X-Message-Number: 9946 Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 21:32:40 -0400 From: Saul Kent <> Subject: More Dust Bob Ettinger (9942) notes that The First Immortal is published by Del Rey books, and comments that is ironic that Lester Del Rey (who is now dust) once participated with him on the Long John Nebel radio show (in New York), and that Del Rey (who was a science fiction writer) was "virulently hostile" towards cryonics. Lester Del Rey was a frequent guest on the Long John show. I listed to his comments on various subjects many times. He was a very smart man (Long John used to call him "The Magnificent"). One time Lester's friend, Fred Pohl (another science fiction writer) set up a debate on cryonics at a science fiction convention in New Jersey. Curtis Henderson and I debated Del Rey and Isaac Asimov on cryonics. I found that Del Rey debated an untenable position (that cryonics can't work) quite well. Del Rey claimed that freezing causes too much damage to patients to work, regardless of future rapair capabilities. Asimov (who is also now dust) argued that it is undesirable for society for people to extend their lives via cryonics, and that, besides, most people are worth saving. He said he *was* one of those worth saving, but that he was willing to make room for younger people by foregoing cryonics. Pohl, who wrote the article in the June 1964 issue of Playboy magazine ("Intimations Of Immortality") that led me to Bob Ettinger's book (The Prospect of Immortality) was confident that cryonics would work and had no social reasons to be against cryonics. Despite Pohl's favorable outlook towards cryonics, however, he's never signed up to to be frozen and will, undoubtedly, become dust himself. ---Saul Kent Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9946