X-Message-Number: 1572
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 93 19:28:57 CST
From: Brian Wowk <>
Subject: CRYONICS: Living Forever

Garret Smyth:
 
> I remember once Mike Darwin was at the Eastbourne facility and he pointed
> out that if one were to live forever, the law of averages says that in
> our present short lives, as compared to infinity, were are unlikely to
> have suffered anything terribly bad. Statistics suggest, however, that
> between now and the end of time that each one of us will have an
> experience far far worse than anything that has happened to us so far.
 
        This is not necessarily true, and for the same reason that death 
is not necessarily inevitable.  It has been pointed out that if we can 
reduce our chances of death at regular intervals indefinitely, then 
there will be a non-zero probability of living forever even though the 
probability of death within any time interval never goes exactly to 
zero.  The same reasoning can be applied to the suffering case: If we 
reduce the probability of calamitous suffering at regular intervals 
indefinitely, it does not necessarily have to happen.
 
        In fact, I think there may be an even more powerful and direct 
solution to the problem of suffering.  If in the cosmically near future 
we can transform our brains and identities into forms which can 
experiene pleasure intensely, but pain only intellectually, the 
likelihood of terrible suffering would become exceedingly remote.  To 
impose old-fashioned suffering, a malevolent agency would have to 
reverse our very evolution.
 
------------
 
        Garret, how about something like this for your 30 second 
cryonics blurb:
 
        I want to be frozen so that someday I can see the wonders of the 
future with my own eyes, and decide if that future is for me.  If I can 
be restored to health, and am able to find hapiness and purpose in a 
future world, then my life will be worth living.
 
        Medicine today cannot stop aging; a process that deprives us of 
health and quality life in only a few short years.  If future medicine 
can reverse aging, then I see no necessity for death.  As long as I can 
stay healthy and happy I will want to keep on living, even forever.
 
                                                        --- Brian Wowk

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