X-Message-Number: 998
Date: 16 Jul 92 02:46:53 EDT
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: Re: cryonics: #980 - #983

To add to Kevin's comment: it is often assumed by those who do not know
cryonics that cryonic suspension is our only concern, but the motivations
behind freezing are more complex than that. One MAJOR point, which needs
to be stressed, is that not only will the freezing damage be reversed,
but the damage due to AGING will be reversed (otherwise there would be no
reason to revive the patient: just keep him/her in storage until EVERYTHING
can be fixed). 

Also among the major reasons not to be frozen now is that we expect 
(especially because of the progress we've already seen) that the suspension
process will improve with time, thus making at least that side of our 
revival easier. And yes, even without public hostility to cryonics, 
suspension for periods of several hundred years has dangers to it; which
isn't to say that cryonics societies don't do as much as possible to 
minimize those dangers. Particularly now, suspension only has merit as an
alternative to burial or cremation (from which no one has yet been revived,
and which are therefore far more drastic actions). Unfortunately, we all 
KNOW that at some unknown future time we will NOT be healthy 30 year-olds,
and the only real choices available to us will be burial, cremation, or
suspension. Suspension seems such an obvious choice ....
				Best
					Thomas Donaldson

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