X-Message-Number: 32624
References: <>
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:12:19 -0700
Subject: David and John
From: Charles Platt <>

Thanks to David for his thorough exposition of a game plan. Perhaps he
posted this in the past, and I missed it, in which case, I apologize.
I still have doubts that it would work, but the discussion would
require a level of detail and more time than I have available. I am
certainly more willing now to imagine that it _might_ have some
results.

John's points are well taken. Where I differ is that I don't believe
the word "yet" (as in "cryonics doesn't work yet") is relevant in the
minds of most potential consumers. If it doesn't work yet, it doesn't
work, so far as most people are concerned. You can set out the case
for molecular nanotechnology in relentless detail, and I don't think
it makes any difference.

Recently I went out and met various people involved in privately
funded space ventures. One venture, Rocketplane
(http://www.rocketplane.com), is trying to sell reservations for
future suborbital flights. Their web site shows various 3D renderings,
but they do not have an operational vehicle yet. They don't say how
many reservations they have sold, but so far as I can tell, the number
is minuscule. It may even be zero. Meanwhile of course Virgin Galactic
has accepted more than 300 deposits for their $200,000 flights,
because in their case, preliminary hardware has been successfully
demonstrated.

We are dealing here with very familiar concepts: Winged vehicles that
fly. No stretch of the imagination is needed. We certainly don't have
to wait for the Singularity. Yet still people are reluctant to make a
commitment until they see something that works. Why should cryonics be
any different?

This point has been argued endlessly. There are those, such as myself,
who feel that a revived cryopreserved mammal is the first essential
step. There are others who feel that since cryonics makes sense for
them, it must make sense for other people, too. Alas this ignores the
fact (very obvious if one attends any meeting of cryonicists) that
almost all people who sign up for cryonics are far from the center of
most bell curves. Their outlook is not in any way typical. Of course I
include myself among them. You simply cannot generalize from this
specific.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32624