[ExI] Cryo-optimism/was Re: Silly

[Dan]

--- On Wed, 5/6/09, hkhenson <hkhenson at rogers.com> wrote:
> At 05:57 AM 5/6/2009, you (Dan Ust) wrote:
> 
> >--- On Tue, 5/5/09, hkhenson <hkhenson at rogers.com>
> wrote:
> > > At 06:08 AM 5/5/2009, Dan wrote:
> > >> Will cryonics even work?  And even if it
> does, it
> > >> depends on everything going right until you
> get
> > >> revived.  If, say, the laws are changed
> to completely
> > >> confiscated all your funds and wealth after
> legal death --
> > >> so that other, "wiser" people (i.e., those in
> the political
> > >> or corporate elites) decide where your wealth
> goes -- then
> > >> you might be left to rot.
> > >
> > > Dan, the archives both here and Cryonet, are full
> of
> > > discussion on this topic.
> >[big snip]
> >
> >I wonder if you've read the posts on CryoNet by this
> dude:
> >
> >http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/findmsgs.cgi?author=daniel%20ust
> 
> Perhaps.  Those posts are ten years ago.  At that
> particular time I 
> had enough trouble I might not have been reading Cryonet.
> 
> If you are signed up and have been following the cryonics
> saga that 
> long, why the hypothetical gloom?  Alcor and CI have
> both faced 
> serious political problems and they are still in business.
> 
> It's not like they have to stay in business that
> long.  Way things 
> are going I suspect most of those signed up today will not
> need to be frozen.

I'm not gloomy, but I am questioning your being overly optimistic.  Death has not been conquered yet -- if it ever will be conquered.  And cryonics has yet to be proved.  So, it's a bit early to be touting cryonics or any similar thing as a proven solution to dying.

That doesn't mean I'm against it; I was trying to inject some reasonableness into the discussion.  Recall, earlier, you wrote:  "In a post nanotech world death should be rare indeed."  Well, we don't live in that world yet and many us might not -- even with cryonics -- make it to that world.  So don't celebrate victories until the battle is won.  (And believe you me, I hope it is won -- and won during all of our lifetimes.)

Regards,

Dan