quote:Originally posted by Toetapper: Assuming that cryogenics can be successful (and there is no genuine evidence of which I'm aware to support it), what makes you think that they would want to have you? You would burden their medical system, you would have to be educated (to catch you up - if Excell is difficult to manage, how will you even remotely relate to a "user friendly" interface of the future? - your language is 1,000 years out of date, how will you communicate?).
What purpose would it serve for them to revive you and heal you? I'm no Science Fiction writer but it doesn't take much thought to guess that future generations won't need a fossil to bounce babies on his knee. You would, at best, be an exhibit at some sort of museum. More likely, having invested this much effort and skill, they need some kind of labor from you that only a human (one about which they don't give a rat's ass) can do.
That's certainly a possibility.
But since I'll be living a greatly extended life, all of that other stuff should not be an issue or a cause for concern. Perhaps, they'll change my identity and have all of this technological breakthrough devices that they'll just zap me into shape so that I can mix in with their lingo and way of life. It'll be as if I just appeared out of nowhere.
The reality might be uglier in the future than it is now. The world could be a worse place then than it is now. But I'm willing to make that gamble because I'd rather be alive than dead before I reach 30 years of age. If I were 57 (or something like that), then I'll stay put with the present and count the days until my life is done.
If I were 57 (or something like that), then I'll stay put with the present and count the days until my life is done.
--National [/QB][/QUOTE]
There's a certain point when one doesn't want to live as long as they can? Not taking you to task here but I'm 53 and, apart from a smoker's hack, I feel and perform as vitally as I did more than 20 years ago. Who doesn't want more than the biblically alloted "three score and ten"?
What does the future owe you enough to actually revive you? They've already got your money. They can pull the plug on your cryogenic chamber at any moment they wish...and what, exactly, are you going to do about it?
Again, not trying to give you a hard time but the Science Fiction "poser" is difficult to resist.
Posts: 5067 | Registered: Apr 2005
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"Poser" in my usage has to do with "posing a question" rather than the old Heavy Metal terminology where the word is meant more as an "impostor".
Posts: 5067 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I understand you're not trying to give me a hard time. I don't want to give a hard time to anyone who feels that it's not necessary to freeze yourself under the circumstances. So in that regard, we're on the same page.
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Let's remember that according to the question, I *am* going to die within the next three months from Lou Gehrig's disease, let's say. I'm still taking this chance even if there was a ten percent chance of being revived. The question posed that there will be a decent chance that I will be revived in 1,000 years to live a greatly extended life.
The concerns you put up with the cryogenics will become something of much greater significance to me if I'm *not* going to die from any disease within the next three months. In that case, I'll decline on the offer, especially considering everything you said. But since the question said that I *will* die from the devastating disease at anytime between last week and three months from now, why not take this chance of prolonging your life?
Let's say they pull the plug on my cryogenic chamber by accident or on purpose. That would certainly be a tough break. But that wouldn't make that big of a difference because I was going to die from a disease anyhow. But since there's a modest chance of being revived, pulling the plug is something I would not worry too much about.
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What does the future owe me enough to actually revive me? All they have to do is revive me, catch me up to speed with everything that's going on by implanting a chip in my brain that's IBM compatible. That way, I'll be able to process everything that has happened since the time I was frozen and it will catch me up to speed with how every language has further evolved into what it will become 1,000 years from now. Russian might be the new English for all we know! They'll provide me with money, clothes, a good place to live, and from there I'm on my own. Business as usual. That's what they owe me.
posted
yeah, whats the point of living if everyone you know and love are dead?
-------------------- "Nina, this is my house, you work for me, and I want to suck your toes." -Big Trouble (2002) Posts: 1855 | Registered: Nov 2007
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quote: Originally posted by National: They'll provide me with money, clothes, a good place to live, and from there I'm on my own. Business as usual. That's what they owe me.
But why would people in the future want to just give you anything. They'd have their own problems to deal with and probably couldn't care less about someone from 1000 years in the past.
Also, not to burst your bubble completely, but what do you know about cryobiology? In order for a person to be revived, which itself is only theoretical, they would have to be able to be frozen without being killed. This requires a slow cooling process that would probably be a lot less difficult were it not for the many cell types in the human body; each of which would most likely have a different optimal freezing rate.
My point is this: Would you rather have money spent on research to treat the terminal illness you have now? Or would you rather have money wasted on developing a process which may never be perfected and would probably kill you anyway? What would benefit the most people?
Posts: 74 | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
If it was 100% positive that I was going to die. I'd sell off all my stuff. Car, computer, useless consumer goods. Withdraw all the money from my bank account, max out my credit card advances, and use all this money to party for as long as I can until I drop dead.
