X-Message-Number: 6592
From: Peter Merel <>
Newsgroups: alt.hypnosis,sci.cryonics,sci.med,sci.skeptic,uk.religion.hindu
Subject: Re: prediction vs faith
Date: 24 Jul 1996 01:00:35 +1000
Message-ID: <4t2pej$>
References: <4svtav$> <4t0jeg$>

 (Anonymous) writes:

>You cryonics guys are totally out of touch with reality. 

We live in an age of marvels; men fly to the moon, the Internet
connects us mind to mind, and our eyes and ears resolve new wonders
on microscopic and cosmic scales every day. Who knows what will
happen next? The only thing we can be certain of is that the more
things change, the faster they change.

Now you'd like me to believe that cryonics can not work; but you base
your arguments on faith rather than on reason. I certainly wouldn't
argue with your faith, but I'd only be convinced by arguments based on
reason. If you can make one, I'd be only too happy to discuss it; otherwise,
surrounded by marvels, why should I not accept the possibility of another?

>Cryonics is simply a bizarre way to have a funeral.

Oh, if it doesn't work, it certainly is. If it does work, it's just
a medical technique, like CPR. Right now, nothing scientific suggests 
that cryonics isn't a medical technique - but if you have some evidence
to the contrary, I'd be only too happy to save my dough - just explain
it to me.

>Dr. Frankenstein could perform better "experiments".

That cryonics began as science fiction is quite true - but then, most
engineering began that way - that doesn't invalidate the idea.

>Decapitating people's heads and freezing them is barbaric.

Well, if you're doing it to live people against their will, then I
certainly would agree with you. If you're doing it for medical reasons,
to help someone live their life as they please, then I guess I wouldn't.
Look at electrocution; using it to torture and kill people, as is done
in certain unsavoury nations, is barbaric. Using it to shock a
fibrillating heart back into a steady beat is not. 

And, imho, roasting people until they are ash and/or burying them so the
worms can eat them are both much more barbaric practices than giving them
a chance (small though it may be) to be healed and revived.

But I should also point out that decapitation is not a prerequisite for
cryonic suspension. It's just the cheapest way to do it. It's based on
the notion that any technology sufficiently advanced to heal the
freezing damage you incur by being frozen will be more than sufficiently
advanced to grow you a new, healthy, body, and to install your head on
it. If you bother to inform yourself about the possibilities of
molecular nanotechnology, for which read

http://reality.sgi.com/whitaker/EnginesOfCreation/EOC_TOC.html

then you might see why people could want to do this.

>Cryonics should be outlawed.

Why? Who does it harm? 

-- 

| mailto: | pgp DB 3A A3 D8 A7 6A BB 25 EF 2E F4 A4 8F 29 BB E2 |

| http://www.zip.com.au/~pete/ |         Give away what you don't need.        |


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6592