X-Message-Number: 15867 Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 08:22:21 -0500 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: about 2 answers to the Question Hi everyone! I note the answer of Damian Broderick to the question of how we migth be revived, which ends with the issue of the supposed explosion of knowledge which will soon occur. First of all, I don't see any future explosion of knowledge. It is an illusion created by the simple fact that we find it hard to imagine the future. But let's suppose that it happens. Explosions of knowledge do not mean that people will cease to care for one another and repay one another's favors. If we are related to those people we are unlikely to simply decide that they deserve no effort on our part. This includes the condition of belonging to the same cryonics society. If anything, the easier it becomes to revive people, the more people will be revived. Nor does lots of knowledge automatically change how we feel about others, and that is the critical question when we talk about revival long term. None of the reasons I gave for revival will change merely because our knowledge has suddenly expanded tremendously. Except for one possible point: if we find that some of those in suspension have been destroyed so much that they cannot be revived in principle, then we would not revive them. That condition, of course, can happen even without any special explosion of knowledge ... but thinking about it does require caution. Just how badly damaged must a person be before their revival becomes literally IMPOSSIBLE? A second answer, by Brian Phillips, may misunderstand the basic point about cryonics societies. Their purpose isn't to freeze people, or otherwise treat them. Their purpose consists of taking care of its members and those in suspension. This purpose can continue through many different changes in the precise ways in which we suspend people ... including such things (ultimately) as the ability to recreate someone from information held in a computer or other storage device. It is the cryonics society that will ultimately revive you; to imagine revival without a cryonics society is to imagine that your location and treatment will be located and cared for by random people with no relationship to you at all. (You might win out, but the probability remains less than if you join a society). Best wishes and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15867