X-Message-Number: 6828
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #6814 - #6818
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 11:12:23 -0700 (PDT)

Hi!

My comments about Mr. Henny's posting:

1. On many points I agree with Mr. Henny. I have even pledged to Prometheus,
   and hope that he has done so also.

2. We ALWAYS need balance. That does not mean that any particular attempt to
   raise money should spread it among several goals; that would be foolish.
   But to deny that "balance" is needed in Prometheus just as in other issues
   makes me think that Mr. Henny simply hasn't thought these issues out. Or
   does he really want to provide a real-life example of the caricature
   I gave of the results of a LACK of balance?

3. I raised this issue of balance, and several others, not because I thought
   that Prometheus was unbalanced but because it seemed to me that these 
   were essential questions which individuals and societies would need to 
   answer if they chose to support Prometheus -- or not. WE cannot know the
   results on others of Prometheus until it completes; at the same time,
   we can get a much better idea of its results by using matters of fact
   which others in this forum might bring to the table. For instance, just
   how much of a role SCIENTIFIC opposition plays in refusal to accept 
   cryonics: I've hardly done a poll here, but I know quite a number of 
   people who will happily accept the notion that revival will someday
   become possible but STILL do not sign up. And there is a solid case that
   if Prometheus succeeds we will get some proportion of those who now
   stand on the sidelines, watching us with interest, to actually sign up.

   As for donations, again, some proportion of cryonicists and those interested
   have not donated because they see their donations as ineffective. No
   one wants to throw money into a black hole. By providing an instance of
   a big success in OUR TERMS, not those of society or science in general,
   it may induce some proportion of watchers to open their wallets more.

   Yes, but WHAT PROPORTION?

   Yes, we need balance, but how should our cryonics societies
   achieve this balance?

I would like more discussion on Cryonet on these questions. I raised them
because I don't claim to fully understand the reaction of my general society
or of others to cryonics or any success in cryonics. And even Prometheus 
will only remain a success in OUR TERMS: we consider death to require 
loss of information in our brain, yet that is hardly the common definition.
It's conceivable that the only thing Prometheus will do among those who do
NOT accept our world-view is to produce a flurry of articles from medical
ethicists and their ilk in suitable academic journals.

Most of all, we do not make something true by repeating it, no matter with
how much poetry. I would like more speaking to the question (or to others,
as anyone on Cryonet sees it) than simple repetition. 

			Long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6828