X-Message-Number: 4777
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #4688 - #4693
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 1995 18:42:34 -0700 (PDT)

Hi again!

Basically I continue to think that the lifespan of groups exceeds by a good
deal the lifespan of individuals. It's not hard to check out the statistics
for businesses.

However to Steve Bridge's posting on the subject of how long you can expect
your storage to last, and the possibility that a particular cryonics society
might disappear, I would add and emphasize that there is no special reason why
you will or must always remain with one society. Life insurance companies have
dealt with this problem already: they take one another over, sell policies to
one another, and all kinds of other arrangements aimed at making the eventual
payoff of a life insurance policy not dependent on one particular company.
Even now, with no formal arrangements in effect, Alcor has taken some patients
from ACS-TransTime. They were, of course, converted to neuropreservation, but
they remain in storage.

Finally, about the need for cryonics, say, in the year 2525 AD. Yes, as we
progress we can certainly bring our probability of death down by orders of 
magnitude. And we will all expect to live for much much longer. But no human
act (no PHYSICAL TECHNOLOGY) will bring down that probability of death to 
ZERO. The Third Law is gunning for us and always will be; no matter what 
schemes we invent to prolong our lives, in some cases they will fail. If we
confidently expect to live for 10,000 years, then a funny thing is going to 
happen to our sense of what it means to live for 1000 years: it won't seem so
long a time. Nor will we ever know how to fix EVERYTHING that can go wrong.
The basic idea of cryonics (keep around what remains you can of yourself, so
that later people who know more will be able to fix you) is not going to go
out of style. (This is an addendum to Steve Bridge's comments, not intended as
a criticism or modification).

				Long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson


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