X-Message-Number: 19095
Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 12:58:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Too Important to Die

Damien Broderick very helpfully informs us of the Arthur Clarke rationale
for not bothering with cryonics:

>Although he feels sure that Cryonics Suspension will be possible one day, he
>doesn't think it's fair to impose oneself on the future, although as some
>philosopher  once remarked: "What has the future ever done for us?"

Interesting. I spell this D-E-N-I-A-L. When you are a famous, busy man,
each day presents a whole range of opportunities and possibilities that
are a lot more interesting than your own death. So, why not just get rid
of that annoying topic with a little joke?

Most of us are fairly sure that we're not going to die TODAY, and probably
not tomorrow, either. The difference is that some of us are fairly sure
that we are likely to die at some point in the future.

I have met some famous people who really do feel, on a gut level, that in
a sense they are too important to die. Death is, after all, pretty damned
humiliating: The most painful reminder that on the biological level, the
richest man in the world is no different from the humblest peasant.

This realization doesn't bother me too much--but then, I am not rich or
famous.

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