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The goal of "Facing" Cryonics is to show support for cryonics in order to send a message to AZ Senators that people care about cryonics before legislation passes that may harm Alcor.

Show Your Face
Send Email: support@imminst.org, or reply to this topic with your name, location, homepage, message & photo (Join to post).

Reference
Feb 21, 2004 - Alcor Alert - Discussion
Mar 10, 2004 - Alcor Alert - Discussion
Mar 11, 2004 – AZ House Session (45 min. Audio)
Apr 1, 2004 - HB2637 Withdrawn (For Now)

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Short Link: www.imminst.org/facing_cryonics

Alcor is a reputable organization. I support Alcor and cryonics as a viable medical procedure which holds promise in saving many lives.


Bruce Klein
http://www.imminst.org/bjklein
Birmingham, AL

I support Alcor and the cryonics field, just as I support any endeavor that does not impinge on the rights of others. All such endeavors should be free of needless legislation. Cryonics holds great promise, in and of itself, as well as an avenue to other scientific discoveries and technologies.


Rich Leis
http://www.frontierchannel.tv/
Phoenix, AZ

Although Alcor is run as a scientific experiment, in a completely secular and non-religious fashion, most cryonicists, however, have a personal feeling about cryonics very similar to what most Americans feel about their religion and their church. Cryonics is sacred to us in a very personal way. It is about saving our immortal soul, which most cryonicists see as associated with our brains. Thus, cryonics is a very spiritual thing for us, personally. I say to the Arizona Senate--please do not take cryonics away from us.


R Smith
Houston TX

This post has been edited by cryofan: Mar 19 2007, 01:51 AM

I am a member of Alcor and have practiced law in Portland, Oregon for 35 years. I am considered a comminity and State leader, having been appointed to important State positions by three different Governors (2 Democrats and 1 Republican). My plea to the Arizona Senate is to allow Alcor and its' members to pursue their belief and hope in cryonics, without burdensome over-regulation by those who do not share our very sincere and hopeful vision of the future. Thank you.

Daniel C. Ellis
Portland, Oregon

I am not a religious person. Being of a scientific mind, I cannot believe in an afterlife. There is no evidence for it. No evidence that the mind is seperate from the brain. There is plenty of evidence however, that when the brain is damaged or impaired, the mind follows suit.

What conclusions can we then draw when the brain is dead, and irrevocably destroyed in the grave or the crematorium? The mind itself must then be destroyed. Death is no doorway, it's obliteration! This is the certain fate of all who choose not to invest in cryonics.

But cryonics is no guarantee of survival, and the cryonics companies are the first to tell you this. They are not trying to con anyone. We who are members in these companies are all quite aware that this whole endeavour is purely speculative. But what alternatives do we have, the grave or the oven? No thank you. I'll take my chances with the freezer, bizarre as that may seem to some. I have to wonder though, is it really more bizarre than the practice of putting your dearly departed loved ones in the equivelant of an overly expensive wooden trash bag and dumping them in a funerary landfill? That's more respectful than giving them what may turn out to be a second chance?

I think Curly Howard said it best when he told Moe "I don't wanna die, there's no future in it!" Well he was right, and neither do I, and we're not alone. Ever since newly sentient apes first grasped the bleak spectre of their own mortality, all mankind has been searching for a way to avoid it. It is a natural outgrowth of our instinct for self preservation. The ultimate promise of all religions, is that death is not the end. What cryonicists do, and hope for, is not weird, unnatural, or even new. It is as old as man himself. It is deep within us. No one wants to die. Why should we choose to, why should we merely resign ourselves to it, when there could now be another choice? Please don't enact legislation that could endanger that "Other Choice."


Albert McCune
Pittsburgh, PA

As an active member of ImmInst, I have fully realized that death = the oblvion of all that makes us who we are. Cryonics is the one hope for the majority of us at this time. I don't see it as cultish at all but instead as the only feasible weapon to combat death that we have at this time!

As someone who respects life how can we waste it on false hopes and dellusions?

Unfortunetly most people live out there lives in a state of false hope in belief that there is an after life, and even atheists seem to support a 'deathist mentality.' Regardless of personal belief systems, I just hope that people one day 'wake up' fully to realize that life should be preserved at all costs.

That's why cryonics is at least a hope, I support Alcor, it's a top notch establisment and a feasible alternative to death.


Devon Fowler
Marbelhead, MA

I would ask the Arizona Senators if they would tolerate the State government regulating the baptisms, the confessions, the confirmations, or other religious sacraments they engage in at their local church each Sabbath. It is no different from kosher or halel food preparation in its adherence to religious strictures which no government has a right to interfere with.

While you see that many cryonics supporters declare themselves atheists, I would remind you that most Christian sects regard atheistic secular humanism as its own form of religion. If that position is maintained, then the humanistic beliefs of cryonics supporters in cryonic suspension must be given the same sacred deference as your own faith, and the separation of state regulation from religious sacraments must be maintained.

