X-Message-Number: 17524
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 21:52:19 +0000
Subject: Re: World Tragedy & Alcor's safety
From: "" <>

From: James Swayze <>

>>I think serious thought should now be put into whether or not it is
truly wise to make ourselves an icon that so easily could become a target
and the focal point of jealousy and disgust by those that do and will
oppose us. I feel like suggesting we find a mountain and burrow deep
within and have great big locks on great big heavy doors. Is NORAD still
using Cheyenne?<<

I don't know about Cheyenne, but there certainly are some nice nuclear
bunkers out there, at bargain prices (see below).

From: david pizer <>

>>Again, I will state that I think these attacks are just the tip of
the
icebergs of future attacks that our country will experience.<<

Yes, there is every reason to believe that this century will be a violent
one. Incidents like this could easily escalate into something much more
serious, even WW3. Also, it's only a matter of time before nuclear or
biological weapons are used by terrorists. Especially the latter are
getting increasingly easier to make due to advances in genetic engineering.
A well-prepared bio attack would kill millions rather than (tens of)
thousands.

BTW, the aerial attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon may have looked impressive,
but were in effect rather amateurish; the towers should have been hit
as *low* as possible, and in quick succession. Both structures would
then probably have fallen *sideways* in a matter of minutes, killing
all inside, as well as many thousands on the streets and in adjecent
buildings. The death toll and material damage would have been considerably
greater, so in a way NY has been "lucky". As for the Pentagon: it should
have been hit *from the top* in a high-brass/busy area, not sideways
at a relatively empty and unimportant spot. 

>>I say this after 60 years of observing human nature in the world -
I believe these attacks are not going to go away - I think most of you
reading this post will agree with this position.  So what can we do to
protect ourselves? Here are some initial ideas. I am sure that many of
you will have additional thoughts and now is a good time to discuss this.<<

Once again, I suggest taking a serious look at:

http://www.missilebases.com

The price is right, and it doesn't get much safer than this. It would
require an extraordinary terrorist effort indeed to destroy a restricted-access
nuclear bunker. In some of the larger bunker complexes (which still cost
only a few million $, or even less) may allow a group of individuals
to survive much more serious incidents, or even the collapse of society
itself. Apart from the usual survivalist gear, one could stockpile spare

parts for simple yet robust refrigeration equipment (wind- or geothermal-powered
small LN2 generators in combination with CI-style dewars, or electric
cryogenic freezers). If done right, frozen patients (all neuros, obviously)
could be maintained for decades or more, the bunker becoming the heart
of a self-sufficient immortalist society. Plastination, which, in theory
at least, should allow "indefinite" RT storage, could be a useful back-up
in case refrigeration is no(t) (longer) feasible. 

If you'd stockpile lab equipment and computers as well, research related
to life extension, suspended animation, nanotech, AI, genetic engineering
etc. could continue, albeit in a much more limited way than is currently
the case. But it's better than nothing. There is certainly a lot of scientific
and other talent in the transhumanist/cryonics community, and if at least
some of these people could be evacuated to the main complex in time,
they could form the basis of a viable immortalist micro-society. 

Bottom line: most natural or man-made disasters can be survived if one
prepares for them. The collapse of Western society doesn't *have* to
mean the end of cryonics and immortalism. At a fraction of the cost of
something like the Timeship, one could buy a rather large bunker complex,
and use it as a high-security, impressive-yet-discreet life extension/cryonics
research & storage facility in "peacetime", and as a self-sufficient,
high-tech shelter in "wartime". In other words, you'd kill (or rather:
preserve) two birds with one stone. It is both financially and technically
perfectly feasible -- the only things holding us back are "our" own prejudices,
disinterest, and lack of vision. 

Just ye two olde cents...

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