you wrote:
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This topic has been repeatedly worked over, but little seems to stick, and we continue to see "evidence" for pessimism based merely on uninformed or irrelevant assertions.
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because cryonics as it is currently perceived would be a disruptive cultural force, and such disruptions are not welcomed. This assessment is made subconsciously.
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A frequent remark is that most scientists agree that cryonics has a negligible chance of working. But these scientists speak mostly from ignorance or bias
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These sounds they make are made as animals, members of homo sapiens. Does a lion not roar and does a lamb not bleat? Will a crocodile not grunt? Would you have a homo sapiens--a "man"-- make sounds outside of his ken?
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(Harold Meryman, among others, admitted to me in writing that he was opposed on religious grounds,
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Cultural grounds, to be honest. Religion and culture, for the most part, are inextricably intertwined.
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and others merely relied on their supposed expertise and prestige.) Some used variations of the Drake equation to "prove" statistically that the odds are highly adverse. The problem is, to my knowledge, not one of those scientists/mathematicians showed any actual calculations and none had any competence in the foundations of probability theory.
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Pretexts, all. You don't see this after over 40 years?
Bark Bark, Woof Woof!
Baa!
Cock-a-doodle doo!
Each of us emits the cry of our species. How else can we animals survive? If we want to live forever in the future, Bob, we have to make cryonics utter the right sounds.
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Many of these people are generally smarter and more successful than I am, but that is irrelevant. The fact is that hardly any scientists or mathematicians understand the foundations of probability theory, and I am one who does.
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Or maybe your operating instructions never quite got imprinted properly. Just like mine.
So we are lacking the instructions that tell us that cryonics and immortality are taboo.
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My conclusion--an optimistic reading for probable revival--is of course tentative, since so much remains unknown, and because it omits such possible factors as a major asteroid hit or a major plague. My main assumption is just that civilization will continue and advance.
My challenge to detractors: Show your calculations and the assumptions on which they are based. Let's see some real, relevant numbers, not just spurious claims to authority.
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Optimism and rationality have little to do with it, Bob. We are animals. Pull out the right instrument and make the right sounds, and you can draw any animal into your trap.
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Many problems remain, but disregard of evidence and of the importance of improvement has never been among them in the cryonics leadership.
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Now you are talking to homo sapiens rationaliticus. But we are a very small population, Bob.
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The best thing you can do, without special resources, is work gradually and tactfully on your own relatives and friends. Don't stress an outlandish future, just the love between family and friends.
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I have heard worse advice.
But where has it gotten us so far?
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