X-Message-Number: 7507 Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 13:57:20 -0500 (EST) From: Ben Best <> Subject: Uncaring cryonicists If cryonics were really perceived as a medical procedure (such as a heart bypass operation or a kidney transplant), then there would be no basis for accusing cryonicists of being selfish. But there is a difference between life-extension technology and conventional medicine -- and therein lies the rub. In a recent review of two life-extension books in the January SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (see http://www.sciam.com/0197issue/0197review1.html) Leonard Hayflick makes the statement "Extending the life of a population that already strains global resources is, in the view of many, unconscionable". This statement cuts to the core of why cryonicists are perceived as selfish -- the belief that they are trying to take more than their "fair share" of life, at the expense of others. Only a "natural lifespan" is acceptable in this view. As long as the selfishness issue is linked to life-extension and the overpopulation question, I think that no "acts of generosity" or "acts of altruism" can have any effect on the image of cryonicists as being selfish -- or "uncaring" for the rest of the world. Personally speaking, I have no desire to "prove" that I am generous or caring by any actions which would alter my current use of limited resources. (These would be shallow acts of image-manipulation, not genuine acts of generousity, anyway.) I donate some money to medical research, but rarely to strangers in immediate need (especially if the donation is unlikely to have alter the long-term prognosis positively). Endangered plant & animal species are not very high on my list of priorities. I currently donate most of my resources of time, energy and money to the causes of life-extension and cryonics. I think these are extremely noble causes and they are causes to which I believe my contributions can make a palpable difference. I believe that the uncaring image of cryonists can only be fought by exposing the anti-life implications of a view of the earth as an overpopulated lifeboat. By that view, suicide is the most noble course of action. But suicide, murder, genocide, opposition to medical advances and oppositiion to life extension are NOT *humane* solutions to the overpopulation problem. Therefore, it is our *accusers* who are ultimately *uncaring*, NOT cryonicists. -- Ben Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7507