X-Message-Number: 23527 From: "Kitty Antonik Wakfer" <> Subject: #23520: Re: Cryonics is about hope...Or more love [Jeff Davis] Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 00:01:05 -0700 > > Message #23520 > Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:13:05 -0800 (PST) > From: Jeff Davis <> > Subject: Re: Cryonics is about hope...Or more love > > In Message #23512 > > Jonathan Hinek writes: > > What I'd like to see is de-emphasis of the indefinite > life span and immortality angle. Few have sympathy for > a bunch of old people trying to get older (which is > seen, in many cases, as stealing from future > generations). That isn't the real heart of cryonics, > not IMO anyway. That isn't our moral high ground. > Cryonics is about helping the sick and dying by giving > them the possibility of a future. > > It's about the twenty-something wife dying of cancer > who's afraid she'll never see her children grow up, > the quadriplegic who dreams of someday living a > 'normal' life again, or the kid whose life was > extinguished before he even reached adulthood. For > them, Alcor represents hope. The eventual outcome is > insignificant when compared to the comfort it brings > to them today, and their families tomorrow. > > No politician has the right to take that hope away. > > --------end quote---------- > > I couldn't agree more. > > And if one were to consider those immaterial--perhaps > I can use the word "spiritual"--rewards in life--the > feel good stuff we seek vs the feel bad stuff we seek > to prevent--then I would add: more joyful time with > those we love, more and greater cultural contributions > from the great cultural contributors, and a deeper, > richer--in short, wiser--human experience for all. > <snip> > Best, Jeff Davis > There are some on this list who know that the sentiments expressed by both the writers above are not new on CryoNet or in cryonics circles. Seven years ago - 3 before I knew him personally - Paul Wakfer wrote the purpose of the Full Length Life Society: "The Full Length Life Society is a community of people from all walks of life who share a common bond, the profound reverence for life in all its varied forms. Our general purpose is to perfect scientifically proven, medical methods by which human life at all its stages, and animal life in all its many forms may be biologically interrupted before impending death, transformed into a state where deterioration cannot occur, expertly cared for in a place of high security, and later, when the time is right, enabled to startup and continue life with renewed health and vitality. The founders, trustees, and supporters of the Full Length Life Society believe that the only currently realizable method of preserving individual lives is long-term, fully-reversible suspended animation at a sufficiently low temperature that all biological activity is halted. Once this procedure is developed and proven, we intend to make it available to terminal patients everywhere as an elective operation." [The first paragraph of the Purpose on the Summary Description page from Internet Archives: http://web.archive.org/web/20000926014206/morelife.org/summary-description.h tml ] Considerable detail was provided on the webpages of the Full Length Life Society about some of the purposes envisioned for suspended animation. The purposes included: "- providing each child who would die at "the dawn of its life" with a chance to taste life's many wonders and achieve its full human destiny; - allowing the adult who is tragically torn away from his spouse and growing children by a premature death, the chance to share in their later lives and to see his grandchildren; - enabling the grandparent who treasures the time spent guiding and enjoying grandchildren, the chance to see them fully grown with children of their own; - giving each developing fetus the chance to be born, and its desperate mother a perhaps more realistic way to choose life for her unborn child; - making available for those suffering the misfortune of disability a chance to enjoy a complete life as whole individuals with full human capabilities; - lowering the cost of terminal care which increasingly threatens to force a reduction in quality, or to bankrupt our medical system; ..." This outreach effort beyond the relatively small numbers of those already aware of and supporting of cryonics paralleled the Prometheus Project (also started and headed by Paul) which had reached the level of over $400,000/year of pledges towards its goal of $1M/year despite lack of support and criticisms by the major cryonics organizations. Escalation of these criticisms and the failure by the critical parties to follow-through with their commitments necessary for the PP Technical Plan brought this very promising - and succeeding - funding project to a halt. (The state of the Prometheus Project as of November 30, 1997 can be seen at this link: http://web.archive.org/web/19980524022025/http://www.prometheus-project.org/ ) So for those who have not been around CryoNet and/or cryonics since 1997 - or have forgotten these major attempts of the past to fund perfected suspended animation research - the above bit of history should be of value. When Paul and I started MoreLife in early 2001, the old FLLS material was removed. However, the text was dusted off - including a name change to Life Preservation and Continuation Society - when a law researcher contacted Paul about the old FLLS mention of suspended animation use as an alternative for the death sentence. (He was writing an essay to be published in a law journal.) So for those interested, the resurrected material can be seen at: http://morelife.org/lpcs/ (It is also accessible from the Preserving Section of MoreLife http://morelife.org/lifespan/preserving/ ) The formation of a group such as that envisaged by the Life Preservation and Continuation Society could actually be of value beyond being a reminder of what was a very promising attempt to achieve perfected suspended animation in our lifetime. **Kitty Antonik Wakfer MoreLife for the rational - http://morelife.org Reality based tools for more life in quantity and quality Self-Sovereign Individual Project - http://selfsip.org Rational freedom by self-sovereignty & social contracting Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=23527