X-Message-Number: 9720 Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 10:23:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: Uncaring about Death? On Sat, 16 May 1998, CryoNet wrote: > From: Transoniq Hacker <> > > One factor that doesn't seem to be discussed much here, probably won't > show up in surveys, and CERTAINLY won't be discovered by cryonicist's > introspection, is that most folks just really don't give a rat's ass > whether they live or die. Actually I have raised this issue twice during the past few weeks, but my perspective differs from yours. Certainly it's true that many people claim to be unconcerned about death. I believe however that this habit was more entrenched in the past than it is now. If you had proposed, say, seat belts for automobiles fifty years ago, the reaction then would have been similar to the reaction many people express toward cryonics today: "Unnecessary ... expensive ... may not work ... ... I'm not afraid to die when it's my turn to die." Today, most people wear seat belts. What happened? While it is true, as you say, that many people still enjoy life-habits that increase the risk of death, it's also true that many others have CHANGED their life habits. Fewer people smoke. Hard-liquor consumption has fallen. Diet sodas have partially displaced regular sodas. Regulations have made the workplace safer. Mortality from all forms of accidents has steadily fallen. There has been an increasing interest in dietary supplements and physical fitness. And so on. I believe this shift in attitude will continue, and eventually more people will be disposed to consider cryonics--AFTER it has gone through the initial phase (which we are still in) of being an experimental procedure with an uncertain outcome depending entirely on the goodwill and technical ability of strangers in an unknown future. --Charles Platt Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9720