# Key Points from IRC Discussion on Transhumanism and Technology

• Participants discussed nuclear isomers and stimulated gamma emission, noting that hafnium-178m2 was selected for research due to its predicted ease of triggering rather than being the only option, with tantalum-180 mentioned as a naturally occurring alternative.

• The group addressed the growing threat of antibiotic resistance in response to news about the first superbug CRE case in the US, with bacteriophage therapy proposed as a potential alternative treatment approach.

• A technical debate on AI development suggested that "goal-directed behavior" likely reduces to planning engines, with arguments that the traditional distinction between symbolic AI (GOFAI) and connectionist approaches may be less relevant than commonly thought.

• Brain emulation projects were discussed, with C. elegans (301 neurons) identified as a manageable upload target achievable within 5 years, alongside discussion of how Markram's statistical minicolumn neural wiring approach might help correct deficient connectomics scan data.

• Cryonics techniques were analyzed in detail, with explanations that Alcor's vitrification methods preserve the connectome, cell structure, proteome, and neural positioning, though they use more toxic chemicals than Cryonics Institute to better preserve information at the expense of potential medical recovery.

• An innovative proposal suggested creating a charity for cryopreserving fluent speakers and oral historians of dying languages, with arguments that preserving one brain could be equivalent to over 10,000 hours of audio recordings and would cost approximately $100,000 per preserved elder.

• The conversation explored whether consciousness could theoretically exist as a fully reversible computational process, potentially enabling steady-state reversible computronium with no energy loss at absolute zero temperature.