X-Message-Number: 7382
From: John de Rivaz <>
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
Subject: Re: The question "pro-lifers" can't answer....
Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 12:33:06 +0100

In article: <>   
(Randy) writes:
> Cryonicists will not be
> a  involuntary burden on any one person. Indeed, there should be some
> money available for revival purposes.

I agree with this comment, but I think that detractors think that once 
someone has deanimated they no longer have any right to their money. Quite a 
lot of it "belongs" to the state, and the rest "belongs" to the legal 
profession inasmuch as they are a sort of trustee who has a big say in how it 
is distributed. In some countries, eg Switzerland(?), there are even severe 
limits as to who you can leave your money to in a will.

There are conflicts of subconscious thought involved here. In order to get 
around the legal profession we as cryonicists talk about being being "legally 
dead" in order to suspend them. In most people's minds this equates to 
"dead".

The scenario *in detractors' minds* is this

1. person becomes dead
     therefore person no longer owns anything.
2. person is suspended
3. a lot of time passes
4. person is revived in youthful good health
     person has no assets as he owns nothing, therefore others have to pay.

The fact, that is irrefutable, that the person's assets have gone into a 
general pool of living humanity's collective wealth at 1 and are therefore, 
with interest, part of that pool at step 4 is conveniently forgotten.

However such detractors would not deprive a heart patient of his assets when 
his heart has been cut out during a transplant operation and then not allow 
the funds for the new heart to be put in. The difference is time. Time is 
something that people have firm subsconscious convictions about yet in 
reality they know very little.
 

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