X-Message-Number: 4148
Date: 04 Apr 95 15:17:07 EDT
From: Jim Davidson <>
Subject: Kevin Walker's msg #4138

Kevin Walker does an excellent job of illustrating my point.  Trends can not be
projected into the future without understanding the underlying principles and
causative factors.  Few trends grow unbounded without changing slope.

The idea that the gross domestic product of the US would be entirely devoted to
debt service is ludicrous.  No economic system could sustain such a load.  The
trends that suggest such a possibility can't continue unchanged for the

requisite years.  Long before 100% of any country's economic production would go
to debt service, some aspect of the system would break.  Either the debt would
be repudiated or the economy would undergo a change of state.

Such matters are not inappropriate for a discussion among life extension
enthusiasts.  Economic factors are clearly important to evaluating where one
wants ones body stored.  If the US were in any danger of impoverishment due to
debt service, that would make it a bad place indeed for being stored.

More important, the general subject of understanding what the future will be
like based on projecting trends or other means is a vital one.  Those who are
cryonically suspended do not rely on medical technology alone for their
survival.  They rely on others to handle payment for the liquid nitrogen they
consume, they rely on others to secure their funds for their revival (and make
those funds grow to keep pace with escalating medical costs), they rely on
others to make arrangements for their transport in the event of a natural or

man-made catastrophe.  Without a solid understanding of economics, and without a
clear acknowledgement of the need to monitor events, trends, and causative
factors that affect the future, cyronics organizations cannot properly serve
their patients.

I won't argue in favor of the discussion on paradoxes as they relate to the
question of uploading as those involved in such discussions seem amply capable
of self-defense.  I would suggest, however, that those of us who pay for our
various internet services don't need a lecture on how much it costs others to
receive these messages.  Living forever is a pearl of great price; if it were
cheap, we wouldn't have to discuss it nearly as much.

Jim


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4148