X-Message-Number: 304
From att!rex.cs.tulane.edu!mbo%latech Mon Apr 15 14:25:06 CDT 1991
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 91 14:25:06 CDT
From: mbo% (Micheal B. O'Neal)
Message-Id: <>
To: 
Subject: Re: message #291

The following is in reference to Alan Batie's posting which raised the
question of whether future generations would want to reanimate those
people who are suspended today.

I have often thought about the question of whether anyone would want to 
reanimate people from the past.  Some cryonicists have speculated that 
we will be reanimated for our intimate knowledge of our time period.  
I believe that it could develop that those of us now alive -- those
who lived through a period when death was considered the inevitable 
result of life -- will be looked on with great interest.  But, I would 
propose another more "altruistic" reason for our being revived.  I 
firmly believe that once people no longer personally have to face the 
prospect of death, the very idea of a sentient being passing into 
nonexistence will be extremely repugnant.  Many people will feel that 
they have a "moral" duty to save those in cryonic suspension, especially 
since the actions of the cryonicists show that they truly desired an 
extended lifespan and did everything in their power to achieve it.

We can see a very similar situation in the modern world.  The vast 
majority of individuals in first-world countries have never experienced
hunger.  To many of us the idea of starvation is repugnant and humanitarian 
organizations have developed which attempt to save as many people as 
possible from this fate.  People give large sums of money to these causes, 
but it is hard to see what tangible benefits they receive.

Similarly, I believe that we (the cryonicists of today) will be saved 
by the kindness of future generations rather than their curiosity.


While on the subject of the future, here's another thought....

Perhaps those people of the future will also wonder how the people of 
today managed to stay sane knowing the fate that awaited them.  Perhaps 
we don't, and one result is that from time to time we kill each other, 
in socially acceptable contests (war) and socially condemned acts (murder).

Micheal B. O'Neal                           Louisiana Tech University
Assistant Professor                         Department of Computer Science
                              Ruston, Louisiana   71272

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