X-Message-Number: 10084
Date:  Mon, 20 Jul 98 16:23:03 
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #10078

Some thoughts as to why it's worthwhile to sign up for cryonics 
now, despite any uncertainties or downsides:

1. It's still a better shot than the grave or the fire. "Death" is 
not an all-or-nothing thing. I don't think there will be a sharp 
dividing line between "those who are revived" and "those who 
are not." Nobody will be reanimated with crippling deficits--those 
should all be fixable. At worst, a resuscitee will have more or less 
amnesia about his/her past life. Some of us, myself included, want 
any substantial amnesia we might otherwise have "corrected" by 
educated guesswork as to what our memories might have been. I expect 
to wake up with no obvious, detectable memory deficits, but, if my 
suspension didn't go well, some question as to which parallel 
universe *my* particular remembered life-experience was actuated in. 
(Yes, I am a many-worlds advocate.) The less of a "question" of 
this sort there is, the better, however. Freezing is better than 
rotting or burning--less loss of information, less of this 
"question" to worry about.

2. Signing up and taking part in cryonics at the "member"
level furthers the cause--your organization and cryonics overall
are strengthened by more people directly involved. In particular, 
younger people will be needed to "carry the torch" as us older 
members deanimate and are frozen. We are counting on you--just 
as you in turn will have to depend on younger recruits someday, 
and fairly soon. (When you get past thirty, twenty years goes 
by much "faster" than it did!) Of course, there could 
be medical breakthroughs that will change this picture--but see #4.

3. Setting an example: each person who signs up sends a signal to 
others, many of whom are not young and healthy, and society more 
generally, that this is the right thing to do.

4. "Catching the wave": suppose you sign up, but medical 
breakthroughs and other developments eliminate diseases and aging 
and so reduce the likelihood of your death that cryonics becomes 
a non-issue, long before you would be needing it. So you've "wasted"
your resources in one sense, but I wouldn't worry much about this 
possibility. There will be plenty of time and opportunities to make 
up for anything you may have missed, plus I think your involvement 
in this worthy cause (cryonics) will be a source of satisfaction 
whatever a long future may have in store.

Mike Perry

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