X-Message-Number: 29738
References: <>
From: Kennita Watson <>
Subject: Re: Timeline
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:02:41 -0700

To Jordan and others:  Please restrain yourself from making
sweeping statements about people; they are unnecessarily
inflammatory, rarely quite true, and often counterproductive
in that they encourage replacing reasoned disagreement with
defensive point/counterpoint.

"You are [scientifically illiterate/irrational/untrustworthy]."
Do you really want to shut down the discussion and have _no_
chance to affect the opinion of whomever you're talking to?

For my part, I now feel more sympathy for the person you
berate.  Rarely is an idea _absolute_ rubbish, even when
talking about the past, and here we're talking about the
future.  Remember when it was "absolute rubbish" to think
that man would ever walk on the moon, or that a computer
would ever beat a human at chess, or....  Also, your
beratee may suffer from "irrational exuberance" in his
choice of dates, but as a person, I doubt that he _is_
irrational, and certainly his opinion of when a mammal will
be revived from cryonic suspension has no bearing on whether
he can rationally handle, say, a bee sting or a broken car or
a stock portfolio.  My doctor and my mechanic and my
stockbroker may _all_ have ill-conceived ideas of when
various things will happen in the future, but I think I'd be
ill-advised to consider "everything else [they] say on any
other topic" untrustworthy, especially in their respective
areas of expertise.

Sorry, this has turned into a rant.  All-or-nothing thinking
really gets my goat, as do personal attacks.

> From: "Jordan Sparks" <>
> Absolute rubbish!  By guessing 2018, you display an incredible lack of
> understanding of the science involved. ....
> please don't go around predicting such ridiculous
> dates.  It only convinces me that you are irrational, and that  
> everything
> else you say on any other topic can no longer be trusted.

Live long and prosper,
Kennita

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=29738