X-Message-Number: 24579 Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 16:13:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Randall S <> Subject: Cuba, Venezuela & Leftist nations and Cryonics/Immortalism Mr. Robin Helweg-Larson pointed out that Cuba and Castro have a deep commitment to life extension and medical science, and that Cuba would likely be more friendly to cryonics and immortalism than the USA. I agree with Mr Helweg Larson. Leftist countries --and Cuba in particular-- are organized along lines of rational thought and science. At least they are if they are truly leftist, and not only leftist in name. Mr. Edgar Swank added that Venezuela might be a good place for cryonics. I also agree there. Venezuela is also turning leftist under Chavez, who is, despite his demonization in the American press, a rational and thoughtful fellow. In fact, Latin America is general is heading to the Left. And they appreciate the power of science and medicine. I look to Latin America to be a leader in rational and openminded medical research in the future. Of course they do not attract the kind of capital we have here in the USA, but then again, considering the increasingly strong death grip that "conservative" protestant, right-wing politics has on America, the latin americans may soon be doing a lot more with a lot less, when it comes to medical research. Of course, stem cell research is the most obvious example here. Funny how the rightwing in America has appealed to the greed of the upper middle class, to their own longterm detriment: they vote into office the GOP politicians just to get a tax cut, even while the GOP caters to the protestant religion-oriented voters by cracking down on stem cell research and other medical science with a "yuck factor" or anything else that breaks the mold of tradition (e.g,. the anti-cryonics legislation in Arizona). "Greed is good", huh? Yeah, right. And there are a LOT of extropian/libertarian types who are into cryonics/immortalism who will vote for Bush because he cut taxes. Well, they are cutting their own throats. It seems more and more that what passes for medical research in America is just going after low-lying fruit, mostly drug upgrades, strictly for shortterm financial gain. It seems to me that real breakthroughs are more likely to come with longterm research funded by the government through taxes. A progressive taxation system (read: "increase the income (earned and unearned) taxes on the rich and the upper middle class") would seem to be the ticket. Also, FYI, a fellow named "Ken" who apparently works with Bob Nelson (of the Chatsworth scandal) is posting a lot of material regarding Nelson and the early history of cryonics. You can go here to read some of his posts: http://www.network54.com/Forum/342736 _____________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=24579