X-Message-Number: 11905 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: for Perry Metzgar Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999 23:44:12 +1000 (EST) Hi everyone! To Perry Metzgar: There is another answer to your message. Just why do you think that those who go off on these "tangents unrelated to cryonics" are discussing something unrelated to cryonics? Everything I put on Cryonet is related to cryonics. It may deal with a side of cryonics in which you are not interested, and that's fine with me. Just don't read my message (I try to characterize them with titles, nowadays, too). Moreover, these conversations have often included Bob Ettinger. So Bob Ettinger wants to make long postings on Cryonet which are irrelevant to cryonics? As I hope you have noticed, some people think that they can attain immortality by somehow being turned into a variety of computer. This may happen after cryonic suspension, or in some cases, before. Is it a serious competitor to cryonics? That's one question we are discussing. Second, just what will we do and choose after our revival? If this kind of "turning into a variety of computer" only becomes possible AFTER cryonic suspension, then the conversation is about one of the things that might happen to us after revival. I think that anyone who considers cryonics in the first place will want to have some idea of what happens if it works... more than that, even. Many people raise issues such as whether we'll all become slaves or only sources for spare parts; others suggest that we'll awaken in a world in which EVERYONE has turned them- selves into a computer. I don't think that the decision to be suspended depends only on whether or not the suspension will succeed. It also depends on just what you expect to find at the other end. So discussions of that issue are at the root of any decision to be suspended. If your mind on these issues is firmly made up, and you don't find these discussions worthwhile, then fine, too. But do not go about claiming that they have nothing to do with cryonics. They lie at the heart of cryonics. Best and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11905