X-Message-Number: 10801 Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 07:49:20 -0500 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #10795 - #10799 Hi everyone! To Thomas Nord: I explained why I couldn't get your messages separately. I am working on getting another netlink. As for differences between (say) Sweden and the US, the most striking one which comes to my mind is that even now Sweden is a LOT more homogeneous. And for that reason alone, there won't be as much social strife. And social strife includes the use of guns, legal or illegal. I will make a general assertion, as someone who has visited various countries (unfortunately none of them European) for long periods. Lots of traits of a country are connected together, and cannot be changed without changing others. The US is a nation of immigrants, and that implies that some segment of those immigrants will have much more propensity toward violence than others. Even Lott, whether or not you bothered to read him or consider him, seems to have only considered the US. And again for the US, more than 100 years ago now the US fought a bloody civil war which (though not officially) was over the issue of slavery. Even now many of us feel differently around blacks than around whites (and I'm sure the feeling is reciprocated). And so among the immigrants not only are those naturally inclined to violence, but also some who did not want to immigrate. For whatever it's worth, frankly I think that your fear of violence in the US is excessive. Ask an American what he does about it, places he does not go to after dark (not that these places are very attractive, you understand?) and so on. Even most Americans live sedate lives. But more than that, any country is all of a piece. One feature simply cannot be changed without changing others, and by removing some disadvantages you can easily remove the advantages too. About popular versions of cryonics, TV etc: Unfortunately there are still plenty of misconceptions. By becoming a cryonicist we must all accept that we have put ourselves in a very deviant position relative to virtually everyone else we might know. To some of us, that's continually painful. And even to each of us, it can sometimes be painful (I have a sister with a very serious cancer, who has refused to even consider cryonics). Eventually we get used to it, and adopt various strategies to deal with it emotionally. AS for myself, as an example, I would find it very difficult to have a serious discussion about ANY philosophical issue with anyone who was not a cryonicist. The assumptions just deviate too much. And yes, my wife is also a cryonicist. Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10801