X-Message-Number: 19640 From: "George Smith" <> References: <> Subject: People can change. Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 10:32:07 -0700 Y. Bozzonetti in Message #19629 wrote in part: > I am working on brain reader and if someday I succeed and have a say in its > use, I'll take care to exclude all religious people from that technology. > Right now, when someone start to speak me about Jesus Christ, the Antechrist, > 666, heaven and the like, I put it on a black list and never do any business > with that person. I can understand the feelings that prompted him to state these ideas. I sometimes share these same feelings with people who seem to reject cryonics. We all have a tendency to label people by their actions, to equate identity with utility which is an error. It is a short cut in identification which is almost universally encouraged by a culture still run by immature (under 200 year old) human beings. And it is still, I am sorry to say, an error which long term can harm us more than help us. We choose cryonics because we embrace the possiblity of change. Life itself is change. Changing food into energy, the entire ATP cycle which defines biological life is change. People can change also. Today's "enemy" if he lives long enough may change and become your friend tomorrow. History is filled with examples. So too are your own memories of your personal life if you are like most people. Now I am not suggesting that you treat your "enemies" today as if they are friendly. That would indeed be stupid and self defeating. If a man attempts to harm me now I will (temporarily) label him an "enemy" and be prepared to fight for my life against him. However, entire groups of people who might be opposed to cryonics in 2002 may change their minds and be neutral to positive about it in 2020. I would not want to ever feel that I caused someone to die by failing to offer them the opportunity to live. This is all an issue of context. In an emergency, we use the short cut of labeling people by their actions. But if the person in question is not actively trying to harm you now, it is usually wiser to not demonize him and create an enemy. Religion may or may not surive but if we all start to live longer people will probably become more mature. They will grow up. People change. Don't blacklist someone and deny them access to life extension technologies because they are still immature (under 200 years old). We have all made mistakes. Forgiveness is a virtue for maintaining a long life. It has a higher survival factor. "Choose life." ... for everyone. Just my opinion, George Smith CI Member and Immortalist Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19640