X-Message-Number: 1402
Date: 06 Dec 92 12:49:06 EST
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: CRYONICS Cryonics and Environmentalists

To: Kevin Brown
 
It occurred to me recently that cryonicists and 
environmentalists have a surprising amount in common. 
 
People who seek to protect species and conserve wilderness 
areas are, in a sense, trying to stop time and change the 
rules of evolution. It's normal for species to struggle for 
dominance, for less successful species to become extinct, and 
for the planet to be in a dynamic, rather than a static, 
condition. Yet these are aspects of life that most 
environmentalists find unacceptable. Some seem motivated by 
sentimentality, others by fear, and others by a sense of 
justice--a belief that unnecessary death of animals is wrong, 
for instance. Either way, it's a set of human concepts being 
imposed on an ancient, mindless, unjust pattern of existence. 
 
The same applies in cryonics: people want to stop time and 
change the rules of evolution. It is quite normal for us to 
grow old and die permanently, but this is an aspect of Nature 
that cryonicists find unacceptable. Some seem motivated by 
fear, others by a sense of justice--a belief that death is 
wrong. Once again, we have a set of human concepts being 
imposed on an ancient, mindless, unjust pattern of existence. 
 
Fundamentally, it seems to me, environmentalists and 
cryonicists are likely to be motivated by a deep appreciation 
for the value of life. 
 
Unfortunately, the environmentalists tend to be very narrow 
in their definitions of "natural." I suspect they would feel 
it is quite natural to set up a sanctuary to preserve an 
obscure species, but not natural at all to set up a few 
dewars of liquid nitrogen to preserve some human lives. Too 
bad! Logically, they ought to be good prospects for cryonics. 
 
--Charles Platt

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