X-Message-Number: 26406 From: Subject: Cryonics vs. Undertaking Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 17:20:40 +0000 I disagree with Thomas Donaldson that there are no examples in medicine of caring for patients with uncertain prognosis, or of delivering care in expectation of future developments. But whether cryonics has medical precedent is beside the point. The point is that the *purpose* of cryonics is to make people healthy again (medicine), not care for dead bodies (undertaking). Flavonoid's objection that cryonics requires legal death to be implemented (life insurance, disposition laws, closure for non-cryonicist family, etc.) is also beside the point. These laws will not be changed for the forseeable future. Family members who believe cryonics can't work will continue to believe their cryopreserved loved ones are deceased. The point is that it is beneficial for even people who don't believe cryonics can work to understand what cryonicists believe about cryonics. Cryonicists believe that future criteria for death will differ from contemporary criteria, and the purpose of cryonics is to move people to the future for treatment by much more advanced medicine. Cryonicists do not believe that cryonics is resurrection, or calling people back from heaven, "paying God", or interferring with any religious traditions. THAT is very important and useful for people to know, whether they themselves give any weight to the science behind cryonics or not. ----Brian Wowk Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=26406