X-Message-Number: 10532 Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 09:22:35 -0700 From: Peter Merel <> Subject: Are all cryonicists Heinlein fans? Seeing Bob Ettinger and myself both invoke the shade of the great man yesterday suggests an odd idea. I wonder - is there anyone here who is not or has not once been an avid reader of Robert Anson Heinlein? I know that SF fans, despite marketing focused on them, have proved less receptive to the non-fictional practice of cryonics even than averages would suggest they ought. But although Heinlein remains extremely popular, only a fraction of SF fans really dig him. Most are much more interested in simple morality plays like Star Trek and Star Wars, or hearts and flowers fantasy like Tolkien and McCaffery, or gory horror stuff or conspiracy theories or ... Don't get me wrong - I like those too on occasion - but I wonder ... I know that RAH himself is reported not to have been frozen, but sprinkled over the ocean. If he had decided to get frozen secretly I'm sure we'd never find him out until he came back and wrote about it. But perhaps he himself didn't buy into the Long family ethos that he wrote about and really did get burned and scattered. It doesn't matter to me; I'll plainly admit that what drew me to cryonics, and what I most admire in the folk that practice it, is that alpha-person if-we-can't-solve-it-it-can't-be-solved only-science- is-sacred small-mouthed-anarchist you-too-can-survive-the-crazy-years longevism that I read in RAH's books as a kid. So I wonder: are we all Heinlein fans? If we are, then that doesn't mean that all Heinlein fans are incipient cryonicists. But it suggests that'd be worth investigating. If it turns out to be true, maybe we should be doing like the Gideons and seeding "Time Enough" into schools and motel bedrooms. I mean, if RAH predisposes for cryonics, hell's bells, if you're stuck in a New Jersey room alone for an evening and you have nothing else, which good book would you rather read? Peter Merel. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10532