X-Message-Number: 17519
From: 
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 09:26:59 EDT
Subject: catastrophe strategies

Yesterday's terrorism and Pizer's post renew the concerns about extreme risk 
scenarios and possible defensive strategies.

Early on, we at CI envisioned a day when we might be remotely located and 
virtually self-sufficient. Rich Davis donated a parcel of land in northern 
lower Michigan on which we might build at the right time, under a hill to be 
nuke-safe. We could use Thomson/Peltier for energy/cooling, with virtually no 
maintenance and almost no cost for energy or cooling. Something like this is 
still a possibility for some future time, but it has many obvious 
disadvantages. (We could build in Antarctica too.)

Another possibility is to dig a hole and pull it in after us, so to speak. We 
could lower our profile to near zero by ceasing expansion, and devote 
ourselves exclusively to existing members and patients. Again, obvious 
advantages and disadvantages.

Realistically, I think we should make no radical changes any time soon, aside 
from advances in research. Cynically speaking, the Detroit area should be 
relatively safe from Arab/Moslem terrorism, because it has a high 
concentration of those people. As for other types of terrorist, the list 
keeps expanding, which makes it both better and worse--more nuts, but more 
diffused. 

Maybe my optimism is naive in this respect, but I think the worst may be 
over, not ahead. Human stupidity is formidable, but not invincible. The women 
of Iran, for example, are getting tired of their traditional roles and want 
better lives. The "information age" has its negative aspects, but also some 
powerfully positive ones. At the end of the day, people want better lives, 
and sane behavior is more likely to lead to satisfaction.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
www.cryonics.org

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