X-Message-Number: 4406
Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 14:46:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Relevance

Eugen Leitl writes:

"Good grief, what has the bloody internet to do with uploading?"

Wrong question. The real question I think is, "what has bloody uploading 
got to do with cryonics?"

Uploading is a subject that interests me greatly. I have written a whole 
book based around the topic. I am also very aware however that there is a 
slim chance, at best, of it becoming feasible within the next fifty or so 
years. (Please let us not have a debate now on just how slim the chance 
may be.)

In short, uploading is unlikely to save the lives of many people reading
this, and not much can be done, right now, to bring it about. Cryonics, on
the other hand, has at least some chance of saving lines and is available
right now. Therefore, it seems obvious to me that it is in our own
interests to concentrate on the real option and leave the theoretical
option till later, especially since there are many people working in 
computer science but hardly any in cryonics.

There is a lot of work to be done in cryonics before it will become 
remotely reliable. Research, fund raising, public relations, and signups 
are the obvious areas that come to mind. When you remember how few people 
are working actively in cryonics, you realize that the amount of energy 
that has been devoted here to the fascinating subjects of identity, 
neural nets, and uploading could have made a tangible difference if it 
had been directed instead toward cryonics.

Of course, people should be free to discuss anything they like, and use 
their time in whatever way suits them. I'm just putting forward my 
opinion.


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