Alcor received an overwhelming response from its members who asked to be included in the 2007 Alcor Membership Directory. Nearly half of Alcor’s members requested to be included, although all members will receive a copy of the directory in the next few weeks. Even those who aren’t listed are encouraged to use the contacts listed to form local support groups. The purpose of the directory is to bring members together. Those who form a new group that meets regularly are encouraged to contact Alcor for announcement of the group to a wider audience, which spurs new attendees. One caveat – Alcor asks members to respect the privacy of those included in the directory by not taking the directory to public places or sharing it with non-members.
Monthly archives for October, 2007
Foresight Vision Weekend Open to Alcor Members
Foresight Nanotech Institute’s Vision Weekend to be held Nov. 3-4 is open to Alcor members, as well as members of other special cooperating groups. Usually this event is only open to their Senior Associate members.
Alcor encourages you to check out this event and register early. It is an “unconference,” so attendees have the option of presenting as well as general participation. The overall theme is advanced technologies, with a wide variety of topics to be covered, including a presentation on cryonics by Alcor’s Tanya Jones.
Facebook users can indicate their plans to attend here, though RSVPs here don’t guarantee you a seat.
Hope to see you there!
Thank You for Making the 7th Alcor Conference a Success!
We hope all our conference attendees enjoyed the 7th Alcor Conference, from the lively discussions to the food selections, sleeping rooms, and beautiful Arizona weather. The event could not have been a success without our attendees, and so we thank them all for supporting our mission!
The 7th Alcor Conference DVD set is still in production, but it can be ordered now for only $39.95 plus shipping – a special sale price only available for a limited time. Order yours now to receive this 20% discount.
Anyone interested in reading more about the conference is encouraged to view these blogs:
Frontier Channel
People Database Project
Fight Aging
TechNewsWorld
We hope to see everyone at the 8th Alcor Conference!
CR Society Conference
The fifth CR Society Conference will be held at Sunset Station in San Antonio, TX. The Conference will run from Wednesday November 7 through Sunday November 11, 2007.
The Conference will open with a welcoming reception/registration on Wednesday evening November 7 starting at 6:30 pm. The presentations will start Thursday November 8 at 9:00 am and end Sunday Sunday November 11 at 11:00 am.
The Conference webpage:
http://www.calorierestriction.org/conferences-2007
Sunset-Station
http://www.sunset-station.com/home.html
Map of Sunset-Station and our hotels
http://www.sunset-station.com/abouthss/locationmap.html
7th Alcor Conference, Sunday Morning Sessions
Special Guest Writers: John Schloendorn & Simone Syed
Sunday began with a panel discussion about the ethics of life and death, the relationship between cryonics and critical care medicine, and about the definition of death, which has profound implications for cryonics. The panelists were critical care physician David Crippen, Alcor COO Tanya Jones, and bioethicist Leslie Whetstine. Next, Steven Harris, MD introduced his perfluorocarbon-based rapid body cooling system, which has applications in cryonics and emergency medicine. Calvin Mercer, PhD addressed the relationship between religion and life extension practices, such as cryonics. Christine Petersen then provided a survey of existing life extension technologies, and, finally, Chris Heward, PhD wrapped up with an in-depth account of the aging measurement experiment being conducted at Kronos Science Laboratory.
7th Alcor Conference, Saturday Afternoon Sessions
Special Guest Writers: John Schloendorn & Simone Syed
The afternoon session featured several illustrious speakers from the fields of nanotechnology and stem cell research, which would seem indispensable for successful revival from cryopreservation. The session began with an introduction to molecular nanotechnology from Ralph Merkle, PhD, which may one day allow us to rebuild damaged structures molecule-by-molecule. Mike West, PhD, of Advanced Cell Technology, discussed how one day we may be able to reassemble lost human tissues and organs cell-by-cell. Finally, Aubrey de Grey, PhD, most well-known for his Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) (a strategy to cure human aging by repairing the damage it does to the human body), provided an intriguing account of whether it is politically safe for a biologist to support cryonics publicly. Speaking from his own experience, Aubrey’s conclusion is no, it is not safe at all, but hiding it is a lot more dangerous!
7th Alcor Conference, Saturday Morning Sessions
Special Guest Writers: John Schloendorn & Simone Syed
The 7th Alcor conference was held from Friday, October 5th to Sunday, October 7th in the Hilton Scottsdale Resort. The venue featured a level of luxury greater than a dewar, to say the least!
Friday evening began with a reception on the Hilton patio with light drinks and food. Also on Friday, Alcor public policy consultant Barry Aarons gave an introductory speech summarizing the recent progress of Alcor’s status as a research entitity in Arizona. Indeed, within only four years, Alcor has progressed from being existentially threatened by the state government, to being perceived as an accepted research and technology institute furthering the public good. We are all grateful to Barry and the Alcor leadership for their excellent public relations work that made this possible. The next step should be to strengthen Alcor’s relations with other leading biotechnology institutions in Arizona and to begin collaborations with efforts like the Biodesign Institute in Tempe, or the Bio5 in Tucson. In the long term, this should establish Alcor as an indispensible part of Arizona’s sprawling academic and industrial biotechnology network.
Saturday morning’s sessions featured talks from key individuals working to create and improve existing human cryopreservation technologies and processes. One of the first speakers, Brian Wowk, PhD, Senior Physicist at 21st Century Medicine, took us through the technical challenges and successes in cryopreservation research. Next, Alcor Executive Director Stephen Van Sickle gave us an overview of the research and process developments at the Alcor facility. Finally, Tanya Jones provided an in-depth look at current and future improvements in Alcor procedures and equipment.
