X-Message-Number: 12684
Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 00:02:39 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Re: Feeling discussion

Kennita Watson (#12677) raises the issue of whether the discussion of
feelings is relevant to cryonics (the same sort of concerns have been raised
before). Of course, anyone can skip these postings if they are well-titled,
and many who are not very interested in them seem content to do so (while
others have in the past insisted they do not belong here at all). To me the
issues of feeling and consciousness are relevant to cryonics because
cryonics itself is an attempt to "bring back" a person from a state that
conventional wisdom considers "dead." This raises the question of just where
"you" may be at that point--in your frozen, physical remains, in a mystical
soul that departs the body at the "event" of death, or what? And, if you
grant that "you" are contained in your frozen remains (if well-enough
preserved) and not in a mystical soul, then what about other forms of
matter, say an advanced, suitably programmed computer of the future that has
your information? It might be far more straightforward and safer to bring
back a person by recovery of information from their remains, and expressing
this information as some kind of program, than to bring them back directly
as wetware. Some might say we should wait and see, rather than taking up
space on this forum over such issues. I don't see it that way; the questions
are interesting and I hope those that don't have the interest I have can
just skip to what they are interested in. Kennita also asks, "Is there
anything I would do differently if one side or the other wins this
argument?" To me there is not a simple dichotomy between two sides here. I'm
looking for insights I haven't thought of before, not just to win a
"victory" over somebody who disagrees with me. If nothing else, it could
affect how I present the case for cryonics to outsiders.

Mike Perry

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