X-Message-Number: 16967
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 09:30:27 -0400
From: "Raphael T. Haftka" <>
Subject: It is perfectly reasonable to reject cryonics

>Why people reject cryonics

Looking for reasons that make us look smart and others look dumb or 
superstitious is gratifying, but may not get us much mileage in terms of 
changing the situation. I believe that most people reject cryonics because 
it is eminently logical to do so.

There are thousands of fringe movements like us. If I took the time to 
evaluate each one of them, I would be likely to make costly mistakes. Say 
that I can spot what is wrong in 99% of the movements I will check. If I 
check 200, this will still leave two lunatic movements that will win me 
over. This can be disastrous. So I and others have a very sensible defense 
mechanism to ignore claims by fringe movements rather than try to evaluate 
them seriously. So when you make a cryonics pitch, most people will try to 
find something to say that will shut you up. I know that I do that 
routinely whenever I hear a get-rich-quick pitch. I may have missed a good 
one now and then, but overall I am sure that I would have fallen for a bad 
one had I taken the time to check carefully on each scheme.

Rafi Haftka

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