X-Message-Number: 25690 Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 08:36:00 -0500 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #25681 - #25688 Hi everyone! As you may have guessed (and probably think yourselves) Kurzweil, if he really wants to live forever, would phone up Alcor or the Cryonics Institute and ask how to join immediately. The point is, joining a cryonics society is a concrete act, not a play with the theory of future developments and how fast or slowly they will arrive. I would say that his care for his health is also concrete, but I've seen far too many people busily caring for their health when they're struck down by a heart attack, or cancer, or a selection of other fatal diseases. You can care for your health as much as you want, but in a fundamental sense you're still failing to deal with your own death: so far, we have no health treatments at all guaranteed to prolong your lifespan one iota. I also remember even when I was a boy knowing people (my Grandfather included) who believed that the problem of death and aging would be solved in their lifespans. No, it wasn't. As for Kurzweil, it's not even obvious that the things he's doing to preserve his health actually do so. Some drugs do increase lifespans, at least of mice or rats --- but you can also take overdoses of them, and some may conflict with the others to give you a ZERO increase in lifespan. Given Kurzweil's apparent great interest in his health, and his total lack of consideration of cryonics, he has to my own mind produced the best criticism ever of his own theories and ideas. Just like an actor he may say many striking things --- but fails to live them in truth. Best wishes and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25690