X-Message-Number: 4629
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #4626 - #4628
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 12:24:20 -0700 (PDT)

Hi again!


I have not yet examined Ralph's posting on WWW. In that sense, I'm not 
qualifiedto say anything; however I do hope that he has more to say on this 
subject than
he had in the recent article in CRYONICS. 

If he has no more to add, then a post on the WWW does not increase its 
logical standing. Ralph is well known as an expert in cryptography, and I have
never argued that his statements about cryptography are false. The persistent
problem with his arguments is that he consistently omits the second clause ie.
it is as if he states "All men are mortal", and then says "therefore Socrates
is mortal", but never establishes that Socrates is a man. Yet even with this
example, who or what have we named "Socrates"? A dog? A cat? A sequoia tree?
A strain of bacteria? A Greek myth? 

I too want cryonics to succeed. I continue to believe that we have significant
uncertainty about whether we can be revived (ie. whether sufficient information
has been preserved) with present techniques. Research to improve our methods is

important not just for publicity but because our lives are on the line. Nor does
a posting on WWW make a fallacious argument any less fallacious.

And for those who might ask why I am a cryonicist, I will say simply that no 
other treatment of my body gives me any chance at all for revival ... while 
cryonics provides some chance, to a presently unknown degree.

			Best and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson ()


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