X-Message-Number: 8097
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 08:49:24 -0700 (MST)
From: Fred Chamberlain <>
Subject: CRYONICS "Immortality"

Message #8088
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 20:50:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Olaf Henny <>
Subject: CRYONICS CryoNet  #8081 (Mike Perry); #8031 (Mike C.)

>Again to Olaf Henny: you say "The notion of immortality is
>at this time ridiculous anyhow." I disagree, but I think I understand 
>where you're coming from, and I've devoted a lot of space recently 
>to airing my point of view, so I'll close for now.

One brief comment, aside from the observation that I wish I had more time to
spend even *reading* all the postings on CryoNet carefully, to say nothing
of contributing to them:

While the term "immortality" is a useful way of indicating an ultimate goal,
it carries with it the same conceptual problems as "infinity", which points
toward a totally unbounded domain.

For a person to be "immortal", it must mean that they can live "forever".
But in order to know if you can really pull it off, you must first achieve
it.  By the time the heat death of the universe comes about, if that were to
be its destiny, and you had solved *that* problem, you would still only be
at the very start of the challenge of "living forever".  So it will be a
long, long time before you know if you're "got it made".

While I basically like the term "immortality", other terms are often more
useful in practical discussions.  Over even modest periods of time like
100,000 years, we will surely change our natures to such an extent that we
will look back on the level and mode of our present existence as only a
nucleus, a starting point, such as the universe would regard the "big bang"
(if the universe were conscious and thus capable of such a "thought").  By
the time we are even one baby step down the road toward what we presently

mean by "immortality", we will have far better ways of describing our destinies.

Notwithstanding that, I find it inspiring that so much discussion can arise
over a term like "immortality".  It is easy for us old time cryonicists to
remember days when a dark cloud would come across an ordinary living room if
one were to use such a mundane term as "anti-aging" or "attempted suspended
animation".  It's a whole new ball game now, and I'm "eternally" (another
"too big" word) grateful for that!

Boundless life,

Fred Chamberlain
Alcor Life Extension Foundation Pres/CEO  

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