X-Message-Number: 19381
Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2002 08:14:47 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #19377 - #19380

HI everyone!

This is my reply to Brett Bellmore:

I believe that I did know perfectly well what you were saying: that
most people would not accept cryonics until we could show that at 
least some mammal could be suspended and brought back.

And I hope I made clear what MY sense of the problem was. So now,
we have everyone believing that someone (healthy) who is suspended
can be brought back. If they still believe that their medical 
condition is incurable (or for that matter, that age is incurable)
then why should they bother to be suspended in the first place?
What do you gain from suspension if you now have an "incurable" condition.
Sure, if doctors tell someone that a cure will exist in 5 years
time (not that this often happens) then such a person may be willing
to be suspended. But usually it isn't even that clear. (Think about
Alzheimer's, currently the subject of intensive research). 

When you think of all the conditions we might have, the concept that
they can be cured (Yes, guys, we'll cure your mother's Alzheimer's)
is just as hard as the notion that the damage due to present 
suspension can be cured. For that matter, most people don't
know about the consequences of either condition, they only go out
and accept the judgement of others. The real difference between
cryonics and ordinary medical thought comes not from the feeling
that fixing someone formerly frozen will be impossible, but the
failure to understand the basic concept behind cryonics. That
basic concept is that EVERY KNOWN DISEASE OR CONDITION will be
someday curable (including, of course, the consequence of suspension
itself). And it's  only if you believe that that you will even
see the merits of suspension itself.

		Best wishes and long long life for all,

			Thomas Donaldson

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