X-Message-Number: 5601 From: Peter Merel <> Subject: Memories Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 01:36:04 +1100 (EST) Dwight Jones writes, >what is the ESSENTIAL difference between successful cryonic rebuilding >and regeneration from DNA seed? What is it about today's memories that >we MUST them to deem ourselves successful in this venture? Software and hardware, Dwight. Without software, what good is a computer? Doesn't software exist in your philosophy? Do you imagine that software is somehow implied by hardware? Or do you believe that all programs are equivalent to one another? We spend our lives writing our own internal software - it determines how we behave, who we love, the people and qualities and dimensions of our worlds. Perhaps your philosophy devalues this software, but for most of us here that's the whole point; the hardware can be replaced by some other machine with sufficient power to express our software, and we won't fuss - many of us even look forward to it! I'd suggest, if preserving your hardware is the only thing you desire, that you forget about cryonics altogether - it's overkill. To preserve your DNA you'd do a lot better to look into mummification, sealing up your cells in amber, or advances in sequencing technology - much simpler, cheaper and more likely to survive for long periods than cryonic storage. But you shouldn't expect people who don't share your faith to see things quite the same way as you; certainly proselytizing a bunch of cynics, individualists and science-fascists like us is unlikely to win you any converts :-) Peter Merel. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5601