X-Message-Number: 10088
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:45:45 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #10080 - #10084

Hi to Olaf (and everyone else, of course):
You're likely to be right when you say that most people want a future.
On the other hand, I understood you to be giving a statement about
why ANYONE would want to be suspended. I continue to believe that
the desire to be suspended comes from a desire to continue living.
That is not "rational" in the sense that no amount of logic can
decide the question of whether or not to continue living, even for
the next 5 minutes. Somehow, though, almost all people want to
do that.

It is in that sense that the desire for suspension is always
emotional.

My own belief (which comes from encounters with various people) is
that many people spend almost their whole lives in a low-level
depression, and would not want to continue those lives indefinitely.
Just telling them of the wonders of the future is unlikely to help
very much at all. If you are not one of those people, that's fine,
and your interest in cryonics comes (a bit) from that.

I'll add that I find your 2 postings confusing when put together.
First we are to give rational reasons for suspension, rather than
emotional ones. Second we are to provide a picture of the future
for people, so that they will want to live in that future --- an
appeal to the emotions, as I understand it. Perhaps you cut up the
world into categories differently than I do, but rightly or wrongly
I read one posting as contradicting the other.

If you can find the time to explain I'd appreciate that. I'm serious
here --- I can't work out what you are really saying.

			Best and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson

PS: And if you can get a miniaturized brain, so can I. What will
happen is not that one of us will become superior to the other, but
that neither of us will depend on inherited abilities for what we
can do. That's interesting. It's not exactly a leveller --- we'll
both probably find that we want to do different things, and grow
to be able to do them. And if anyone wants to set up a hierarchy of
abilities, it will really have to base itself not on any innate
inherited abilities but on what different people WANT to do --- but
even wanting to set up such a hierarchy will by then seem silly. AS
if I am to be inferior to you because I like cherry pie rather
than blueberry pie.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10088