major ways.
I would not say or claim that nanotechnology is presently only a matter of theory. I believe that
the proper meaning of the word nanotechnology (that is, technology involved in manipulating
matter on a nano scale) includes biochemistry, large parts of present materials science,
supramolocular chemistry, and all of the other connected fields and techniques. In this sense,
nanotechnology is rich in real technology and real results. The growing role of biotechnology
should convince everyone of that. What I have objected to, not just once, but many times, is the
appropriation of this word nanotechnology to mean only that small part of the field engaged by
Dr Drexler and his disciples.
Anyone seriously interested in renewal of cryonics patients, not to mention all the many other
achievements which mastery of matter on a nanoscale will bring, cuts short their imagination and
their understanding if they refuse to cast their attention wider than the fields inhabited by Drexler's
disciples. There is a great deal of inventiveness by people originally from many fields. The opinion
these scientists and engineers have of the work of Drexler's disciples also ranges widely, from
highly favourable to outright contempt. (I recently received a letter of this latter kind from an
American researcher in supramolocular chemistry now in Japan. The fact that Drexler has virtually
ignored chemistry may play a role in such attitudes.)
Furthermore, my own feelings about Drexler himself differ from my feelings about some of his
disciples. Drexler's original book, Engines of Creation, contains his invention of the word
nanotechnology, and a summary, lacking in a few respects but generally very well done, of all the
work up to that time which had gone on in nanotechnology (defined as the manipulation of matter
on nano scales). By inventing this word, Drexler drew attention to a major scientific trend which
had been growing, almost invisibly, all around us. This was both important and very useful. This
books deserves notice and praise. [Available as the recent paperback edition from Longevity
Books for 11.20 post paid. -ed]
As for Nanosystems, [not available from Longevity Books - ed] my review in Cryonics
summarised my opinion of it: it suffered from a lack of either actual experimental creation of
nanosystems of Drexler's kind, or the full computer simulation of a complete system (instead of
the simulation of single parts which it presented instead). Either one would have greatly improved
it. Either one would also present considerable problems of expense and time, to which I alluded in
my original review. While I sympathise with the problem, sympathy alone does not make me
conclude that Nanosystems has provided a good case for the systems Drexler describes. To me
the work by supramolocular chemists toward actually building working molecular tools deserve at
least equal emphasis. It too has not reached a conclusion. But these chemists are wrestling with
the real world, which as always turns out messier than any pure theory.
You may also recall that I made a distinction between Nanotechnology and nanotechnology.
Capitalization in the first word alludes to another fault of many of those charmed by
Nanotechnology. It takes on, in their minds, many aspects of religion, not science. One major
characteristic of such religion is the fundamentally passive attitude of its believers.
Nanotechnology will sometime solve all problems, so we need not stir ourselves to work towards
any solutions. All will be solved when the Apocalypse of Nanotechnology arrives! (Mike Perry
has pointed out that not all Christian thinkers, even early Christian thinkers, took this passive
attitude, but the attitude is rife in Christianity regardless.) And of that religious attitude, I doubt
that Nanotechnology will even help nanotechnology itself, much less any revivals of cryonics
patients.
I hope that in this letter I have explained my own views on the issue of nanotechnology.
[Dr Donaldson is the editor and publisher of Periastron PO Box 2365, Sunnyvale, California
94087. Subscriptions cost $2.50 per issue. If you pay for many issues in advance, you avoid any
possible price rises. If the newsletter does not continue for any reason, unused subscriptions will
be refunded with interest! -ed]
From Mrs Joy Cass
On Wednesday June 2 (Derby Day) Longevity Report 39 arrived here. Many thanks for posting
me the Winner!
I must however take up one point in your misquotation (Page 5, 7th line of 2nd paragraph).
"Reduces the patient to nearly total apathy. I wrote Inertia. There is a world of difference
between inertia and apathy. The apathetic person is a non-carer - a great personality change for
the inert who is admittedly without activity and slow and sluggish. Both states can, of course, be
temporary, in as much as they can be permanent. Its interesting, isn't it, how much the drug
[Haloperidol] can so powerfully reduce natural reactions? But I don't believe it can change them
(like Jekyll and Hyde) in the realm of the spirit of the individual, especially in the context of inert-apathetic. You will understand that I wrote such statements from the point of view of my own
experience and lifetime experiences, not from the angle of knowledge of chemistry.* Raw talent,
(without the know-how of chemicals and ingredients) can sometimes be of greater advantage to
the individual's recovery than the kindly meant medical advice which believes in the chemical
rather than the human spirit's ability and faith in the healing process? (Ideally one needs both - and
I'm one for experiencing the best of both worlds!) Well, why not? Are all these things not given (I
maintain God-given) for the benefit and help to the most amazing product of creation - mankind?
