X-Message-Number: 13219
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2000 00:14:23 -0500
From: gary tripp <>
Subject: Re: effects of reversible cryopreservation

Doug Skrecky writes:

>In Message #13203 Saul Kent <> wrote:
>
>>         I don't assume that reversible cryopreservation by itself
>> will do much to change public attitudes towards cryonics.  What it
>> will do, however, is change the attitudes of people like myself, who
>> have the resources to promote cryonics in a big way.  That, in turn, 
>> will lead to mainstream physicians and hospitals being involved in 
>> the delivery of services and many other things which will increase
>> business substantially.  How much it will do so, I can't predict, but 
>> I'm real interested in finding out.
>> 
>   It seems to this crystal ball gazer that with reversible 
>cryopreservation the primary application would be with transplant
>organs. Cryonics would be an interesting side line.

Doug's crystal ball is better than most but it seems to me that
Saul has a very good point here. While it is true that the majority of 
people in this world do not value their life enough to contemplate the
merits of the rational gamble that cryonics presents, the tiny minority
who do see such value compensate for the smaller size of their 
constituency by the greater worth that their opinion commands in the 
world. 

If the possibility of reversible cryoperservation was made clearly 
apparent to the ten's of thousands of researchers engaged in basic 
research and to the many other movers and shakers in the world generally,
this might be sufficient to provide the neccessary impetus to bring
cryonics into the mainstream.

Although I cannot speak to these issues with any authority, it would seem
to me that the single greatest hurdle to be surmounted is the issue of the
credibility of cryonics; this, of course, requires scientifically 
rigorous proof.

/gary

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