X-Message-Number: 26621 Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:30:24 -0700 Subject: Undecidable? Also: Utility of Low-Cost Preservation From: <> Otter wrote: > Not quite; since illusions are all we have, they do > matter. My point was that the whole identity & > survival issue is highly subjective, fuzzy and > arbitrary. It has more to do with emotions (what > 'feels right') than with hard facts. Not at all. There is a definite answer to the following question: Suppose I am copied while suspended, then destroyed, and sometime later my copy is revived. From my subjective point of view (where 'my' refers to the original, from whence the copy was derived), is this scenario equivalent to annihilation, or a deep sleep? The answer to this question does not depend on emotions. It is not subjective, fuzzy, or arbitrary. The question has a definite answer: which is, in my view, 'equivalent to annihilation'. The implications are profound for anyone who wants to survive. And critical because of the possibility that the 'patternist' way of thinking will make further inroads into cryonics and result in the needless annihilation of cryonics members. Let me say another word on the attempt to create a low-cost preservation option. Not only is this useless (since, as I have argued, preservation methods that are so destructive to the brain they require re-creation are equivalent to annihilation), but if attempted, it will be a waste of time and money for all those involved. Why? Because cost is not what prevents people from becoming cryonicists. The vast majority of people in industrialized countries can afford cryonics. They choose not to because cryonics doesn't work. Creating an affordable preservation option that is even *less* likely to work will attract even fewer people. Witness this: Alcor charges twice the money as CI and has no fewer signups or patients. Concentrate on making cryonics work (i.e. take it to the next level, true suspended animation), and you will attract people in droves. I will be surprised if a single person signs up to have their brain freeze dried or chemically preserved. Hopefully those involved will keep this project far removed from cryonics. Richard B. Riddick Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=26621