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

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