X-Message-Number: 16612
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 14:51:13 -0700
From: Olaf Henny <>
Subject: The Point: It is not just 5 years in old age.
References: <>

In Message #16599 George Smith <> wrote:


Olaf Henny wrote quite correctly in message 16585,

>"Most who consider cryonics on a casual basis see it as follows:
>
>"At age 75 I will finally succumb to cancer.  They will freeze me
>and, if lucky, thaw me out after 100 years.  Then I will live
>another 5 years as a stranger in a strange land and at subjective
>age 80 I will die of a failing heart.  So what's the point?"
>
>Olaf, you are right.  There may be a FEW people who will understand that
>maybe, just maybe, things could be radically better in the future.  Alerting
>those few to this idea could cause them to pass the supreme IQ test of
>cryonics.

>But your example actually makes my argument even clearer.
>
>So I would ONLY gain 5 more YEARS of life?  60 more MONTHS?  1800 more DAYS!
>43,200 more HOURS! 2,592,000 more MINUTES?
>
>Then I WANT it.  period.

When I was seventeen I fled East Germany.  I might have gone to
the moon, and would not have been separated further from friends
and most of my family. Even correspondense was greatly impaired
through censure and mail surveillance.
When I was twenty two, I moved to the Middle East working for 5
years on remote constuction sites for the American Defence
Program.  Again very severe separation from the past.  After 3
years back in Germany I emigrated to Canada.

In all these cases I felt, that those who remained back felt the
separation more severely, because I was fascinated by the new
environment and excited by the diversity.

However, not *all* feel that way.  Many feel disconnected, when
the just move a couple of hours drive away from home.  An adult
suddenly transposed from the time of my birth to the present
would be initially at least completely stunned and frazzled by
the  magic  of electronics and communications od our world.  It
is save to assume, that the difference we will encounter should
we be revived in a future world will be much more astounding to
us.
It is therefore most important that we understand and make it
understood, that, once arrived in the future, we will NOT be
physically old, but youthful and energetic and have many
centuries of life ahead of us, plenty of time to adapt and enjoy.

That is, what I meant to convey!
Best,
Olaf

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