It is how the gifts are understood or used that matters. And surely too, the great leveller of
happiness is the degree of it all. The "how" related to "how" much often, well, strong, suitable
etc., willingly or unwillingly.
It would be a lovely experiment to break down each chemical each thought each good/bad
reaction to a common denominator, jiggle them together, finding a willing subject with which or
whom to test and see what comes out!! If the intent is for good, it would out-Huxley's Brave New
World.
Editorial Note
* This is similar to the argument that the patient doesn't know as much medicine as a doctor or
dentist, but he does know more about his/her own body and what it can take in the way of
medicine or surgery.
Doctor Patient Relationships
in Modern Society
by Dr Keith Monnington
I would like to elaborate on the comments in Zehse's Cuttings on jobs and doctors records
(Longevity Report 39). The comments regarding life insurance and employment medicals are quite
correct but these examples are only the tip of the iceberg. Many authorities and other bodies
require doctors to provide information obtained in the course of the doctor-patient relationship,
information which is then used to decide patient entitlements. In most cases, doctor and patient
will be in agreement and there is no problem. However, in some cases, conflict does arise. For
example, doctors in many countries are required to certify whether or not patients are fit to drive
according to strict guidelines laid down by traffic authorities. People do not like losing driving
licences at any time but if a patient also drives for a living the doctor's certificate may cost him his
livelihood.
There are numerous other examples. A doctor's certificate can he used to decide if a patient is
entitled to time off work, sick pay or a whole variety of social welfare benefits. Such certificates
are frequently followed by requests for more detailed medical information.
In Australia, a doctor's certificate is used to determine a patient's entitlement to Worker's
Compensation for a work related injury or illness. In New Zealand, doctors have to certify
whether or not patients are entitled to claim from the Accident Compensation Commission. Their
decision can make a huge difference both to cost and waiting time for tests and treatment.
Acceptance of a claim entitles the patient to a subsidy covering most of the cost of physiotherapy,
chiropractic, osteopathy, X rays, private specialist treatment and in some cases private hospital
treatment.
In both countries, the patient has to sign a form authorising disclosure of medical information and
lodgement of a claim may be followed by numerous requests for medical information which is
then used to decide the patient's entitlements. In some cases disclosure of the information may
hinder rather than help the patient.
A General Practitioner is his patient's doctor of first contact for any perceived medical problem
and as such must act as a trusted advisor and advocate. Unfortunately, increasing certification
requirements and requests for medical information risk putting the doctor in a position of conflict
with this role. It is good to see that some doctors are refusing to comply with unreasonable
requests.
Editorial Comment:
A possible solution may be to have separate doctors examine patients for these legal purposes.
However it would cost more and still doesn't get over the main problem which is that the patient
has to have his body invaded by a person who is looking for things which will harm the wellbeing
of the patient, not help him. Whether the doctor is the patient's "own doctor" or not, conflict will
exist with the profession's Hippocratic Oath which is about using its skills to help people.
Of course, if such medical examinations were prohibited by law, then any goods or services which
are only available to those who are healthy (eg cars, life insurance), or to those who have become
ill for specific reason (eg industrial injury) would become more costly (eg insurance) or even more
dangerous (eg driving). It is a real dilemma!
Fortunately one can chose whether to buy life insurance, but car ownership is almost mandatory
for many people.
Venturists Against Superstition
The Venturists are planning a "mission statement" at their June conference. This is to use the
millennial celebrations at the end of the 20th century to promote a new awareness of the
opportunities offered to individuals by life extension and cryonics, and to direct people away from
conventional religions that purport to offer people life after death. Selected volunteers will receive
training during 1998 in history and critique of religion, state of the art knowledge in ageing
research and cryobiology, and in public debate and speaking. The project will be underwritten by
a donor, and the volunteers will receive living quarters and a stipend so that they can live
comfortably. It is anticipated that there will be a great deal of speculation on media talk shows
and otherwise on the content of the following millennium, and the Venturists expect to be in great
demand for appearances. If they generate enough public support during 1999, they plan to seek
further public donations to expand the program into the next century.
