X-Message-Number: 16996 Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 09:52:44 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #16990 - #16995 Hi again! I agree with Bob Ettinger that we should think of ourselves and others as basically selfish, though anyone who looks into biology and natural selection will note that "selfishness" here has a multiplicity of meanings depending on the situation. As for whether or not future people will revive us, the question is being asked much too abstractly. We will be revived because we are in suspension and means have been found to revive us. We will be in suspension and cared for by others who ALSO expect to someday end up in suspension... even if in their day suspension takes a quite different technical form. It is by caring for and reviving those in suspension (who can now be revived) that we protect our own hopes for suspension and revival. And yes, we'll be revived by a descendant of a cryonics society, NOT by society in general. The idea that suspension (of some kind) will be needed into the indefinite future is NOT a side issue. It is essential to the entire idea. Think about it from the standpoint of the cryonics society which revives you: by doing so it proves that revivals can happen, and so emphasizes the idea that if you join it (or other such societies) they will someday be able to revive you also, EVEN IF AT THAT TIME NO WAY TO DO SO WILL EXIST. In return, you will remain a member and perhaps someday revive some of those who revived you. If you really want immortality then you'll find such a society quite necessary. Yes, we can find ways someday to abolish aging, but all the other things that can happen to you, now or in the indefinite future, will remain out there waiting to bring you down. After only a little time, those ways won't be anything we can now specify, but they'll still exist... and give you something to think about at that time. There is no single measure which will make us all immortal without the need for further self-defense. And it is that need that will keep cryonics societies existing... and help us to live far longer than simply abolishing aging could ever do. Best wishes and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16996