X-Message-Number: 6390 From: (Brian Wowk) Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Subject: Re: Humans use [religion] to remain sane in the face of death; myself, I use cryonics Date: 25 Jun 96 21:02:19 GMT Message-ID: <> References: <> Last night I posted the following to alt.atheism.moderated. (It may not make it there: The moderator doesn't like me.) I'll repeat the post here because it's a cute argument that has succeeded in squelching past critics. In <4qb74n$> (Niall McAuley) writes: >>Fact: The going rate for neuropreservation is about $50,000, >*cough* HOW much ? Think what your kids could do with 50K ! >Instead of selfishly squandering what *is* a lot of money >at infinitesmal odds so that you might exist in the future, >why not invest this money in some project to improve that >future for your descendants ? My wife and I plan on having four children. (How many do you have?) Our first child (a beautiful daughter) is now five months old. Perhaps next year we will try for our second. Our last two children will be special. Because children (including a college education) cost in excess of $200,000 each to raise, we are going to postpone the birth of our final two children for a long time-- approximately 100 years. We intend to do this by sending samples of our DNA into the future. But beyond just our genetic heritage, we plan on giving these two children something more: our accumulated knowledge, values, and wisdom. We will do this not by merely preserving diaries, letters, photos, videos. (For such artifacts barely scratch the surface of what makes a human being.) Instead we will send along with our DNA the most exquisite and complete record of our life experience that exists: our actual physical mind. Our minds-- preserved with the very best technology the 21st century will have to offer --will then be reintegrated into a youthful body by the best technology of the 22nd century. The ideal result: * Our first two children will enjoy a standard of living *higher* than we could afford to give them if we had all our children now. * Planet Earth suffers a *smaller* ecological burden than if we had all our children now. * Future generations (especially our own distant descendants) will enjoy, and benefit from, the knowledge and presence of my wife and myself. >Religious people sincerely believe the comfort they offer. >Cryonics is just a con job, ripping off the estates of those they >have suckered. Money for old rope. Look, we put our money where our mouth is around here. Give credit where credit is due: If cryonics is a con job, then we are at least as "conned" as our clients. (Probably much more conned, given the ludicrous amount of unpaid time that I devote to the pursuit.) *************************************************************************** Brian Wowk CryoCare Foundation 1-800-TOP-CARE President Human Cryopreservation Services http://www.cryocare.org/cryocare/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6390