A few thoughts on 'Hyper Sleep', 'Suspended Animation' and similar methods of preparing living organisms for extremely long periods of inactivity (such as Interstellar travel for example). (though not including 'Cryo-Sleep', 'Cryogenic Freezing' for reasons that will become clear later). These thoughts are mainly centered around familiar terrestrial forms like human beings, other mammals, reptiles/lizards and other terrestrial organisms which have an internal skeleton as opposed to an exoskeleton.
As we humans age our bones and joints in our body compress due to the influence of gravity and the weight of the parts of the body above each joint, this is especially true of the spine and lower body joints (though the neck is also substantially affected as well, after all our heads aren't exactly light, despite some people being considered 'airheads')), as such any extended period of inactivity in either an upright or a prone (laying down) position can result in serious damage to the cushioning material in these joints as it is continually subjected to the weight of the body parts above it as mentioned earlier.
To me there seems to be only 2 ways to get around these problems, each fraught with their own inherent risks/problems however.
1. Fluid suspension. That is to say that the body would need to be suspended in some sort of fluid effectively eliminating the effects of gravity on the joints. The problem with this is at least 3 fold in that:
a) It does not necessarily eliminate the effects of gravity on the internal organs. Inside the body there are ligaments and connective tissues that serve to hold the internal organs in place so that they don't just end up as a pile of tissue in the body cavity, this helps to allow the blood vessels to continue to supply and carry away blood from the organs without being constricted, it also allows for organs like the lungs and heart to expand and contract without much restriction from surrounding organs. It also allows other organs like the kidneys, bladder, stomach, and intestines to expand and contract as necessary to fulfill their functions unimpeded. There are actually individuals who suffer from a condition where these ligaments and connective tissues have begun to degenerate causing their internal organs to begin to 'fall' together thus hampering the functionality of the various organs, over extended periods of time under the influence of gravity this same thing may happen naturally as part of the passage of time.
b) Extended submersion in fluids can result in significant damage to the epidermis (think of what happens to you when you stay too long in a bath or swimming pool, your skin starts to wrinkle because the cells become so bloated with absorbed water that they expand, excessive soaking actually causes cellular bonding to break down because the cells continue to absorb water through their membrane but as the membrane stretches to contain that water the bonds along the surface of the membrane to other adjacent cells begin to break until eventually the cell breaks free of its bonds to its neighbors and simply 'falls off' of the body).
c) Gases necessary to the survival of the organism are not only introduced through the organs respiratory system but are also introduced through absorption by the epidermis, thus necessitating some form of delivery mechanism for those essential gases, additionally expulsion of waste products produced by the organism don't only occur by urination or defecation, waste gases are released through the epidermis, and other waste matter is also expelled from the organism through the epidermis as well, think of the limits on how long a diver wearing a neoprene diving suit is able to wear said suit, if the limit is exceeded the body begins to become poisoned by the waste it is attempting to expel though the epidermis since the suit effectively traps that waste on the surface of the epidermis where it is re-absorbed and reintroduced into the body.
Section 1 conclusion: Any fluid the organism is suspended in would need continuous filtration as well as to have numerous gases diffused in it for the organisms body to absorb. Additionally such fluid would need to be such that it cannot itself be absorbed by the organism in order to avoid cellular damage as described in Subsection c above.
2. Zero/Anti-Gravity suspension. Through the use of some method of nullifying the effects of gravity on the organisms body.
a) The first and foremost problem with this is that terrestrial organisms have evolved in such a way that some of their organs will not function correctly when deprived of gravity for extended periods of time. Things like the digestive system for example that rely on gravity to keep stomach acids from finding their way back up the organisms esophagus and causing damage to those tissues along the way. The intestinal track, while the rings of muscles on the intestines serve to move food through the intestines they are more effective in the presence of gravity, a fact that has been documented by organizations like NASA and the ESA, in fact one only need to look into these agencies own records to discover other negative effects of zero gravity on terrestrial organisms.
Section 2 conclusion: While zero gravity would go a long way towards solving the problems mentioned in Section 1 Subsection a, it introduces its own unique sets of problems as noted above.
