X-Message-Number: 9209
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 09:51:18 -0500
From: Rafi Haftka <>
Subject: Memory and identity - deliberate change

I thank everybody who reacted to my post about how I retain very few
memories of my past and the relation to who I will be. I learned a lot from
these posts, but one point I tried to make was overlooked, so I will
clarify it:

I hope to be alive in the year 11998, and:

1. While I may be ABLE to access some of my present memories, I expect that
I will not want to access them.
2. The implicit memories that guide my everyday behavior are likely to have
almost zero content from the 20th century.
3. I expect to deliberately change my personality (by changing some of my
genes, if I am still protoplasm based) to get rid of traits I do not like
in myself. For example, I plan to make myself more outgoing.
4. I expect to experiment with a variety of physical appearances, and I
expect that I will not even remember how I look today.

Am I contemplating murder?
Should I feel guilty about it?

Rafi Haftka

P.S. I have been a confirmed Cryonicist for more than 25 years, and I am
looking forward to successful suspension and revival in some form or
another.

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        Raphael(Rafi) T. Haftka                      <  >
      University of Florida                  Phone: (352)-392-9595
 Department of Aerospace Engineering,         Fax: (352)-392-7303
  Mechanics and Engineering Science         http://www.aero.ufl.edu/~haftka/
     Gainesville, FL 32611-6250               (beware, a lot of graphics!)
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