X-Message-Number: 10518
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 10:16:08 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #10513 - #10516

To Peter Merel:

HI! You may not know it but I am in Australia now. 

As for ecological problems caused by loss of species, fundamentally
they come from competition from human beings. I regret these losses, too,
but the best strategy would probably be to preserve cells from as many
of these lost species as possible so that they can be ultimately 
recovered. I do not believe these losses have gotten to a level at
which our own survival is in question. If so, we'll simply have an
ignored fact rubbed in our faces: we must manage the whole Earth right
now for our survival, and no place on Earth can truly be said to be
"natural". If you want natural areas, now, you have to go to Mars
or Europa. :)

As for the CO2 problem, that's a particularly interesting one because
it HAS begun to cause changes. It's one reason for interest in electric
cars, for instance. Since many organizations claiming to be in favor of
nature have argued strenuously against nuclear power for years, and
nuclear power presently provides the main source which won't produce
CO2 (presently solar power just can't provide enough power for everything
we need) we have an interesting spectacle of groups claiming to promote
a more ecological Earth doing everything they can to make the Earth 
unlivable. (I'd say this of the Australian Greens, too). If you don't
like nuclear power, then shut up and work to improve solar power so it
can compete. Free of government subsidies, of course --- by which I
mean subsidies for the power stations, not subsidies for research.

Just where we will end up in this situation I can't honestly say. But
along the way, we may well degrade the Earth more than technically 
necessary. Not so far as to make it uninhabitable, but far enough to
cause difficulties for some people, particularly in low lying or
underdeveloped countries.

But then whoever claimed that the future would be a paradise totally
free of problems? We just exchange one set of problems for another.
And generally it's turned out so far that the exchange has been
favorable, not to everyone but to most people. 

Do these issues relate to cryonics? Well, I hope not only to be
suspended but even to wake up some day. And it's interesting to think
about the world in which I will wake up --- world being taken in its
general sense (if I wake up on Mars or a planet of alpha Centauri,
I'll still wake up, after all).

			Best and long long life to all,

				Thomas Donaldson

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