X-Message-Number: 14087
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 09:28:49 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: more on continuing life, not afterlife

For those worried by beliefs in an afterlife:

The basic point was made by Scott Badger: cryonics is a way of 
continuing life, not a way to come back from the dead. The major
reason they get confused is simply that someone must be (presently)
legally dead to be suspended. So this requires us to point out
the simple fact that being legally dead is not a physical condition
but a legal condition, which already has changed in the past and
will certainly change again. Even recently, it's changed in more
subtle ways --- there is argument going on now among physicians
as to just which phenomena should count as legal death.

However there are other alternatives to frozen infants that can
also be used to explain this point. If someone has been cooled
down close to (but above) 0 degrees C, then they look quite
thoroughly dead. Doctors and scientists have known for a long
time that such people have a significant chance of revival. 
Moreover, the work which Mike Darwin of 21st Century Medicine and
others quite independent of cryonics have done shows ways to revive
someone after more than the "standard" 5 minutes. Something like
15 minutes is now the current value; this is important because
these are NOT people who are at a low temperature. Moreover,
someone who is treated this way would have been considered 
"dead" only a few years ago.

		Best and long long life to all,

			Thomas Donaldson

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