X-Message-Number: 29631 References: <> From: David Stodolsky <> Subject: Re: Vehicle of culture? Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 10:16:44 +0200 On 30 Jun 2007, at 16:28, wrote: > Is a "vehicle of culture......a church-like organization" required > for wider > acceptance of cryonics? > > Hardly. For the umpteenth time, we need to remember that (a) churches > constantly change their positions, But not one that bases its service on life-extension technologies, which must be scientifically validated. > and (b) few religionists are strict followers of > church doctrine, but instead pick and choose, This is due to the current offerings not working very well, from a psychological standpoint. > and (c) many groups, e.g. > political organizations, offer fellowship and related benefits that > to some > extent compete with churches The don't provide service at birth, death, marriage, etc. > , and (d) working in our favor is a sort of > second-order inertia, or a momentum of scientific progress. There is no guarantee this will continue. We have already seen an attack on stem cell funding, that probably will result in millions of premature deaths. The Bush Gang is well on its way to triggering a new nuclear arms race, and this time we will likely have those weapons in the hands of non-state actors. The current increase in nuclear states is heading toward a point of maximum instability (between 1 nuclear power and all having nukes). > > Barring unlikely events, our tide is coming in, but faster progress is > important and just possibly essential. Every one of us has the > opportunity to > contribute at least a little more. It might help if everyone who > does something > positive were to report it, hopefully contributing to a contagion > of spirit. This still the individual model. A move to a group-oriented model is the way to dramatically accelerate growth. dss David Stodolsky Skype: davidstodolsky Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=29631