X-Message-Number: 27118
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 10:56:01 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: more for Olaf Henny

A short reply for Olaf Henny:

I hope you understand that I was
actually arguing for something a bit stronger: that concentration on
politics is one way people have of avoiding thinking of their own death.
And I mean here concentration on politics, not just sometimes thinking 
about it --- as we all do in a democracy.

Since you also apparently think
that public attitudes to cryonics may endanger us, I will say a bit more on
that issue too. So long as cryonics remains something Apolitical that some
people do, and hopefully Areligious too, then it won't raise lots of
objection worldwide. This means that we should still find places where
we can store patients and suspend them too. We each have opinions about
what the future will bring, including political opinions. My own
observations on this suggest that political opinions in cryonicists cover a
large spectrum, though not all possible such opinions. For the continuation
of cryonics that's actually good. Putting it briefly, socialists won't
oppose us because some of us are socialists, libertarians won't oppose us
because some of us are libertarians, and so on. And meanwhile we are all
agreed on principles which haven't yet made it into most
dictionaries(*), and aren't matters of frequent discussion in the media
compared to other matters.

Essentially then we're not involved in
any of the great controversies of the day and thus don't get attacked for
our position on them.

(*) cryonics is often defined but "immortalism"
or even the belief in the desirability of vastly increasing human
lifespan is not.
     
             Best wishes and long long life to all,

                 Thomas Donaldson

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