X-Message-Number: 12802
From: "john grigg" <>
Subject: What three things we all must commit to do...
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 15:21:48 PST

George Smith wrote:
Otherwise, we are assuming that we already know what will be possible in the 
future and fail to encourage others to take the only current lifeboat which 
is currently in existence: cryonics.  We can discourage people from choosing 
cryonics.  We can lose lives.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are not communicating in an idealistic vacuum here. 
Those who wish to be strictly conservative (what I consider to be 
"pessimistic") are not merely expressing their opinions when they treat 
current cryonics procedure as being unworkable.  They are directly 
influencing those others who have not secured cryonic suspension for 
themselves and those they care for.

As we remain a forum for public expression, I will continue to point this 
out (time permitting) when I see "pessimism" expressed as fact.  Pessimism 
AND optimism are BOTH only beliefs.  However, pessimism can be deadly. 
Optimism can save lives.

Lives do hang in the balance here.

George Smith
www.cryonics.org
Life is good.
(end of reproduction)

Hello everyone,

I wish to say I think George makes some excellent points here.  There are 
people on this list(myself included) who have been affected by the pessimism 
on this list.  I believe he is right in saying people may have been swayed 
not to sign up because of posters saying how present cryonics methods are so 
unlikely to ever be repairable.

I realize there is good reason to doubt with current techniques that those 
presently suspended will be returned to their former selves with no memory 
damage but we cannot be sure.  Can we as a group be optimistic and yet not 
pollyannish?  People should not come away from this list feeling defeated.

Frankly, I am grateful for people like Mike Darwin and others who say it 
like they see it in terms of what has been done and what needs to be done.  
Mike Darwin in his paper on brain cell damage woke me out of my starry-eyed 
phase.  And yet I am grateful for George Smith making the point that the 
lifeboat may be leaky and need to be improved but it is still a lifeboat and 
the Titanic is sinking.

Can we at least agree on this point?  We all must have life insurance 
policies in place as soon as reasonably possible because sudden bad health 
could make it impossible or simply too expensive to buy it when you 
desperately want it for suspension purposes.  Maybe you don't want to sign 
up with a cryonics provider now and feel you can risk a sudden accident.  
But do not risk having a lack of insurance or you may not be able to get it 
when you want it so badly.  One can perhaps wait but not the other.

1.  WE ALL MUST HAVE LIFE INSURANCE

And next we must all take the best care of our health we can so we can make 
it to the time five to twenty years from now when brain suspension 
techniques leave no or barely any damage.

2.  WE MUST ALL TAKE GOOD CARE OF OUR HEALTH TO MAKE IT TO THE POINT WHERE 
BRAIN SUSPENSION HAS BEEN PERFECTED OR IS AT LEAST NOWHERE AS DAMAGING AS 
NOW

There is always complaining about the lack of research to improve cryonic 
suspensions.  We must put our "money where our mouth is" and everyone of us 
must donate/invest at least something to advance the work.  I am a full-time 
college student and very poor but I commit $100 to invest in BioSciences 
when the possibility arises.

3.  WE MUST EACH DONATE/INVEST AT LEAST SOME MONEY INTO CRYONICS RESEARCH, 
NO MATTER HOW SMALL THE SUM IN THE HOPE WE GET HOOKED ON THE HABIT

In the meantime we need to be honest about where cryonics as a movement 
needs to improve.  Certainly much more money needs to be spent on research 
to carry out our goals and we must work more cooperatively with eachother.

My three commandments to all cryonicists are sound and right.  I have to 
work on doing them myself and presently am looking at getting life 
insurance.

Saul Kent and Will Faloon are moving toward having companies up for public 
trade that will aid in this cause either directly or indirectly.  Saul Kent 
has said that next year he will do a major fundraising effort among 
middle-class and wealthy cryonicists to obtain the capital he needs for the 
effort.  I hope we will all support him.  We must not lay back and think 
they will take care of everything for us though.

I am an optimist about these things.  I believe this is the greatest time in 
human history to be alive and that with effort our goals will be reached as 
individuals and organizations.  Technology is advancing rapidly which is so 
exciting but again we must gain capital for our own research efforts to 
perfect suspension.


best regards,

John Grigg

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