X-Message-Number: 26496
From: "Mark Plus" <>
Subject: Re: UK energy rationing and cryonicists' mobility
Date: Sun, 03 Jul 2005 17:16:57 -0700

John de Rivaz writes,

>Nice try, Mark, but all cryonics requires is one, one way, trip of the
person as an item of freight. I cannot imagine that any government would
impose rationing so strict that this one flight in an entire lifetime would
be prohibited.

According to the story in the Telegraph, holders of the energy ration cards 
can buy more points, but from a fixed stock intended to limit total fossil 
fuels consumption for the whole country. This practically guarantees a high 
and rising marginal price for each additional point of energy usage above
the basic ration, assuming you can even buy them at all. What if you can't 
afford the points in a given year to ship a would-be cryonaut to the U.S? 
And what if the per capita ration for the whole country trends downwards?

>Maybe cryonics can cream off the top people as has happened with other 
>endeavours,
but they are not going to be swayed by spurious, irrelevant arguments about 
energy and similar considerations.

"Spurious"? We can empirically observe the world's oil supply system, and it 
has clearly begun
to break down under the strain.  Even the mainstream business media have 
acknowledged this scenario. Oil prices have already reached levels 
considered "unthinkable" just a couple years ago, so at what price does the 
situation become non-"spurious"?

Indeed, I have to wonder if Peak Oil resembles cryonics in that it violates 
familiar cognitive categories so that the human brain has trouble processing 
the idea. The effort seems to cause irrational anxiety and denial in 
otherwise intelligent people.

Manage your risk, not your terror.
Mark Plus

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