X-Message-Number: 1764 Date: 18 Feb 93 11:06:42 EST From: Charles Platt <> Subject: CRYONICS Regulation To: Cryonet February 18, 1993 Would Graham Wilson, who wants cryonics to be regulated and has drafted laws for this purpose, please tell us why he believes that government officials are more trustworthy than people who run cryonics enterprises? This seems to be the implication: that we will be "safer" if bureaucrats control us than if we are allowed to control ourselves. Bearing in mind that the qualifications for civil service include a longing for power and job security, while anyone who runs a cryonics business must be so dedicated that (s)he is willing to devote many hours of basically voluntary labor to a very idealistic cause, I find Mr. Wilson's viewpoint hard to understand in logical terms. Psychologically, however, it seems very familiar, since I grew up in his homeland and became intimately acquainted with the national desire to be taken care of. The unpleasant social consequences were one reason I left England in 1970 and have never had much desire to return. The idea that someone with seemingly genuine interest in cryonics would want the field to be regulated seems quite crazy to me. It's like a dog begging to be put on a leash. Dogs actually do that; but should we? Maybe some sort of regulation is "inevitable" (although that smacks of British fatalism, and is contradicted by Alcor's successful fights against California bureaucrats). However, as I understand it Mr. Wilson is not merely preparing a contingency plan so that if government eventually shows an interest in us, we are ready to pre-empt their ideas with our own. No; Mr. Wilson really seems to think regulation is a "good idea." I am surprised that this subject hasn't caused more reaction here. After all, I'm a wishy-washy bleeding-heart libertarian compared to some in cryonics. Maybe people simply aren't taking Mr. Wilson very seriously. In which case, I think they should: if his ideas start circulating at all widely, they could create a lot of trouble. After all, there's nothing that excites a bureaucrat more than the possibility of additional territory. And here we are, completely unregulated virgin soil. It makes me extremely nervous. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1764