X-Message-Number: 2473
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: CRYONICS: more on founding a new country
Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 21:27:51 PST



The author was "Filthy Pierre" Strauss.

I too have received solicitations from Eric Klien. While I think Tim Freeman 
makes an excellent point about just when ALCOR (or any other cryonics
organization) should move, we are not Alcor. We are independent (mostly)
individuals and our personal location has little to do with the location of
Alcor. If cryonics itself is a long term project, it should then be entirely
appropriate for some cryonicists, as INDIVIDUALS, to work on founding a new
country. If they succeed, then eventually cryonics ORGANIZATIONS might set up
in that new country, too. If they fail, well, there's lots of precedent for
failure, but their chance at immortality hasn't been compromised.

At some point, of course, citizens of this new country might want to set up
a branch of one or all of the cryonics organizations.

As for the likelihood of success, I find that hard to estimate -- not least
because it depends on the people who become involved, their assets, and how
existing countries respond to them. Some might think the effort is premature,
that we should wait to set up a new country in interplanetary or cislunar
space. On the other hand, 2/3rds of the Earth is ocean, and remains quite
unsettled. Whether claims of existing countries to the oceans that surround
them for hundreds of miles (remember the controversy about undersea minerals?)
will prevent establishment of such a country as yet remains an open question.
I suspect that Oceania will ultimately have to purchase SOVEREIGNTY from
one or more of the countries which lay claim to that section of ocean in
which it floats. The political problems, not just the financial and personal
problems, in founding a country need to be considered. (Is this different from
in the past? No. After all, the Pope divided the Earth between Spain and
Portugal once ... not that their claims were respected).
			Best and long long life,
				Thomas Donaldson

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