X-Message-Number: 1580 From: Ben Best <> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 19:00:00 -0500 Subject: why immortality? Concerning Garret Smyth's desire for an answer to "Why do you want to live forever?" -- when I am asked this question I generally answer "Why do you want to die?" This is not just a "snappy answer", it is a genuine response. I am as baffled by the questioner's attitude as he/she is about mine. I have had many "awakenings" concerning how little regard others have for their own survival -- and my involvement with cryonics has been a big milestone. This is all the more surprising because I had thought that most others were happier than me. (Ironically, one person implied that my will to extend lifespan must indicate that I feel desperately unfulfilled.) The will to live has both a qualitative and a quantitative aspect. Qualitatively, most people want to live, but quantitatively they don't want to live if they have to suffer or work too much to do so (like make cryonics arrangements, spend money on life extension supplements or give up the pleasures of smoking). This kind of reasoning also applies to the "unlimited suffering" argument. "I'd rather be Red than Dead", even though I am an ardent capitalist and libertarian. I would adapt to whatever conditions of life I was reanimated into. If those were conditions of suffering, I would no sooner accept the idea that the suffering has to be unlimited than I now accept the idea that I must die. As long as I am alive I have the capacity -- or the hope, at least -- that I can improve the conditions of my life. Those people who worry about the hassle of life after reanimation are those whose will to live is only slightly greater than those who would now make cryonics arrangements if it didn't involve so much hassle and expense. Ultimately, there is no "snappy answer" to the question "Why do you want to live forever?" Questions about facts can be answered by reference to reality, but questions about values can only be answered (if the answer is to have "cogency" or "appeal) by reference to an appeal to other values, at best. My ultimate answer to the question "Why do you want life?" is the same as the one given by those who struggle to explain why they would want to go through the hassle of climbing Mount Everest: "Because it is there". -- Ben Best (ben.best%) -- Canada Remote Systems - Toronto, Ontario World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1580