X-Message-Number: 32271
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Re: Rebranding cryonics
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:37:32 +0100
References: <>

On 29 Dec 2009, at 11:00 AM, CryoNet wrote:

> A number of cryonicists, myself included, have begun to question  
> whether this association has resulted in "positive" results for  
> cryonics, given that enough time has passed to falsify early  
> transhumanist predictions with dates about medical & technological  
> breakthroughs, including ones in cryonics.

Regardless of this, probability of sign-ups from the Transhumanist  
'church' are higher then they are for the Christian Church.


> And as you point out, some schools of transhumanist thinking have  
> led to passivity or terror management,

According to Terror Management Theory, terror management will always  
be present.


> like Ray Kurzweil's consumption of "life extension" quackery.  
> Kurzweil might have arrangements for his cryonic suspension (a  
> recent "Popular Science" article states that he does); but for an  
> inventor and engineer obsessed with his personal survival, he seems  
> incurious and unmotivated about trying to improve cryonics as a  
> technological product, probably because he believes that the bowls  
> of pills he swallows every day have put him on the path to "living  
> well forever." Even if he knows he lacks the expertise to help  
> cryonics, he has the money, status and connections to attract people  
> who do.

The problem is, that it isn't clear how to 'help' cryonics. While  
there is always another advance in biotech, it isn't clear that that  
is the main problem the movement faces. Kurzweil has certainly made a  
positive contribution as a high profile figure publicly signed up for  
cryonics.


>
> I've also run across transhumanists who dismiss cryonics, even if is  
> succeeds, because they believe that AI's will make humans "obsolete"  
> and human life not worth preserving in a few decades. This sort of  
> transhumanism sets itself up as explicitly hostile to cryonicists'  
> goals.

My question was what approach to repackaging has produced the best  
results. Clearly, Transhumanism as a whole, produces both positive and  
negative effects for cryonics. However, the organizations that aim to  
be positive, like Venturism, haven't gained much of a following.


dss

David Stodolsky
  Skype: davidstodolsky

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