X-Message-Number: 31106
From: "Robert Newport" <>
Subject: re 31095
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 12:15:21 -0700

Hi:  among other things Gary Kline writes.

 

"The structure of society in six or seven score years is another 

      question and you may think it is off-topic; but I see it as part

      of the sociological equation.  Will we inherit a more laissez faire 

      future, or one that is more controlled?  That is why I think it

      would help if we have an Einstein or Gandhi or Abraham Lincoln

      among us.  ... ."

 

I do not think that the 'structure of society' is off topic. In fact, I
think that we ought to be addressing this question much more seriously than
we have to date. There is no question that all of our hopes and dreams of
re-animation are completely dependent upon the structure of society. We have
come to this level of technological competence where we can conceive of a
medicine which consigns all but a few deaths, to the optional category
because we live in a society that values knowledge and competence (for the
most part) as well as life and is (for the most part) rational. Not because
society is more or less laissez-faire. From time to time humans and human
societies, become much less rational, usually in reaction to adverse
conditions, frequently ecological in nature. We are now looking at
unprecedented rapid ecological changes, coupled with radical financial and
social changes. This will result in, as history has demonstrated time and
time again, structural changes in society. Whether or not, our society
(western civilization) remains rational and committed to increasing our
knowledge and technological advancements is in no way certain. The
'Luddites' of the world always lurk just below the surface nourished by the
fear of rapid change. I do not have any particular ideas for securing our
[cryonic] future, but I had hoped that this forum might be a place where we
all can begin to think about what we might do to protect ourselves and our
science and technology, in the event of a social/financial meltdown. As I
write this it seems as if the financial meltdown is happening. Will our body
politic continue to support the research and development that we need? What
should we be doing now to protect what we have already accomplished and
provide for continued growth? Dr. Robert

 



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