X-Message-Number: 1068
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
From:  (Nancy Lebovitz)
Subject: Re: The "Life Force" Argument
Message-ID: <>
References: <>
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 20:14:15 GMT


In article <>  
(kevin.q.brown) writes:

> From: Charles Platt <>

>         How Do We Tackle the "Life Force" Argument? 
>         -------------------------------------------
> 
>I am married to someone who does not believe that cryonics 
>can work. I have a literary agent who feels the same way. 
>Recently I showed my wife and my agent a piece that I had 
>written to address their skepticism. Briefly, my arguments 
>ran like this: 
> ...
>From their perspective, a victim of cold-water drowning who 
>is restored to life never really lost that "life force" and 
>therefore was not really dead. Conversely, it is impossible 
>for them to believe that the life force would survive in a 
>detached head immersed in liquid nitrogen, especially bearing 
>in mind the damage that results from freezing. Therefore, as 
>far as they are concerned, cryonics cannot work. 

I think that this is the weak point--they're going by a feeling
of what the life force can tolerate before it gives up on a
body. (I may be personifying the life force a little too much.)
This is a guess based on very little experience. (It could still
be right, of course.)  However, since there's no reason to think
that any disaster (due to life force or other reasons) will result
from trying to revive frozen people, it's worth while to try the
experiment of revival. 

Comes to that, if a frozen person is restored to full chemical
functioning but does not regain life, that would tend to suggest
that there is physical proof of a life force. This is a pretty
interesting outcome. 

I don't think, given their premises, that you can convince them
that cryonics will _work_, but you might be able to convince them
that it's a plausible thing to try out. 

[lots of civilized stuff deleted]

                                    Hope this helps,
                                    Nancy Lebovitz  

                          calligraphic button catalogue availible
                             by email (170K)
                          

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