X-Message-Number: 5068
Date: Sun, 29 Oct 1995 15:17:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Robin Helweg-Larsen <>
Subject: Re: Non-cryonics issues, Stodolsky, anti-big-government, etc

I have to put in my 2 cents' worth.  Bear with me, it touches on cryonics 
issues in the end!  Stodolsky wrote:
> 
> For comparison, in Denmark the doctors are, for the most part, organized
> in a Union which bargains directly with the Association of Counties over
> salary, etc. There is virtually no involvement of lawyers, including those
> associated with insurance companies, etc. in medical affairs. The
> elimination of this type of overhead results in about twice as much
> medical care per unit of expenditure. 
> 
This in itself is an argument in favor of government involvement and 
regulation.  I've also lived in Denmark for five years, and am familiar 
with the need to have a social security number (which incorporates your 
birth-date in it), and to inform the police of your new address within 
five days of changing residence, etc.  This doesn't bother me (boarding 
school was a lot worse).

Maybe there are downsides to the government involvement in the medical 
industry in Denmark.  But there are obviously upsides too.

The thought of a country with no government, just the natural grouping of 
the lawyers, and the various cliques of doctors, etc, is worrying.

Add some sort of civil defense force for natural disasters; and a way of 
regulating disputes; and a way of enforcing agreements.... well, sounds 
like a government to me.... would it be a government of lawyers, without 
elections to replace the worst ones?

Any interaction between individuals, including within a family, school, 
business, sport, whatever, entails the same forces of selfishness, 
cooperation and structure to prevent violence and loss, various types of 
generosity, etc.  When this is on a scale of more than about a hundred 
people, we start calling the social regulation "government", whether it 
is consensual or imposed, formal or informal.  So what's the big deal?

Now some people don't like the idea of "government" knowing anything 
about them.  One can only speculate why.  Those of us who enjoy writing 
tend to love telling people more than they want to know anyway.

But here it comes:

When you're suspended, and can't act for yourself, you better have a good 
government at all levels: your cryonics organization, your national 
government, etc.

And.... maybe you want people to go through your mind and reconstruct your 
personality?  Guess what!  They're going to know more about you than you 
even know yourself - they'll have to, to be able to do a good job!  
They'll know your conscious, subconscious, unconscious, preconscious, 
reflexes, predilections, crimes and misdemeanors.  

Whatever government is around better be a good one!

Always optimistically,

Robin HL


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