X-Message-Number: 29244
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: reanimation and resources
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 09:42:01 -0000

With regards to my comment that

> One possible risk is that someone could be reanimated in a world where
> lifespan is still quite limited, and with no chances of amassing enough
> wealth for a second go at cryonics. It could be better to wait awhile in
> cryopreservation until lifespan is less limited.

It has been pointed out that the technology that repairs damaged caused by 
the cryonics process will also be capable of reversing and halting aging and 
curing most diseases known today - as the cryonic damage is far worse than 
these.

Of course I agree with this and I should have made the point in the original 
article. But there could still be some irreparable situations, and those 
that can afford it will still use cryonics to catch up with a technology to 
restore them. Also "quite limited" is relative. If most people live on 
average 600 years before one of these situations appears, it will still be 
eight or nine times the life expectancy in previous times. Working for 600 
years as an unskilled labourer or clerk may not seem a bright prospect, but 
suppose you could transport a labourer from 19th century to the 21st I am 
sure he would be amazed at the improvements in his lifestyle. Indeed, apart 
from free time, a monarch from earlier times has less resources in terms of 
things like TV, Internet etc., than an unskilled person in the 20th. However 
at present a labourer earns about 2% of the hourly rate of a qualified 
lawyer or 6% of the wage of a creative professional such as a chartered 
architect or engineer (my rough guesses). I am not sure what these ratios 
were in the 19th century. Is there a historian on this list?

A few people today have private ships and aeroplanes, but this does not 
impact on the enjoyment of life for those that don't.

I have some labourers working outside at the moment making a shed base, and 
they come in cars and are using a digger and ready-mix concrete. In 
Victorian times they would probably walk a long distance to work in their 
own time, dig it out by hand, and mix the cement with shovels. They may even 
have dragged the materials from their employer's yard to the job on hand 
carts. Comparing that, it is not inconceivable that labourers in the future 
would come in vehicles and use machines that are inconceivable today.

-- 
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:  http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including
Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley
Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy,  Nomad .. and
more 

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