X-Message-Number: 1118
Subject: CRYONICS Re: Cryonics FAQ 9: Glossary
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 92 09:21:39 -0400
Message-ID: <>
From: 


I like "cryonicist", "cryonics practitioner", "cryonics fan", and
"suspension member" as defined by kqb and E. A. Murphy.  I don't like
"cryonaut" though.

I am concerned that if we use jargon that feeds the self-esteem of
naive people, then we'll attract naive people and repel more
knowlegable people who assume that we deliberately want to attract the
naive people.  I can imagine some six year old saying "Gee, ma, I
wanna be a cryonaut when I grow up!".  Therefore I suggest we
eliminate "cryonaut".

Unfortunately we can't use "suspended member" because it's a double
entendre.  "Frozen member" is even worse.  (If no one other than me
gets the double entendre, then I guess we could use it.  But since
"suspended member" never appears in the literature, I suspect that
many people do get the double entendre.)

Cryonics magazine uses "member in suspension" sometimes.  That seems
to be the same double entendre as "suspended member", although I never
noticed it until I wrote "suspended member" in the FAQ and realized
I had to reword it.

"Member in biostasis" connotes too much faith that they can be
revived, as does any use of the word "patient".  (I do believe that
most of them could be revived, but I don't want to have to argue about
jargon with people who don't believe that.)

How about "suspendee"?  It's a slightly ugly neologism, but at least
it doesn't feed the self-esteem and it has only unarguably true
connotations, assuming that one has accepted the word "suspend".

Tim Freeman

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