X-Message-Number: 22841 From: "John de Rivaz" <> References: <> Subject: Re: Jews/Nazis Analogy Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 00:30:50 -0000 I would like to support David Pizer's analogy, although I do admit that it isn't exact - few analogies are exact. A terrible thing about the 20th century seems to be that the lesson wasn't learned. Similar atrocities have occurred in the former Yugoslavia, Africa, and other places since well after the time of National Socialism. Their memory needs to be kept alive. It is interesting to note that if an individual acquires too much power, eg by the private ownership of an atom bomb, the authorities are quick to react. In the UK mere ownership of a rifle is considered too much power for an individual to have, and he isn't even allowed to use force to protect his own property against criminals. The justification of the Iraq war was that a whole nation was thought to have much power, the "weapons of mass destruction". Unfortunately there is no such limit on people actually in government, except other more powerful governments (eg the Iraq situation). If officials with too much power get irrational ideas, such as racialism, they can use these powers to enforce their ideas often with horrific consequences. This is the risk that cryonicists, and even life extensionists, face at the hands of authorities - individuals with too much power using this power to enforce their personal beliefs. Memes are developing that are suggesting the rationing of lifespan, such as Jo Spencely's letter to New Scientist last week. The execution of people for achieving too great an age is a logical end point of ideas such as banning life extension and other medical research. I see little difference between that and executing people for happening to be of the "wrong" racial origin. -- Sincerely, John de Rivaz: http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy, Nomad .. and more Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=22841