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 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10084