X-Message-Number: 17240 Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 08:25:46 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #17232 - #17239 Hi everyone! Two brief comments before I delete the messages starting with #17232: 1. I'm sorry to hear from Linda Chamberlain about her bowel cancer problem, and naturally hope that she can deal with it. We're all getting up there, and should not forget that only 50% of people live past the "average life span" ... a pretty strong risk, when you think about it. As many readers know, I am still dealing with my brain tumor, which I got in 77-78. 2. The connection of suspension with "death" in the literal sense shows up quite well in the definition (by NONcryonicists) of cryonics in the dictionary. We must keep in mind that our notion of "death" differs from the common one: strongly in the case of medical cases in which large parts of our cortex become destroyed while we remain "officially alive", even more strongly in the case in which our brain cortex does NOT get destroyed even though for other reasons we have been declared "dead". The first case is a case in which we'd say someone had died, because their personality had clearly vanished. The second case is one in which we'd say that someone HAD NOT died, because it remained an open question whether or not enough information existed to revive them. There is no religion in cryonics, no matter what the Dictionary says. Best wishes and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17240