Overall conclusion, the only way I can see to potentially safely negate most of the effects of gravity on an organisms body while also minimizing the effects of a zero gravity environment are to 'cycle' the organism through gradual transition periods where gravity would be introduced gradually up to what the organism has evolved to exist in, and then sustained for a specific period to allow the various bodily functions to 'stabilize' before gradually reducing gravity back to zero for a specific period of time and repeating the cycle again and again.
There are of course additional questions that would need to be addressed as well such as: "How would we arrest/stall/slow the aging process in the organism?", "What about removal of urination and defecation waste products?", "What would the effects of prolonged use of a catheter (along with a similar apparatus for solid waste removal) be on the surrounding tissues?", "What about prolonged use of a breathing apparatus on adjacent tissues?", "Would new tissue eventually attach itself to these items? Making removal of them when necessary problematic/dangerous?", "Would the organism's immune system begin to reject these items resulting in possible health issues?", and I'm sure many more questions as well.
Cryo-Sleep, if perfected, would essentially negate the concerns mentioned in the above article as the organism and all joints and tissues would be frozen into an immobile state, and cell mitosis would be suspended as well negating any need to ‘arrest/stall/slow’ the organisms aging process.
New Graphics Tablet
(you'll need to register for a free account to get everything, then just go and add it all to your shopping cart and proceed to the checkout, download links will be posted to your DAZ account and you'll be given any serial numbers you need to install everything on another account page, I recommend printing that page or saving it to your computer for your own records (I used the Firefox extension Pdf It!to save a copy in PDF format on my computer to make it easier to refer back to when I need to)).
Here's the link to their main website: www.daz3d.com
GO GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!!!
Get FREE 3D Software!!!!
Bryce 7 is powerful scene/landscaping creation software
DAZ Studio 4 is a powerful program for working with 3D figures it can use most of the content created for the figure manipulation program Poser
Hexagon 2.5 is a 3D modeling program that features built in support for making Second Life Sculpted Prims
What is Second Life?
OK, First off contrary to popular opinion Second Life is NOT and NEVER HAS BEEN a game. While I will grant that there are games you can play WITHIN Second Life, Second Life itself has NO levels, NO points systems, NO missions, NO quests to complete, NO big bosses to slay, in short none of the elements that constitute a game are integral to making Second Life what it is.
In terms of graphics performance in Second Life it's important to note that UNLIKE with online games like World of Warcraft or Dungeons & Dragons Online or most other online games the content you view is NOT preinstalled on your computer and must be downloaded fresh for each sim you visit, so every time you go someplace new in Second Life your Second Life viewer (the software you use to connect to and interact with Second Life) must download all of the information relevant to the virtual location you are visiting, bear in mind that while this is happening for you it is also happening for anyone else in that same location, additionally as new people arrive in the location you are visiting information about how their avatar looks (skin textures, clothing textures, attachments like hair, hats, belts, shoes etc....) is all being downloaded to not only your viewer but that of every person that is in that location with you. When you take all this into consideration it should be easy to see why lag is a problem that will always be present in Second Life (at least until someone figures out how to perform faster than light data transfers and processing).
As for what you can expect in Second Life, let's just say that 'your imagination is your only limit'. While most individuals get buy just fine in Second Life without using a paid subscription (myself included), some people (most notably those who wish to open up a business or some other special venue in Second Life) may find that in order to receive the kind of support from Linden Labs (creators of Second Life) that they may occasionally need it may be to their benefit to consider subscribing, on the bright side last time I looked a year subscription cost less than $100 (that's less than $8.50 per month, most of us spend at least that a week on coffee/fast food easily).
If you are a fan of the Steampunk genre you'll find plenty of interesting places to explore and places to meet others with similar interests, likewise if you're into science fiction, horror, fantasy, post apocalypse settings, Dr. Who, Star Trek, Babylon 5, you name it and odds are that somebody has made something related to it in Second Life, if not nows your time to flex those creative muscles and try your own hand at making content for use by either yourself or your fellow SL Residents, there are a number of new exciting changes coming to SL in the near future including the ability to import 3D Meshes (3D Models) into SL, it's important to note though that you need to make sure that you have the legal rights to use the meshes you import otherwise you may face legal prosecution from the original creator of the mesh.
In summary SL is whatever YOU make it!