X-Message-Number: 6182
Date: Sat, 11 May 1996 03:36:55 -0700
From:  (Mark Feldman)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #6173 - #6181

>I started thinking about these questions because women are very much
>under-represented in my family, and I don't know what to do about it. 
>My wife gets so upset when the topic comes up that I don't discuss it
>any more. She thinks the idea of being frozen is macabre and says she
>doesn't want to come back to an unfamiliar world.  My 89-year-old
>mother feels that one time around is enough. 

This is a very interesting point which I never really gave much thought 
until now. My girlfriend (who I live with) believes life is difficult 
enough the first time around without having to go through it all again. 
My mother thinks it's another "phase" I'm going through. My grandmother 
(somewhere around 70) thinks the concept of possible immortality is 
frightening, and that life has a "beginning" so it is only normal and 
natural for it to have an "end".

>Perhaps it is not coincidental that very few women's names appear on
>the cryonet or in the cryonics literature. Maybe cryonics appeals more
>strongly to scientists and engineers - mostly male - than to others. 
>Maybe men enjoy life more than women and are therefore more anxious to
>extend it.

My girlfriend and I differ on this point. My view has always been that 
life is always worth living, no matter how difficult or trying it can 
be (indeed, difficult circumstances often bring out the best in human 
nature). This belief largely contributes to my anti-abortion view for 
instance. She however thinks you do what you can with the life you get 
and then leave it at that. I respect her personal views on the matter, 
and yet it is incomprehensible to me how someone could have such a 
fatalistic view on life.

>I would like to get peoples' reactions to the above questions.  Also,
>are there any good arguments that might be helpful in overcoming
>emotional - as opposed to intellectual - objections to
>cryopreservation?

I too would be very interested in hearing such arguments. I am very 
enthusiastic about the possibilities of cryonic suspension, and yet I 
also feel sad that most of the women who have had such an important 
impact on my life will not be part of my life in future.

Mark Feldman


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