X-Message-Number: 19956
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2002 10:31:49 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Re: Evolutionary Psychology and the Scarcity of Signups

> > another possible cause of the scarcity of people signing up for cryonics:
> > they are afraid of losing status by choosing this "weird" thing.
>
>A contra argument to this is that fact that some people are willing to do
>almost anything to "get in the news" or "get on the tv".

This suggests that signing up for cryonics could, in some circumstances, be 
a way to gain status rather than lose it, so people might actually sign up 
on that basis. Ultimately and ironically, it would be to favor their 
reproductive success, that is, to further the process of putting their 
replacements on the earth, not to save their lives. (Again, they may not be 
consciously aware of this as a motive, and it may also be infeasible as a 
way to actually generate more offspring; nature's built-in motives do not 
necessarily conform to reality.) Well, I'd like to see people sign up even 
on that basis, if no other is possible. But I am skeptical that very many 
will choose cryonics if that is their main reason, or if they do, will 
stick by their decision once they have made it and not drop their 
arrangements after a time.

Mike Perry

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