X-Message-Number: 32102
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #32093
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:53:19 +0100
References: <>

On 23 Oct 2009, at 11:00 AM, Keith Henson wrote:

> No matter what we do an awful high
> percentage of the population will be disgusted.  Similar brain
> mechanisms to fear of snakes.

Reactions to cryonics are culturally determined. This is clear from  
the Badger data. Avoidance of death related stimuli is a different  
story (but see below).

There are people who use snakes in their religious ceremonies, so  
reactions to snakes may also be learned.


> There are evolved reasons for this.  Pascal Boyer's book, Religion
> Explained brings up some of them.

As stated in a previous message, this book is totally wrong in its  
analysis of the role of evolution in religious belief. Terror  
management theory shows that there is no need for an evolved  
mechanism, belief is a side effect of human intellectual abilities  
evolved for other reasons.


>
> I think we have to resign ourselves to the fact that cryonics will
> never get very large.  The people who are interested in it are out 5-6
> sigma.

As I showed sometime back, cryonics has been growing exponentially, a  
least until very recently. If there is stagnation, it results from a  
failure to package cryonics appropriately. If suspension was a routine  
procedure, almost everyone would do it, except for a few fanatics like  
those who refuse to have their children vaccinated, etc. About a third  
of people responding to the Omni contest chose cryonics over a  
vacation trip.


dss


David Stodolsky
  Skype: davidstodolsky

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