X-Message-Number: 359 From att!lsuc!canrem!ben.best Fri Jun 21 09:42:58 1991 Message-ID: <> From: (Ben Best) Date: 21 Jun 91 (09:20) To: Subject: cosmic issues & branden In reply to my blast about Nathaniel Branden, Alan Lovejoy says that probability theory justifies the idea that "mortality is a given". One problem with this argument is that although longer time periods increase the likelihood of life-threatening accidents, time, intelligence and technology also increase the likelihood that life-threatening situations can be avoided. It seems plausible that the probability of something fatal and "unexpected" happening in infinite time is finite -- but this is a subjective probability assessment without basis in objective quantifiability. I didn't really mean to raise these kinds of cosmic and unanswerable issues -- I was more interested on some of the thought-provoking comments Branden had made in "Death Anxiety". Kevin is right in his caveat about immortality being unprovable. Also, I apologize for my irrelevant character assassination on Nathaniel Branden. My reaction was based on Branden's personal behavior, partly in response to my questions -- and his treatment of me -- which was unrelated to immortalism or his chapter on "Death Anxiety". I have learned many things from Branden, so I cannot say he is not intelligent -- it is just that he is not as honest or intelligent as I had hoped he would be. -- Ben Best () -- Canada Remote Systems. Toronto, Ontario NorthAmeriNet Host Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=359