X-Message-Number: 16356
Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 07:37:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: choice

The post was long and confusing because of the number of other quoted
posts, but I think it was Louis Epstein who wrote:

> I think those determined to secure eternal life for themselves
> are the natural opposites of those determined to secure
> premature death for themselves.

This absolutism is very strange to me. All I want is the right to make a
choice. If I can defy my biological heritage and destiny, defeat death,
copy my intelligence into a computer, or use any other strategy to achieve
transcendence, I claim that right. If I find that life is intolerable and
I wish to end it, because I am in intolerable pain, or am suffering from
locked-in syndrome, or some other condition that induces fear and misery,
I claim the right to end my life.

This is a very consistent attitude. It simply says that I have more
authority than the state, the church, or any other entity, when it comes
to my existence or nonexistence. This is the reason I became involved in
cryonics, and is also the reason why I believe any compassionate system
should allow (but not promote) euthanasia, just as it should allow life
extension or human cryopreservation.

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