X-Message-Number: 8653 Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 23:29:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: More on Bill Gates In response to the recent post here referring us to Bill Gates' opinions on cryonics, I went to the relevant URL and took a look. Since the amount of text is small, there's nothing wrong with quoting it verbatim (indeed, I don't understand why the person who placed the original post didn't do so). ---------- Q: ...if I were a jillionaire I would fund research into some kind of cryogenic process. It would be cool to launch my preserved body into space, coast around the universe for a few billion years. You never know, right? --Christopher Oakley () A: A friend sent around a very funny article about guys who charge to keep your body frozen. You get discounts if you pay for two bodies or if you freeze just your head! The idea that someday a frozen body will be revived is sort of pseudo-science, but there are people who take it seriously. Maybe when I'm closer to death's door I'll go strange or something, but right now I have no plans along these lines. Incidentally, I'm not sure why you'd want to launch your corpse into space. If you want to be revived, you should keep it down here on earth, I think. ---------- Contrary to the hopeful statements about Gates that I have seen from time to time, this makes it very clear that a) he does not take cryonics at all seriously, b) he does not see death as a realistic or imminent prospect for him personally, and c) he has no interest in funding any research into this kind of endeavor till he is "closer to death's door," at which point of course it would be too late. Gates seems to be classically typical of most wealthy people, who seldom show any interest in cryonics. --Charles Platt Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8653