X-Message-Number: 931 Date: 26 Jun 92 00:42:31 EDT From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: Re: cryonics: #928 - #929 Dear Tim: Frankly your scenario strikes me as the result of reading too much bad science fiction. Even if the Amish eventually absorb, it's interesting and important that they still exist (and are even prospering). As you know, they do not swear off ALL modern technology. But more than that, our survival does not require that we take up with some futuristic version of the Amish at all. It depends only on our revival by some people (or transpeople, if you wish) who are friendly to us in the same way many people are friendly to children (who again are not marked by their instant understanding of the world they live in). That friendliness is one of the central purposes of a cryonics society. The idea behind cryonics isn't that we simply leave ourselves lying about so that some unknown future people would revive us. It is that we create an ongoing institution, the cryonics society, which will not only revive us but help us grow into our new time if such help is needed. (It need only be a descendant of our society now ... we need not depend on ALCOR surviving, but simply one of its descendants, to care for us). As for the dichotomy between techies and Luddites, most people aren't Luddites. They're just confused. Best and long life Thomas Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=931