X-Message-Number: 5098 Date: 02 Nov 95 14:17:18 EST From: Saul Kent <> Subject: Government To David Stodolsky: I said that I now believe that "immortalists" (such as Bill Faloon and i) would fund the research needed to achieve physical immortality (including suspended animation) if the government would leave us alone. For me, avoiding death is far more than a "consolation prize"; it's my most cherished short-term goal. What evidence do you have that "a great deal" of "suspension research" was funded by NASA? What evidence do you have that the opposition to "big government" in the U.S. is supported by "a general anti-scientific attitude in this country"? What evidence do you have that those in favor of "big government" in the U.S. have a scientific attitude? To John Clark: It's all very well to predict that governments will disappear in the future, but right now governments are EXTREMELY powerful and constitute a major obstacle to progress in cryonics and anti-aging research. This is not based on theory, but on fact. For several years (starting in 1987), Alcor and I had to fight sevral government agencies in California to maintain my mother (Dora Kent) in suspension, to protect the other Alcor patients from destruction, to keep Alcor personnel from being put into prison, and to keep Alcor alive. Since 1987, the FDA (with the help of other federal law enforcement agencies) has spent untold $millions in an attempt to put Bill Faloon and I in prison for life. In both cases, the government has not succeeded, but at a great cost to Bill and I, and to the achievement of physical immortality. In 1987, when the government onslaught against us started, Bill and I had invested several half a million dollars in life extension research. Today, we are investing significant money again in life extension research and expect to invest a great deal more in the future. If the government had left Bill and I alone, I believe we would have invested tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in life extension research in the past decade. The reason Bill and I can NOW invest money in life extension research, and the reason we expect to be able to increase our investment in the future, has nothing to do with "technology" or "theory", but is due to the fact that we have been willing and able to fight for our (and others) right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of immortality. ---Saul Kent Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5098