X-Message-Number: 12599
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 00:18:16 -0400
From: Mike Darwin <>
Subject: Those Likeable Cryonicists

Appropos the debate over whether cryonicists are "nice" or "likeable"
people, I find, much to my utter amazement, that I am compelled to offer
the following observations:

1) Many of the rank and file are wonderful and kind people who a broad
cross-section of the American population would be at ease with, or, in
other words, view as "normal."

2) While a few amongst the leadership/activist contingent have been kind
and nice people, they have had peculiarities which would probably alienate
or cause discomfort in ~50% of the population. An example would be being
gay or lesbian, deeply into S&M, "lite" street drug users (pot, Ecasty,
etc.), or at best, socially very naieve.

3) As for the rest, I finally ran across a description so perfect and
compelling that I felt I must post it to the "information ether" so that it
is not lost to posterity. It summarizes *exactly* how I feel, and I would
include myself in this description. It is adapted slightly from a recent
movie review by the critic Roger Ebert:

"The real problem with many cryonicists is not simply that they are
"unpopular" -- they are creepy and not very nice. They are the kind of
people who inspire in you the inexplicable desire to be hurtful and cruel.
You don't meet people like that very often, but when you met them, you know
who they are. And you want to get awy from them before you do something
that would undermine your self-image as a nice person."

                                        --with thanks to Roger Ebert


Mike Darwin

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