X-Message-Number: 923 Subject: Cryonics: Time Travel and potted plants Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 09:29:46 -0400 From: Thanks to Ed Swank for posting the time travel references. One thing to beware of in the more speculative resurrection scenarios: If you're brought back too late, you'll be obsolete. If Tim Freeman (as he exists in 1992) is brought back in, say, year 3000, then perhaps the modifications necessary to make him into a productive member of society would be so drastic that they would entail a loss of identity (whatever that means). So either Tim Freeman is transformed beyond recognition during resurrection, or Tim Freeman is resurrected but not transformed into a participant in society. That is, Tim Freeman becomes the equivalent of a potted plant. Neither scenario seems (to me) to be worth participating in, so I want to be brought back soon. If time travel takes too long to invent, then it won't help me get to a place I want to be. If there is a God or a sufficiently powerful group of extraterrestrials hiding themselves in the universe, we would already all be potted plants. How does one decide what to do when Something Else is the only being that can do anything important? I guess one sould work toward being able to do important things, and hope that Something Else is willing to tolerate company. Tim Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=923