X-Message-Number: 5658
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 96 11:08:02
From: Steve Bridge <>
Subject: The Pleasures of Memory
To CryoNet
>From Steve Bridge
January 23, 1996
In Message #5652, Mike Perry said:
"immortality demands an indefinitely *growing* set of
memories. This is because only thereby could you track the
passage of time and *subjectively* experience an unlimited
amount of it. Otherwise, i.e. with some ceiling on the size
of your memory, you are just a finite state automaton, doomed
to (at best) infinitely often revisit one or more of a finite
number of mental states. Subjectively, this could not satisfy
my expectations for "'immortality.'"
I agree with Mike and would add another perspective on remembering.
I view cryonics as a contest, where we are trying to win both against
death and against those the people who wish us to fail, who want us to
conform and die.
If cryonics works and I am alive in the future, I want to *know* that
I have won. What is the point if I don't even remember the contest? If I
would be revived only as a clone, why work my 60-hour weeks today? Part
of the pleasure of working in cryonics today is the *anticipation* of
winning the game and of *knowing* that I won. When I am revived from
suspension in the future, I want to remember just how hard it was to get
to that point, so I can truly appreciate just how good survival is.
Especially, I want to remember all of those people who said we
couldn't do it and who went out of their way in attempts to prevent us
from trying. I plan to dance the "headstone jig" on their final resting
(rotting) places.
Why play the game if you won't get the pleasure of knowing you won?
Stephen Bridge, President ()
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
Non-profit cryonic suspension services since 1972
7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale AZ 85260-6916
Phone (602) 922-9013 (800) 367-2228 FAX (602) 922-9027
for general requests
http://www.webcom.com/~alcor
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