X-Message-Number: 13019
From: 
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 22:18:23 EST
Subject: Swayze's post

No doubt like many other readers, I was troubled by the post of James Bryan 
Gustafson-Swayze (#13011). (He is a quadriplegic, and has other physical 
problems also, in addition to the unavoidable psychological problems.) Still 
thinking about it, I got a private message asking what could be done. 
Following are some thoughts.

First, by way of background, I used to wonder why we didn't get more 
inquiries from unusually handicapped people, who might be more receptive than 
ordinary people to the idea of being dealt a new hand.

I came to realize that, in fact, we do get more interest from such people, 
although they are often less able than average to do much about it. (There 
are at least two blind men in cryonics organizations, both with Ph.D. degrees 
in science or math--not statistically significant, but above the expected 
number.)

(Logically, of course, everybody is almost equally handicapped and truncated, 
from the point of view of future life; but the obviously handicapped tend to 
suffer more and enjoy life less.)

Anyway, what can be done for Mr. Swayze? Probably nothing that is guaranteed 
to produce a good result, and certainly nothing that is without cost or risk. 
Still--

First, if he tells us his location, some of us might see fit to offer 
personal visits, just for the sake of his morale and to provide a bit of 
physical help. (His bona fides would have to be checked out first, although I 
see no reason not to take him at face value.) 

On a riskier level, one of the organizations might subsidize his suspension 
in return for help in public relations. We would have to dance around this 
very carefully before committing to it, because of the several ways it could 
backfire. But it offers possibilities of many kinds, which I won't go into 
today. Let's see what other reactions we get.

Before signing off for now, let me just say that Mr. Swayze has more courage 
than I. If I were in his boots, or anywhere close, I would be long gone.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org 

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