X-Message-Number: 28485
References: <>
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Re: On the difficulties to sell cryonics.
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:18:02 +0200

On 23 Sep 2006, at 19:17, Francois wrote:

> Something emerged from these interractions, a new and never before  
> seen
> instinct that could be called faith.

According to terror management theory, what emerges is a motive or  
drive.


>
> Faith can be seen as a veil put by evolution in front of the  
> oblivion abyss
> we will all enter, sooner or later. It hides that abyss from everyday
> conciousness, it gives hope and it provides meaning to our existence.

According to TMT, this would be termed the cultural anxiety buffer.


>  With the
> research being conducted in the domain of cryopreservation, sooner  
> or later
> someone will succeed in suspending and reviving a complete living  
> creature,
> dog, rat, monkey, whatever. At that point, cryonics will become a  
> lot more
> attractive and these facts make me believe that it will someday  
> become much
> more widely accepted. Until then, it simply cannot compete  
> effectively with
> faith and religion.


This conclusion doesn't hold up if we consider the role of  
uncertainty in human decisionmaking. What is true is that cryonics,  
as a burial practice, can't compete with other burial practices that  
are a lot cheaper. And that are inbedded in a organizational  
framework that offers immediate rewards and services on a regular basis.

A competition can only be evaluated when comparing like with like.  
Thus, one between a church offering all services including cryonics  
and one offering all services but cryonics.


I included this argument in:

Salvation in the Space Age or How does Astrobiology get more Funding?
Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract: URL <http://dss.secureid.org/stories/storyReader$124>
Slides (3.5 MB): URL <http://www.nordita.dk/~brandenb/astrobiology/ 
seminar/Talks/Stodolsky06.pdf>


dss


David Stodolsky    Skype: davidstodolsky

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