[ExI] [New_Cryonet] Dead immortalists in 1978 Omni magazine article

[Eugen Leitl]

----- Forwarded message from Mark Plus <mark.plus at rocketmail.com> -----

Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 08:13:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mark Plus <mark.plus at rocketmail.com>
To: New_Cryonet at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [New_Cryonet] Dead immortalists in 1978 Omni magazine article
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The recent announcement of the bankruptcy of the late Bob Guccione's Penthouse magazine business caused me to look up one of Guccione's other publishing ventures, Omni magazine, which came out from the late 1970's through the early 1990's. 


I found, extracted and uploaded to Scribd this article, from Omni, October 1978:


"Some of Us May Never Die," by Kathleen Stein




http://www.scribd.com/doc/171164687/Some-of-Us-May-Never-Die-by-Kathleen-Stein




Ironically several people referenced in this article have died by now, including the article's author, Kathleen Stein; the writers Robert Anton Wilson and F.M. Esfandiary; and the scientists Paul Segall, Bernard Strehler and Roy Walford. The self-confidence of these deceased people in the 1970's that they would "become immortal," or at least live for several centuries, by arbitrary dates which have already come and gone, strikes me as remarkably sad. Yet I see many of today's "transhumanists" falling into the same delusional way of thinking, only they've just added another 30-40 years to the previous range of dates.


Apparently few people understand the point that we can only determine if a life extension breakthrough has happened retrospectively, after a whole lot of people have survived well past 120 years in good physical and cognitive shape. That rules out having any such knowledge in this century because every year between now and 2100 falls within current life expectancies. 


At least Segall and Esfandiary both made it into cryo, and the article's first paragraph also recounts the neuropreservation of Robert Anton Wilson's daughter Luna Wilson. Including this article, I've found three public references to Luna's cryopreservation, yet TransTime has become strangely unresponsive about this fact, and it bothers me that Luna could fall into oblivion, along with a lot of other cryonauts, without an effort to maintain their social visibility while they wait for possible revival. 


At least people can go into cryopreservation, despite all the difficulties and uncertainties involved. Cryonics has a better track record so far than predictions that you'll have radical life extension served to you in a pill(!) just by surviving to some arbitrary year.








 
Mark Plus


Secretary, Society for Venturism


. . . how wearisom
Eternity so spent in worship paid
To whom we hate. Let us not then pursue
By force impossible, by leave obtain'd 
Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, our state
Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek
Our own good from our selves, and from our own
Live to our selves, though in this vast recess,
Free, and to none accountable, preferring
Hard liberty before the easie yoke
Of servile Pomp. Our greatness will appeer
Then most conspicuous, when great things of small,
Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse
We can create, and in what place so e're 
Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain
Through labour and indurance.

----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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