X-Message-Number: 980 From: Bruce White 3807 <> Subject: CRYONICS Date: Sun, 12 Jul 92 21:47:08 PDT Bruce's Wager ------------- I have heard the argument in favor of cryonics which basically amounts to: if cryonics doesn't work, you have nothing to lose. If it does work, you have everything (your life) to gain. I would like to know if anyone on this list has such faith in cryonics that they would choose to be suspended tomorrow, given the following assumptions: 1. You are in excellent health, and expect to live at least for several decades. 2. It would be legal for you to deanimate even before being pronounced dead by the coroner/local government. Let's say that you're a 30-something individual. You've got a decent job, a nice social circle, a fairly comfortable existence. If you could, would you prefer to be frozen in your current physical state then in a 70 year-old's body? The bottom line: are you ready to die now in order to be reborn? [ Here is an old cryonics aphorism: "Getting frozen is the second worst thing that can happen to you." (The worst being dying without getting frozen.) Since recovering from the injury introduced by today's freezing methods seems at least as complex as recovering from old age, I see no advantage to getting frozen now to avoid aging, whereas I see a LOT of disadvantages. - KQB ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=980