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 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16967