Although the details are not at present finalised, they may take the position that it is immoral for
the existing religions to offer people life after death as it is mere superstition and could turn
people away from what will, by the turn of the millennium, be provable concrete methods of
survival. This argument relates to the problem at present faced by medical authorities when
religious fundamentalists deny themselves or their families medical treatment on the grounds that
God will look after them.
Although I would not argue the point on grounds of logic, I wonder whether it is tactically wise
to attack established religions head on like this. These religions are organisations that have
endured for centuries by having zero regard for individuals whom they are quite prepared to
sacrifice in order to survive. There is no shortage of lunatics around willing to sacrifice themselves
in order to wipe out a group as small as the Venturists. I wonder instead whether it may be more
sensible to take the viewpoint that Venturism builds on the concepts of preserving life etc that are
the cornerstones of many religions.
Instead, it could be argued, for example, that suicide is a sin, or at least very much frowned upon.
Most religions require their followers to look after themselves and preserve their lives as much as
possible (except when sacrificing it for the cause.) Then one makes the point that we now have
the technology to prolong healthy life indefinitely. Not to use this technology would be suicide by
omission. By not using life extension, the individual is sinning! Thus the argument that the
churches are immoral in presenting people with false hopes about life after death can be converted
into the argument that the churches are immoral because they cause their people to commit the sin
of suicide by turning them away from life extension and cryonics.
The latter argument is attacking the churches on their own ground and it avoids the problems that
would arise if one attacks the fundamentals of religion. Religions are made stronger by attacks on
the basis of their faith. Alright we know that the Jesus/God story is riddled with holes, but does it
matter if it gives comfort to some people? What does matter is if the story turns them away from
something that may save their lives. The suicide argument allows people to keep the Jesus belief if
they want, and still partake of scientific advances of the future that will enable them to live
indeterminately long healthy lives.
Who'll Scrub My Back
by Chrissie Loveday
Introduction by John de Rivaz:
One of the worries of people interested in cryonic suspension is that they will require expensive terminal care in old age.
The Care in the Community programme for the disabled is estimated to cost between 50,000 and 75,000 per year per
person. Although the UK government provides financial assistance, this is only available if your savings are below a
certain figure, at present about 3,000. Therefore if you cannot afford terminal care at this cost, then you need, as you get
older, to consider making your cryonics fund irrevocable. Having done this you then have no further control of your first
life. So what happens next? Chrissie Loveday works in the Care in the Community programme and her experiences may be
of some value in this context:
In April this year, an Act of Parliament introduced Care in the Community. Those dreadful
Victorian buildings, filled with long stay patients are to go. Excellent news! Hundreds of old
people and mentally ill people, institutionalised for much of their lives, are to have their
independence.
The media have put out information in large doses, Press, TV and Radio, telling the tales of
freedom. Peoples reactions are varied. Those involved may say that they think it is a brilliant
concept .... others nod wisely and say it costs too much ... some say oh yes, that TV programme
said it all ... What of the people themselves? Many of them are very scared and don't want the
change from the safety and security they have known for a lifetime.
I have been working with some profoundly disabled people, some with no speech, who are hoping
to move out to independence. My impression is that the degree of disability makes little difference
to how they may cope ... what is important is their mental attitude. For example, Sam. He can't
wait to get his own place. He spelt it out on his computer pad, he wants to be on his own ... to
decide when he goes to bed and when he wants to eat his meals and what he wants ... not what he
is given or told to do. This man has no speech, cannot move himself at all, even needs help to go
to the loo. He is unable to dress or feed himself. He has surrounded himself with what technology
he can afford and has evolved methods of coping. He knows he will need help, considerable help,
but he has mental independence. He wants to be his own person. He can do his own shopping,
aided by his electric wheelchair and a copy of a typewriter keyboard on a large piece of board.
This is hooked on the back of the chair and he is more than ready to point at it for someone to lift
it off to use. I suppose he basically sees the rest of the world as being slightly handicapped
because they don't manage to understand him. Says something of all of us perhaps!
