X-Message-Number: 6847
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #6844 - #6846
Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 12:05:28 -0700 (PDT)

Hi!

I sent a much longer reply individually (I believe) to Mr. Henny.

I note that he does not really answer some of the major questions I posed,
perhaps because he hasn't yet gone back very far on Cryonet. I asked, for 
instance, just how much of a role scientific opposition to cryonics played
in our inability to get lots of people to sign up. Mr Henny clearly believes
that it plays a large role; my personal experience, which I gave when I 
asked that question, has made me wonder about that. There are, now, experiments
which give indications of the amount and kind of damage the brains of cryonics
patients suffer.  

If the aim of Prometheus is to raise interest in cryonics among those who are
not now interested, then a scientific research project may or may not do that.
(I pledged to Prometheus because it would bring substantial technological
advances to our suspension, not because I thought it would raise interest
in cryonics. It may do that, it may not, but that is not the question I asked).

If the aim of Prometheus is to bring cryonics into better repute, again it 
may or may not do that. And other ways to do that, again, can be suggested.
(When I signed up over 20 years ago I did not worry about whether cryonics
was or was not in good repute).

If the aim of Prometheus is to convince more people to become members of a 
cryonics society, again it may or may not do that. (It probably will make
some decide to do so. But how many? And again, if that is its aim, then we
might think about other methods too. I did not pledge to Prometheus in 
order to increase the number of cryonicists).

I pledged to Prometheus TO SAVE MY LIFE. If Prometheus succeeds for me, it
will succeed because the research project successfully developed a way to
vitrify and revive brains, and that technology could be used to preserve
me. No more, no less. And if all those other reasons turn out not to work,
that is, there is no upsurge in membership or interest, and scientific 
opposition (ie. the opposition of scientists) goes on just as before,
and even if the achievement of vitrifying and reviving brains never 
becomes published in a standard scientific journal, and nothing else 
changes, ALL THAT IS IRRELEVANT. I will know that I will get a 
much better preservation than currently possible, and so long as cryonics
societies continue to exist I will remain in storage... someday to be revived.

And that is why I pledged, and why I urge others to pledge.

			Long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6847