X-Message-Number: 12210 Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 07:13:47 -0700 (PDT) From: diana singh <> Subject: Humour/Karma/Human rights Hi everyone, For Dave Pizer: I'll watch out for any humour again! Actually the issue is really serious. For me who was born and brought up in Bombay the carelessness of people here regarding their lives just surprises me. Consider this; a. Most people will not cross a bridge to go from one platform (at the railway station) to the other.They will cross the railway tracks! Every month about 60/70 people are killed on the Bombay suburban system. b. My country has one of the worst records of road accidents every year. Our roads (highways) are two lane affairs. A person on a mobike gets two feet of road space if he passes a truck driver at full speed. c. Some areas near Bombay have no road lights at night. But some of the lights are on in the morning!! d. India has the highest rate of some of the killer diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, cholera and Aids. e. Infant mortality is amongst the highest in the world. f. Hundreds of people die every year on religious pilgrimages. h. Our safety standards in almost every sector are very poor. i. Religion plays an important role in every Indian's life and the theory of "karma" gives undue importance to deterministic ideas. "Life is as it is meant to be. You can't change it". This is central to every Indian. If you read the last statement (i) it goes against the very nature cryonics. But looking at the sum total of what I have said above it will make you understand that this country does not give importance to human life and the mind.(Although things are a lot better in the last twenty years) It sounds something like what Ayn Rand said about Communists and Mystics- " Your mind is not your own it belongs to society/god". I think what is needed ( and this is true for many countries including the US) is a new focus on safety/importance of human life/ uniqueness of mind/possibility of immortality or revival. AND, the right of the person who has signed up for cryonics being equal to any human right. The right to be suspended and revived has to be enshrined in the Human Rights convention and made into law. I propose that all of us make an effort in this direction and do whatever has to be done to make this real. Gurvinder _____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Free instant messaging and more at http://messenger.yahoo.com Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12210