I will admit, I was very nervous when asked to run a pilot course and very uncertain about my
ability to help at all. I worked hard at communicating on a number of levels and the news that one
of my charges had been allocated a flat gave me the incentive to make definite plans. We
discussed the client's needs and how she could organise her helpers and she was looking forward
to going. She told her Mother. The response was not helpful.
"Don't be silly. It's a ridiculous idea, so just forget it."
My next session was spent mopping up tears and encouraging her not to give up.
I can sympathise with the parents of a disabled adult. A disabled child is perhaps more
appealing and help given willingly. But a thirty year old baby is quite another matter. The
parents may have coped for a number of years, possibly neglecting other siblings because of the
time needed and, unless they know something we don't, are getting older and less able to cope
themselves. So, when they finally believe their off-spring is to be cared for in a residential home,
hopefully for the rest of their lives, news that they are to be cared for in the community must
come as rather a shock. How on earth can they cope? Will they, the parents who have found a
new way of living, be suddenly required to start all over again? Incidentally my client is now living
"independently", and, in a recent letter, claimed "It was the best thing I have ever done."
It seems a little uncertain who the community is and how they are expected to care. How often do
we see people looking the other way? One of my ladies told me of a woman who dragged her
child across the road to avoid having to speak or answer the child's questions. Another told me
that he was stopped one day by what he described as a crowd of yobs, who asked what he was
doing out in the street. He should be locked away somewhere, they said. Being unable to speak,
he ignored them and drove on in his chair, saying "Up yours" in his mind.
I have realised that so many of the disabled people I have encountered have all the same problems
as the rest of us, plus a whole lot more. It is so important that this is recognised and dealt with. I
hope that the "community" can accept what it is being asked to cope with. Perhaps one day
disabilities may be cured. Just as we hope to beat the aging process, they must all be hoping for a
cure. Perhaps one day, anyone who wanted it, might be offered the chance of cryonic suspension.
Once the concept is proved to work, it could be a way for the disabled to escape from the
restrictions of their poor bodies. I suppose each person I have worked with has said at sometime,
if they could have a wish, it would be to escape from their body.* Till then, we have to work
towards the best quality of life possible, for everyone, old or young.
When my clients (horrible word) are given their independence, for some, what is needed is
acceptance, others need enormous amounts of help and encouragement. For Robert, he needs to
know who will help him to scrub his back!
Editorial note:
* Voluntary, pre-mortem cryonic suspension would offer this. But how can one express this idea
without creating images of extermination of the handicapped? And how could the handicapped
pay for it as individuals? If the government offered it to anyone who asked, then the cost savings
would be enormous. (And one would hear the "Hiels" again.) Using the Cryonics Institute or even
an Alcor neurosuspension, the costs would be commensurate with only a year's care in the
community. I would expect that a Cryonics Institute suspension would also equate to the costs of
care in an institution. Maybe when cryonic revivals are possible then people would accept its use,
but once cryonic revivals are possible, then we would also have the technology to repair the
handicapped.
An Ideal Trust
by John de Rivaz
Further to Mr Adolpho Picardo's articles in Longevity Report re trusts I have been giving some
thought to what form a product would take that would be irresistible to cryonicists.
One needs to remember that there is a dilemma between the financial arrangements required to fund suspension and the likely characteristics of the people who buy the service. If you want cryonic suspension, then you are likely to be the sort of person who
likes to be in control
resents taxation - I have heard it described as a form of slavery by a cryonicist - if you need to work say three months to pay your year's tax penalties, then that is equivalent to working for three months for nothing, which equal three months slavery.
resents government in any form, ie is likely to be a libertarian, either in name or in attitude.
On the other hand the cryonics organisation want you to invest your capital in forms that give
other people control and other people substantial fees for managing it, ie a life insurance
organisation, and possibly in a manner that maximises taxation. This is probably due to the fact
that many Americans are "not investment literate", as detailed by a publication by a leading firm of
U.S. Stockbrokers.*
Below I set out an idea for an ideal trust for cryonics purposes. The thought occurs to me that readers could write in to Longevity Report with their ideas, so eventually we get a composite trust that meets all needs.
1. The country of domicile of the trust has no taxation, or at least no taxation of capital (eg gains tax).
2. The trust attracts no professional costs for the day to day running thereof that would not also be attracted by a privately owned portfolio of stocks, (eg brokerage fees.)
