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/ | `------------------------------------------------------------------' Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4930