X-Message-Number: 17787
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 11:00:02 -0400
From: Keith Henson <>
Subject: Re: Re: Science/Religion

Religion and cryonics is a recycled discussion.  Here is a recycled snip 
from an article Arel Lucas and I wrote in 1992.  The whole can be found at

http://keithlynch.net/cryonet/00/06.104.html

How (at long last!) does this relate to the difficulty of selling cryonics? 
We submit that the long term mental changes that happen to people who make 
cryonics arrangements have a lot in common with religious conversions.

Logically, cryonics should be considered a low tech way to reach high tech 
medicine, no more exciting than iron lungs, or pacemakers. Alcor, of 
course, is *not* a religion; it doesn't aspire even to be a cult. However, 
the mental "agents" the cryonics idea constructs in people's minds have the 
same "deflect or modify thoughts about death" effect as some of the mental 
agents most religious memes build. The cryonics memes seem to "fit" into 
the "mental space" in people that is often occupied by a religion. As a 
result people class it as one, or something closely related. Unfortunately, 
this is a hotly contested spot in the mind! Memes of this class usually 
include a submeme, "this is the only true belief, listen to no others."

Religious memes (including such beliefs as reincarnation) build lasting, 
often lifelong, agents in human minds. This part of human minds where these 
agents are located seems to be particularly resistant to change, perhaps 
because the "function" of these memes is not much related to the way "this 
world" operates. That is, one belief in this category is about as good for 
you (and your genes) as the next. If this is the case, switching holds 
little advantage, and the process of modifying anything close to this area 
may be dangerous to mental stability. Cryonics (if it works) is very much 
of an exception to the rule.

. . . .

Keith Henson

(There are other related articles of mine out there, my name and memetics 
should get most of them on Google.)

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