X-Message-Number: 4930
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 09:55:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joseph Strout <>
Subject: Re: Discussion of ideas (CryoNet #49)

On Fri, 29 Sep 1995, Charles Platt wrote:

> I can't quite understand why Mr. Strout is so angry at the suggestion that
> straight freezing might be a poor idea because four different cryonics
> organizations refuse to offer it.

Well, now I see why I've never used sarcasm before; it is a poor 
communication device, and I won't use it again.

My point was that it was being repeatedly stated by another poster that
straight freezing was a bad idea BECAUSE no cryonics group was offering
it.  This is the opposite of saying that no cryonics group offer it 
because it is a bad idea.  It's having the egg lay the chicken.  
Moreover, the poster was shouting at someone who is probably a new reader 
of this group, who hasn't been studying the issue for twenty years and 
merely wanted to ask a simple question, and who hopefully has not 
unsubscribed in disgust by now.

The real question, as someone (I think Steve Bridge) pointed out 
yesterday, is WHY is it a bad idea.  The fact that nobody offers it does 
NOT make it a good idea bad.  It may, at best, indicate that an idea is 
bad for other reasons (such as the quite reasonable answers which were 
eventually given here).  Nonetheless, to suggest that all the good ideas 
have been thought of, and that noone outside the group of cryonics 
policy-setters should dare to suggest improvements, is clearly a harmful 
position.  It squashes creativity and (due to its great hubris) is likely 
to offend potential new members.

If the shouting was merely due to a desire to not discuss an issue which 
has been discussed many times before, then perhaps a better solution 
would be to add a section about straight freezing to the FAQ.  When the 
question comes up again, we could then kindly point the inquisitor to 
that document.

Incidentally, I've read this list for what -- two years now? -- and I 
hadn't heard this one before, so I appreciated both the question and the 
more reasonable answers which followed.

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
|    Joseph J. Strout           Department of Neuroscience, UCSD   |
|               http://sdcc3.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/    |
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