X-Message-Number: 10126
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 19:22:04 -0700
From: crystal <>
Subject: Re: An opportunity for some lobbying?

;

That makes sense. As cryonics is not suicide but a form of "suspended
animation", if you like. 

But then this throws up a problem, the current tech is not like
"long-term general anasthesia" but more like "vegetable life-support".
However, it isn't a waste of resources (other than electricity for the
freezer chamber and temperature control equipment) like the "vegetable
life-support". 

"Vegetable life-support" does use electricity for waste collection (from
the blood?) + mabye food-fluids. However these are in hospitals which
require room rental also. Whereas, cryonics organistions are all private
now, so there is hardly any "rental" cost. Perhaps there might by
one-time chamber-plot charges, like a cemetary, when cryonics become
popular. :)

There is therefore a very fine line between "Vegetable life-support" and
"suspended animation" - in both, shutting of electricity and nutrients
(for VLS) will terminate the patient. So the issue is one of electricity
cost, and/or availability of nutrients (for VLS). Btw, is there a pod
model that has spare-batteries w/UPS and back-generator connections? It
could also have embeded solar panels...

But cryonics per see, is far different from "suspended animation" where
chemicals need to be fed into a body. Cryonic is more like "suspended
animation without chemical only electricity". So the issue of cost to
society is very negligible. Besides, one could simply mount a solar
panel near the chamber pods.

Theoretically, it could exist indefinitely, like in orbit around a
parking asteroid. Drawing free solar energy.

(The Earth's orbits may get too crowded for commercial purposes.
Likewise other planets when they are colonized, and all the moons.
Somebody has to buy the asteroid first though to keep it from the
miners/colony real estate salesmen.) Worse case, a parking orbit around
the solar system may need be purchased, along with the installed
course-correction boosters (in case of collision emergencies). Just so
long as it doesn't cut the flight path of interstellar lanes.)

Of coz, if the system administration decide to construct a Dyson Sphere,
then it's another problem. Finding an allocated orbit within the Dyson
Sphere or going to another orbit in another system. Then there is
transportion cost, namely freight charges. It depends whether there are
low-cost real estate (cheap planets around star systems) nearby or far
away. Or we could house it on a planetary surface, provided there are
cheap real-estate. 

Btw, has anyone thought about mass-scale storage for cryonics pods yet?
How do you house 1 million pods? Like a mini-city, complete with robotic
equipment & a trauma-medical unit on standby?

Best Regards,
Crystal.

"Chris Fideli" <> wrote:
> cryonicists have an opportunity to distinguish our practices from 
> those of other death with dignity supporters.  If the new 
> legislation is aiming to discredit suicide as a "legitimate 
> medical purpose", we could argue that a distinction be made 
> between those who wish to irrevocable end their lives and those 
> who are choosing to control the circumstances of an immanent 
> legal death in order to increase the chances, however slight, 
> that their terminal condition might be reversed with future 
> experimental medical techniques.

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