X-Message-Number: 10417
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 09:57:35 -0600
From: Fred Chamberlain <>
Subject: JBKRUG Re: Laughter..... Post #10414

Date: 9/12/98
From:  Fred Chamberlain <>
Re:  JBKRUG Re: Laughter..... Post #10414

John's mentioning of the new CD entitled, "Give Me Immortality Or Give Me
Death!" brings to mind another slogan once proposed, "Death to all
non-life-extensionists!"  Some objected that this might sound too radical.
One
could mistakenly think that we were wishing an ill fate on those who had not
yet shared our dreams.

Of course, there may be a present need for a paraphrasing of the CD title, as
"Give Me Vitrification Or Give Me Death!"

On the basis that there is any reasonable chance that a lesser procedure leads
to survival, this would be the choice of one who died and was not frozen
due to
"holding off" signing up until "vitrification" was a reality - until patients
with average degrees of premortem damage and deterioration, after average
legal
delays in access, and taking into account average difficulties of fielding a
competent team in the field, could be medicated, cooled and cryoprotected in
such a  way that their temperatures were lowered at rates in excess of 1 Deg
C/min into a glasslike zone of questionable stability at around -140 Deg C and
then held here without long term degradation until we found out whether or not
they could be recovered.

If all worked out well, these patients might have good looking electron
micrographs, but even then, it might depend on the quality of the
technician as
much as the quality of the suspension.  Would they be reanimated, ever?  That
would then depend, as much as on the quality of the preservation, on the
desire
of someone or some organization in particular to undertake the task of
recovery.

A great deal more needs to be said about that, but there is too little time to
do more than observe that if it turns out that repair and recovery of patients
frozen today is infeasible, then their destiny will be the same as that of all
of the many hundreds of millions of persons who have already gone into
oblivion.  In the long sweep of history, will they be any worse off for having
tried?

If, on the other hand, repair and recovery of persons frozen today *does* turn
out to be possible, then all of those who held back due to the persuasive
pessimism of those who scoff at the possibility of such repair and recovery
will have gone into oblivion unnecessarily.  As one who values life enough to
reach  out for it, even in the face of terrible uncertainties, I would rather
that history label me as an overhopeful optimist, for having tried to save
lives and failed, than a monster for having discouraged those who might have
wanted to make the attempt and died needlessly as a result of that influence.

Fred Chamberlain, President/CEO ()
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
Non-profit cryonic suspension services since 1972.
7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale AZ 85260-6916
Phone (602) 922-9013  (800) 367-2228   FAX (602) 922-9027
 for general requests

<http://www.alcor.org/>http://www.alcor.org

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