X-Message-Number: 28312
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:54:24 -0600
From: "Anthony ." <>
Subject: minorities, animal welfare

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> Message #28311
> From: 
> Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:17:15 EDT
> Subject: [Cryonics_Institute] Re: First Hamster, Pet Preservation a plus
> (pet rant!)
>
>  (Also, BTW, a disproportionate number of individuals who are
> childfree, have alternate sexual orientation, and who are male
> computer/software
> professionals.)


You also forgot to mention the high number of athiests and libertarians.

It makes sense that minority groups will gravitate towards a minority
practice - excluded as some cryonicists are from mainstream values and
practices.


> (Not dissimilar to the issues related to a call I took yesterday,
> a  client
> who is 96 and in terrible health just had a quadruple bypass,
> on  government
> expense. (!).  Jesus on a stick, does it make sense to  spend 35 or 40
> thousand
> dollars to give this woman a few more weeks  of existence in her assisted
> living facility?! )


The medical establishment and public opinion are still driven by saving life
at all costs - this is why euthanasia is still under debate, why palliative
care is so poor, why doctors will put patients through horrible
"life-saving" procedures even though they know the extra life is only a few
days or weeks (see, for e.g. Dr. Nuland's book "How We Die" especially his
personal confessions regarding medical paternalism).

Unfortunately, there is probably a long way to go before people opt for less
costly cryonics which will preserve them in better health, compared to the
long drawing out of the dying process.


> I would like to put my vote in...here it is: A big "Say YES to  pets!"


Thanks Rudi, I agree with your enthusiasm and support for pet
cryopreservation.

It is good to know that so many cryonicists are able to love an animal who
is not a human. I hope that cryonicists are able to look beyond their own
relationships with their animals - who we know feel pain, misery, and fear,
as well as love and comfort.

Looking beyond our pets means looking to the other animals who suffer at
human hands. A cow, sheep, or pig have as much capacity for fear and pain as
the dogs, horses, and cats we love. We do not need to eat meat, there are
alternatives that are an improvement on meat, and these animals should not
suffer for our pleasure.

In other countries dogs, horses, and cats are eaten regularly (cat's may be
still alive while they are skinned and dropped into boiling water to drown,
dog's are muzzled and "hog-tied" - which breaks their legs - prior to being
eaten).

Eating animals is part of the prevailing attitude that they exist for our
purposes alone. Many pet and animals lovers understand that these beings
exist in their own right and are deserving of our protection and respect.
Please treat other animals like you treat your pets. The animal you eat
suffered and screamed before it died.

In relation to this, some people are trying to prevent the extinctions we
are causing by preserving a complete genetic sample of every living thing
they can. I once thought it might be good for cryonics providers to try to
aquire the bodies of nearly extinct species and preserve them, but the cost
is probably prohibitive and I doubt there'd be much will to do it.


http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D5821


Responding to Thursday's airline terrorist plot, the Lifeboat
Foundation<http://lifeboat.com/ex/main>has raised its GETAS (Global
Existential Threat Advisory
System) alert level to ELEVATED, its first raised alert.

The GETAS system <http://lifeboat.com/ex/getas> tracks the probability
of "existential
risks<http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0194.html>,"
which could threaten humanity and intelligent life with extinction, such as
nuclear holocaust.

"The Global Existential Threat Advisory System intends to provide a
comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding
existential threats to the world," said Philippe Van Nedervelde, Lifeboat
Foundation's Chief International Evangelist.

A free GETAS alert email service <http://lifeboat.com/ex/getas> is
available.

The Lifeboat Foundation is also looking for comments on its NanoShield

proposal<http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0685.html>,
dealing with future threats from grey goo and other nanoweapons.


The Lifeboat Foundation is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization,
dedicated to ensuring that humanity safely adopts increasingly powerful
technologies, including genetics/biotechnology, nanotechnology, and
robotics/AI,
as we move towards a technological Singularity.

Anthony

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