What you need to realize is that for 2 states to be distinguishable ever in principle, the states must be separated by an energy barrier taller than thermal fluctuations. Else the thermal noise is going to overwrite it randomly a zillion times a second.
The other issue is that the closer are the states the less metabolic energy you’ll need to switch between them. Which makes something like neurons (evolved over a very long time) settle on an optimum where there’s no room for some weak residuals recoverable with some future technology that got more sensitive probes.
I.e. if the cryo-protectants happen to reset some bits, that information is gone. You have to hope that cryo-protectants do not actually reset anything, i.e. that nothing is forced from multiple states to one state.
edit: another issue. Individual ion channels, gap junctions, etc etc. combine more-or-less additively into final electrical properties of the neuron. When you need to know the value of a sum a+b+c+d+e , losing even a single variable of the sum introduces massive uncertainty in the result. It would’ve been a lot easier if those properties mirrored each other, like a=b=c=d=e , then we’d only need to preserve at least one, but as they combine additively, we need to not lose a single one.
What you need to realize is that for 2 states to be distinguishable ever in principle, the states must be separated by an energy barrier taller than thermal fluctuations. Else the thermal noise is going to overwrite it randomly a zillion times a second.
The other issue is that the closer are the states the less metabolic energy you’ll need to switch between them. Which makes something like neurons (evolved over a very long time) settle on an optimum where there’s no room for some weak residuals recoverable with some future technology that got more sensitive probes.
I.e. if the cryo-protectants happen to reset some bits, that information is gone. You have to hope that cryo-protectants do not actually reset anything, i.e. that nothing is forced from multiple states to one state.
edit: another issue. Individual ion channels, gap junctions, etc etc. combine more-or-less additively into final electrical properties of the neuron. When you need to know the value of a sum a+b+c+d+e , losing even a single variable of the sum introduces massive uncertainty in the result. It would’ve been a lot easier if those properties mirrored each other, like a=b=c=d=e , then we’d only need to preserve at least one, but as they combine additively, we need to not lose a single one.