Alcor Conference 2006 – Brian Wowk, Ph.D.
The Cryobiological Basis of Cryonics
Alcor Conference 2006 – Brian Wowk, Ph.D. – The Cryobiological Basis of Cryonics (42 min) from Alcor Life Extension Foundation on Vimeo.
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Brian Wowk is a biophysicist employed as a Senior Scientist at 21st Century Medicine, Inc., a company specializing in low temperature preservation of tissue and organs for medical applications. He holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in medical physics, specializing in radiation oncology physics and magnetic resonance imaging. The premise of cryonics is the preservation of sufficient information, especially brain information, to permit recovery of the original person. Studies show steady progress in the quality with which brain information can be preserved under ideal conditions. However the absence of demonstrable reversibility, and the vast variety of conditions under which cryopreservations can take place, introduce uncertainty in the “information theoretic” paradigm of cryonics. Dr. Wowk discusses what cryobiology says about the prospects of cryonics actually working.