X-Message-Number: 28492
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 20:04:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: why bother?

I used to participate actively in the perennial discussions
on the theme, "Why don't more people sign up?" until I spoke
to a long-time Alcor member who reminded me that there is
only one reason for doing it, and numerous reasons for not
doing it. Religious faith, apathy induced by the aging
process, the issue of allocating money to oneself instead of
family, social stigma, lack of any proof of feasibility, fear
of the future, and (to me the biggest one) you have to die
before you can be cryopreserved, so, there is a feeling that
the continuity of identity will be broken.  (Please let's not
get into yet another CryoNet debate on the nature of
identity; I am itemizing reasons which people may _feel_ are
valid. I am not attempting an objective evaluation.)

Since there are so many arguments for not signing up, we
should expect most people not to sign up, regardless of the
merit of each argument.

To me the biggest reason for pursuing cryonics is, and always
has been, rebellion. I think death is an abomination and it
is my duty, and should be the duty of any human being, to
rebel against it, no matter how futile the rebellion may be.
But an appeal to "sense of duty" is not a powerful argument.
In fact I have only met one other person who regards it as
his primary motivation to pursue cryonics.

Personally I am far more afraid of the dying process than of
oblivion. I experience oblivion every night, and have also
experienced it with general anesthesia. I remember being
anesthetized for sinus surgery and thinking, "There is always
some risk attached to this process, and I may never wake up."
The thought did not induce any anxiety. But the idea of my
body and brain gradually failing to function properly or
succumbing to a terminal disease is a source of great
anxiety--which cryonics cannot alleviate to even the
slightest degree.

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