2. The trust is run by the grantor during his lifetime, and the grantor has the option to draw a performance related salary for running the trust.1
3. The trust is irrevocable, but the grantor may change the designation of the beneficiary, who has to be a cryonics organisation, either for suspension or reanimation.2
4. The trust could contain a brokerage account of stocks and shares.3
Notes
1. This is to provide an income for people who need an income from their capital. Of course if the person lives in a country that taxes people's income, as most do, then he will suffer income tax. However it could be up to the individual to waive all or part of the income if he wishes. It should be noted that in the UK it is illegal for anyone who is not a professional, eg lawyer, accountant, to receive an income for running trusts. I would be surprised if the USA doesn't have a similar law. But it is presumed that the country of domicile of the trust would not have such restrictive laws, and I feel confident that the UK would not object to an income from abroad for such a purpose.
2. Making the trusts irrevocable may not please some people, but it prevents the funds being taken by reason of incompetence of the individual due to old age or illness or other litigation such as divorce. It also prevents them being subject to death taxation. Limiting the beneficiary should prevent a court awarding the trust to someone other than a cryonics organisation, eg a divorce litigant.
3. Stocks may have a bad name in the USA because of the practice of borrowing money to pay
for stocks and for selling short, ie selling stocks you don't own in the hope that they will fall in
price so you can buy them in at a lower price after a few days in order to meet your obligations.
Both these practices I do not recommend. It was these practices that cause people to go bust
when stock markets fall. More modest investment, ie investing with money you own will bring
positive results. Although falling markets will result in temporary loss of capital, the effect is
transient.
Reference
* Mutual Funds, The "Bank Deposits" of the 1990s George F. Salem, CFA, Prudential Bache
Research Weekly 14 December 1992. [1 Seaport Plaza, New York, NY10292, USA]
A Cryonics Lecture
by Brian Blair-Giles
(With a summary of the contents, taken from the lecture notes, by John de Rivaz)
Brian Blair-Giles, President of the U.K. World Life Extension, Cryonics and Nanonics Society,
delivered a lecture on Cryonics to an audience of around thirty members of the National Selected
Morticians European Group meeting at Belton Woods Hotel, Grantham, on the longest day of the
year: 21 June 1993. The lecture lasted between 3.45 pm to 5 pm in the Sir Isaac Newton suite to
an appreciative and inspired audience.
John de Rivaz writes:
The lecture started with an introduction to life extension, nanonics, permafrost cryonic internment, and vitrification. The
benefit to UK cryonicists of the Human Tissue Act 1961 was then presented, followed by a detailing of the procedures
recommended to funeral directors who wish to prepare patients for the Cryonics Institute. Mention was made of the fact
that Barry Albin of F.A. Albin and Sons, has been appointed a UK agent of the Cryonics Institute.
A detailed account of the services offered by Alcor Inc and Alcor UK followed. Their remote standby and stabilisation and
transport routines was included in this section. The reasoning was then given for Alcor's neuro suspension process, which
was also described.
Following the section on cryonics, Charles Olson's concepts of chemical fixation were detailed. It was suggested that this
would provide real comfort to people unable to afford cryonic suspension as well as providing a new source of income for
the embalming profession.
Both cryonics and chemical fixation would require repair machines smaller than cell size, and Brian Blair-Giles has given
the term "Nanonics" to mean that branch of nanotechnology that specifically deals with revival of suspended, vitrified or
otherwise preserved people. Revival will require funds, and revived people may require funds in order to chose themselves
the new lifestyle they prefer. So the Reanimation Foundation news was given.
The lecture concluded with Mr Blair-Giles' estimation of a business plan were his society to offer cryonic suspension and
revivals, followed by a brief discussion of the chances of cryonicists remaining preserved until they can be revived, and
consideration of population and space colonisation.
I was impressed with the notes, and feel that this must have been a good presentation. Here is the rest of Mr Blair-Giles'
article:
I express my thanks to the European Group Secretary, Brian Thornton (of Carr Funeral Services, the host firm), and his interested group for their good hospitality, setting and chauffeuring. They showed me the de Vere's Hotel's grounds including three golf courses and lovely swimming pool, Baroness Margaret Thatcher's birthplace, (now called The Premier Restaurant), and Sir Isaac Newton's statue near Grantham Guild Hall.
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