X-Message-Number: 4513 From: (Brian Wowk) Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Subject: Re: Australian Euthanasia Legislation online! Date: 15 Jun 1995 05:38:48 GMT Message-ID: <3roh18$> References: <3rebb0$> <> In <> (Brad Templeton) writes: >I would certainly hope that nobody combines cryonics and euthanasia. >This is *exactly* the sort of thing that euthanasia opponents (and even >some advocates) fear the most. Remember, most think that cryonics is >a false hope, many think it is even possibly a scam. I think that this is a good reason for cryonics organizations (as distinct from their individual members) to not get visibly involved with the euthanasia debate. However, if a member does choose to be actively euthanized in a jurisdiction where it is legal to do so, are you saying that their cryonics organization should not serve them? Yes, it is true that most cryonicists dearly wish for cryopreservation to one day become an elective medical procedure. It is unfortunate that laws are now such that active euthanasia legislation appears to be the most direct route to this goal. It is unfortunate because euthanasia fundamentally has nothing to do with cryonics, and combining the two (as you fear) profoundly muddies the philosophical waters of cryonics. Nevertheless I think it is inevitable that the two will be combined (perhaps with some neutral third party administering the "lethal" barbiturate injection). One hopeful note on the horizon is the possibility of achieving reversible (in real-time) brain cryopreservation in the next few years. A development like this has the potential to completely bypass legislative obstacles to elective cryopreservation. With a technology like this you could make a strong legal argument that cryonics patients are still alive, and that cryonics is a life-saving process. The bad news is that you then run smack into the FDA. Ultimately the FDA is the final, most-insurmountable obstacle to cryonics ever graduating from mortuary science to real medicine. Bob Ettinger's truest stroke of genius 30 years ago was not the idea of freezing for future reanimation, but rather the idea that by doing it rapidly after "death" you could for a relatively small biological price bypass one shitload of regulatory bureaucracy. The large price that was paid (and is still being paid) is a big philosophical misunderstanding of what exactly cryonics is. Combining cryonics and euthanasia will simply be a part of this tradition (as will the accompanying philosophical confusion). The only way to get beyond this will be to perfect brain cryopreservation and dismantle the FDA (as we know it today). I am more optimistic about the former than the latter. Brian Wowk President CryoCare Foundation Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4513