X-Message-Number: 8863
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: a.small.observation
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 1997 23:55:58 -0800 (PST)

Hi everyone!

At first I thought I didn't have all that much to say to today's cryonet, but
I've thought of a few things, just from memory.

To Henning and others concerned about "immortality": This should actually be
in the archives, somewhere, so I'm bringing up something worked over quite
thoroughly already. BUT it is reasonable to hope for actual, literal 
immortality. Here is how it might happen: so long as we bring down the 
probability of fatal accidents and other risks, then if we do so fast enough
it's possible to calculate that some percentage of people will live forever.

The exact percentage can be brought arbitrarily close to 100% but not reach it.
Just how close to 100% depends on such things as how rapidly you can bring down
the risk of death. Moreover, you will NEVER (literally) know whether or not you
are one of those who will live forever.

Naturally if you live long enough your lifespan might be truncated by 
issues we now consider cosmological, such as whether or not the Universe
will recontract after its expansion. Current astronomical discoveries tend more
and more to suggest that the Universe will expand indefinitely. Yes, there
are lots of risks to think about if we live for gigayears. On the other hand,
we have gigayears to work our way around them, creating other universes to 
live in, remodelling this one, etc etc. Ultimately our future lifespans will
depend on future technologies --- so what else is new?

Besides, all the other proposed words sound kind of weak. To say that you're
working for immortality makes the matter very clear. "Working for immortality"
does not mean that you think you will NECESSARILY achieve it, either --- but
then if I say that I have any aim, others are free to believe that I won't
achieve THAT. And as a simple statement of the purpose of medicine, to say
that the purpose of medicine should be the immortality of everyone clarifies
a lot. "Curing all diseases" runs into lots of trouble about just
what is a disease.

Just a few thoughts for Thanksgiving Day. And yes, I am glad that I am alive,
though I still don't know just whom to thank.

			Long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson

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