X-Message-Number: 18279
From: 
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 10:25:39 EST
Subject: Kent questions

Kent (#18275) writes in part:

>and all this talk of not needing money,......

Need for "money" may dwindle or even disappear in at least two ways, and not 
necessarily centuries in the future. (1) If society as a whole is wealthy 
enough, every citizen may be given a comfortable allowance just for 
breathing, with extra pay for such onerous tasks as jury duty or bureaucratic 
oversight. (Cf. Heinleins's  first novel, Beyond This Horizon.) (2) 
Nanotechnology could allow every individual to own his own 
computer/fabricator, which would provide him with essentially unlimited 
advice and merchandise, including ongoing improvements in itself and in 
himself, making him nearly self-sufficient.

Again, this kind of talk turns some people on and turns others off. For most 
people, we probably need to emphasize simply life extension in good health. 
The far-out stuff to most people seems at best unreal and hence not 
motivational, and at worst pie-in-the-sky sci-fi stuff. But we can have more 
than one arrow in the quiver.

> do we have a better chance of a successful re-animation through 
vitrification, or nitrogen freezing,

This is discussed in considerable detail on our web site. The ongoing CI 
research program, and the research of others, should gradually clarify these 
questions.

>Robert, i live in mississauga, close to toronto, ontario so the british 
columbia >problem would not exist.  my trip to the future will most certainly 
include moving >closer to what ever facility will be chosen as i am close to 
death. 

Good!

>, but do not see my wife joining me and my kids are to young to understand, 
maybe >in this future this will change.

Yes, it is likely to change, as your children grow and your wife is exposed 
to more information and advancing technology.

> what did you mean when you said that CI only promises to consider any 
written >requests of the patient, subject to our policies at the time in 
regards to my question >of having my current "self, thoughts and memories"  
re-animated into a female >body?

All written requests or preferences of the patient are stored in his 
archives, and CI will try to honor those preferences or take them into 
account. In a few cases, this is explicitly written into the contract. But 
since future capabilities and conditions cannot be known in advance, there is 
no way to be sure in advance which decisions are likely to be in the 
patient's best interests; this must be left to the judgment of CI at the 
time.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
www.cryonics.org

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