X-Message-Number: 10643
From: 
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1998 14:06:47 EST
Subject: another immortalist-leaning book

The magazine REASON (a Libertarian publication), in its issue of November
1998, reviews two books. 

One is FALSE HOPES: Why America's Quest for Perfect Health is a Recipe for
Failure, by Daniel Callahan, Simon & Schuster. Callahan is a nutcake
"bioethicist" who basically says "Stop!" to progress. 'Nuff said.

The other is LIFE WITHOUT DISEASE: The Pursuit of Medical Utopia, by William
B. Schwartz, U. California Press Berkeley. Dr. Schwartz is a professor of
medicine at USC. Quoting from REASON, he says, among other things:

"The possibility of a broad-based victory over disease and a dramatic increase
in the human life span in the not too remote future must now be taken
seriously. The reimaging of our medical future seems all the more important in
light of growing evidence that the  aging process itself may be subject to
medical intervention...Conceivably by 2050, aging may in fact prove to be
simply another disease to be treated."

Of course there is no guarantee that the outpouring of optimistic books and
articles, and the proliferation of biotech companies with direct or indirect
focus on aging, will result any time soon in dramatic technological
breakthroughs or even in any big shift in consumer attitudes or interest in
cryonics. Nevertheless, the sea change is occurring; our tide is rising. Our
challenge is to exploit it effectively.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org

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