X-Message-Number: 11386 Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 20:21:06 -0800 From: Olaf Henny <> Subject: Discussion of Resurrection - a Reality Check Hi everybody: I have been quite baffled by the recent discussion on the moral pros and cons of resurrecting people who have never been preserved. With all the miracles' I do expect from future science, this is one, that I am sure, it will not be able to accomplish. We may well be able to gather enough genetic information from some of those long dead to construct identical replicates, but all we would have is a clone. The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary: resurrection 1. The act or an instance of rising from the dead 2. ... I take that to mean to bring back to life the *same* person with the *same* memories and the *same* life experience. In order to accomplish that, you would have to provide to the clone exactly the same historic and family environment, which the original experienced. In other words you would first have to provide all the persons s/he grew up with, so they would act and react the same as the originals did, in order to exert the same influence. In order to accomplish that each person in his/her environment would in turn... - you guessed it: Lucy here we come and it does not stop there. Let's face it Albert Einstein born in the 1960s might have become an MBA or worse, a lawyer instead of a physicist and mathematician. You think you are "resurrecting" Aunt Emily with her easy anecdotes and sage advice, who was always understanding and quick at wit, and after a bit more than a decade you have rambunctious teenager on your hands, with all kinds of offbeat ideas and an overwhelming urge to shock you. Of course, she cannot remember any of he things you did together and is frankly intimidated by the expectations you set in her. She will certainly resent your calling her "aunt". :) Now, if Aunt Emily was cryopreserved, and revived at a restored age 20 or so, she will still have all her wisdom, although she suddenly flusters you, because she has turned into a gorgeous chick. She will (hopefully) still remember all your mischief, she has covered up for you, when you grew up; - and she may even let you call her Aunt Emily. :-) Best, Olaf Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11386