Parties would include: -Copious amounts of booze -Attractive women -The finest Ganja -Constant gourmet good -Loud music
-------------------- ~Eyes all around you~ ~Enter the labyrinth~ ~Visions of the hunted~ ~Beware the birchmen~ Posts: 584 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Every era has had and will have its fair share of problems to deal with. Why are people too worried about what the future would think about them? I don't care about people not giving a fuck about me when it comes time to revive me. Since they saved my life, they will reward me with the goods that comes with the future. That's what they owe me. There was a mutual agreement that I will be revived when the 1,000 years are up (assuming that my chances of surviving this are quite modest, according to how the question was worded). That means this transaction is all business, and nothing personal. Like I said last time, if I die while being frozen (by accident or on purpose or anywhere in between), it was not going to matter because I was going to die anyway. Being that there's a good chance of being revived I see it as one heck of a deal!
A guy under 30 years of age AND does not have a family of his own, is more likely to take up on the offer as opposed to someone who is 40 OR has a family of his own regardless of age. I lie in the former. If I was 40, I'll give the question a second thought. If I was 50, I'll decline the offer. Anything above 55 or 60 means no because I've already seen and done practically everything by then and I'm not going to have a lot more days left on earth, would I? If I have a child regardless of my age, I'll definitely say no to the person making the offer. If all of this makes me sound selfish, then so be it.
With this disease, that means that my health could deteriorate over time. What fun would that be? You will spend a month or a month and a half feeling all sickly on a bed. With the greatly extended life in the future, I will die of natural causes (or some disease when I get old).
quote:Originally posted by yeah_i_suck_toes: My point is this: Would you rather have money spent on research to treat the terminal illness you have now? Or would you rather have money wasted on developing a process which may never be perfected and would probably kill you anyway? What would benefit the most people?
If I'm going to die *within* three months (which means I can also die in five days), I won't have the time or patience for them to find a cure for the dilemma I'm facing. Freeze me.
I this case, I wouldn't mind selling my soul to The Devil.
For everything else, go back to what I said in my last post.
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But in reality, and on a much lighter note, since I don't have a disease, I don't mind money being spent on finding a cure for a life-threatening disease.
posted
Call me a cold motherfucker... but I wouldn't be too concerned about friends and family. If I really needed new friends, I'd make them. And my family would see me die soon anyway. Some people made some good points about the possible factors against your chance of recovery, but neither would I be able to 'live life to the fullest' if I was terminally ill. I've had experiences where I thought I was dying and I know for a fact it'd be 3 months of HELL for me. And my curiosity about seeing the world in 1000 years would be too much for me to resist. I'd have to take the chance...
Posts: 962 | Registered: Jun 2007
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My neighbor is an ol kool bastard from TX that has seen it all - from not drinking out of the same water fountain to outliving all of his family except one child and one second cousin. He's 90.
U don't need to be frozen to lose everyone -
Personally, I am trying to create, forgive me, "heaven on earth." I dont concern myself w eternal life or resurfacing 100 yrs from now - I figure heaven will be friggin boring -
About Cryogenics: Medically speaking there are peptides in your body which simply put assist with muscle memory - maybe you head is frozen and attached to a serial killer's or Sisyphus' body for instance - ouch!
If I weren't suffering - Id live like a rock star for those 3 months and it probably would extend my life - disease cannot survive in joy!
posted
If a person believes in a soul (not sure I do), what does such a person think happens to that soul during the time the body is frozen?
Let's say you freeze the body. Then while the body is frozen, it is dropped onto a tile floor, and a crack runs right up through the middle of it. You know how an ice cube can have a crack right through it but still be together? Well, that happens to the body.
DID THE BODY "DIE" RIGHT THEN, AND DID THE SOUL DEPART FROM THE BODY AT THE VERY MOMENT WHEN IT BECAME IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE BODY TO COME BACK TO LIFE IF THAWED (BECAUSE OF THE CRACK)?
Heh. I'd like to see a decent answer to that one.
-------------------- You give pleasure to the feet, you give pleasure to the person. Posts: 1297 | Registered: Jul 2009
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quote:Originally posted by Diabolicus: If it was 100% positive that I was going to die. I'd sell off all my stuff. Car, computer, useless consumer goods. Withdraw all the money from my bank account, max out my credit card advances, and use all this money to party for as long as I can until I drop dead.
Parties would include: -Copious amounts of booze -Attractive women -The finest Ganja -Constant gourmet good -Loud music
Everyone is going to die. Should everyone really be entitled to spend money that they know they intend never to be able to pay back?
There's such a thing as dying with dignity. Digging a tremendous hole of debt just so that you can be recklessly self-indulgent in your last weeks is kind of repugnant. I would hope that you'd reconsider.
-------------------- You give pleasure to the feet, you give pleasure to the person. Posts: 1297 | Registered: Jul 2009
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