Cryonics supporters (myself included) believe that preserving their bodies cryonically will afford them everlasting life, just as Christians believe baptism does. I believe that on this basis, should the Senate pass any law regulating cryonics, it would be quickly overturned on Constitutional grounds because of this parallel commonality of beliefs.


Michael S. Lorrey
Lebanon, NH

Alcor is a professional organization with excellent operational standards. Cryonics patients are pursuing the only available alternative to cremation or burial in hopes of preserving the vital brain structures underlying their memories and personality. Whether they succeed or not waits to be seen, but in the meantime, it seems unfair to deny them this unique opportunity.


Michael Anissimov
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/
San Francisco, CA

Cryonics may seem strange to many people, even my parents thought it was stange for a long time. But within Cryonics lies hope, albiet small, that we may one day live again to continue our lives with the ones we love. It is a simple choice we are making, one without risk, as the only other choice is the finality of death by burial. At least with Cryonics we have a small chance of continuing our lives with the benefit of future medicine, that previous generations have missed. To deny us this choice, a choice that harms no one, and one without any risks whatsoever, is not tenable in a free society that values basic liberties, and the dignity of honoring our dying wish. Some chose coffins, others cremation... we choose cryonics.

Paul Hughes
http://futurehi.net/

Cryonics is a Grand Experiment in life extension and Alcor is the premier cryonics organization, in my opinion.

Unlike other experiments in political revolution that have violently imposed themselves upon unwilling populations, cryonics is completely voluntary and peaceful experiment.

All that my fellow cryonicists and I ask of the larger society is to be allowed to engage in this experiment without undue burdens. We respect the rights of others to practice their own chosen religions, philosophies and lifestyles. All we ask in return is to be allowed to pursue ours.


Michael LaTorra
Las Cruces, New Mexico

Whether or not the hope that people have that they might be revived in the future after a period of stasis in cryogenic suspension, is one that is likely to be realized, does not enter into the debate which Alcor faces. The real issue is that what people want to do with their money, and their bodies, living, dead or otherwise, is of no consequence to the government except where those wishes might pose a danger to others. This is not the case with Alcor. People should mind their own bloody business.


Kevin Perrott
http://www.kevsplace.net/
Edmonton, Canada

I support Alcor 100%.

What have we come to in this country when a people's traditions and personal beliefs are sacrificed for the sake of petty politics? Members of the Arizona legislature in possession of conscience, do not allow the truth to obfuscated. There is nothing illegal or unethical in the process of cryogenic preservation. Stop this oppression before it starts.


Don Spanton
Ridgewood, New Jersey

If cryonics ever works out as a technology, it will be largely due to the professionalism and commitment of the people of Alcor.

We live in an age of astonishing technological progress. There are no scientists who will say that Alcor's procedures can not one day permit those who are terminally ill today to live again, rejuvenated and free of pain and disease. If scientific law permits this new lease on life, should human law forbid it?

The media demonize cryonics the same way they used to demonize heart transplants. Today, of course, heart transplants are a well accepted medical technology, and no one would legislate against them. The difference is a matter of timing - it may take years or even decades before Alcor is able to revive its members and demonstrate its value.

This makes the matter of membership more speculative than, say, regular medical insurance. But let's not let media sensationalism stand in the way of fundamental medical research. Likewise don't let the superstition and fear of a few misinformed zealots interfere with the religious and personal freedoms of Alcor's members.

Stand up with Alcor for scientific progress and the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. I mean the right to life - the lives of intelligent adult men and women who are willing to take a chance that cryonics will work for them. And for that matter the right to choose - the right for a rational adult to choose how she will live and die. No matter where you stand on abortion, you must uphold the rights of cyronicists in the same way you do those of mothers and their children. You must defend Alcor's right to exist and function.

I'm proud to be a member of Alcor, and earnestly hope that the Arizona legislature will continue to support Alcor's important work.


Peter Merel
Limpinwood, Australia

I support cryonics as a valid scientific field. I also support the efforts of so many scientist, visionaries and dreamers to pursue a cause that is not only dear to every individual but is at the heart of all our “freedoms” – the right to life. The right that every person has to decide how best one will continue one’s existence –as long as that pursuit does not infringe or harm another. The right to live and fight for survival without the burden of government intervention –the kind of intervention that would not only stifle one’s ability to exist in the future but would in essence cease that opportunity all together. Yes - science, research and technology require some degree of regulation in order to safeguard the public welfare and I agree oversight is needed in all fields including cryonics. I also agree in the individual’s right to make educated and conscientious choices about how best to reach the next century.


Susan Fonseca-Klein (and Luna)
Birmingham, AL

I am not an Alcor member but I am signed up for cryonic suspension with their counterpart organization Cryonics Institute of Michigan [C.I.]. I support Alcor for many reasons but chiefly because my friends are members and since I being disabled and indigent could not afford cryonics myself many of Alcor's and C.I.'s members did support me with donations thus providing me with a cryonics policy. This should dispel the notion that 'cryonics outfit's are scamming their patients' but what especially should is that the then president of C.I. and founding father of cryonics science Prof. Robert C.W. Ettinger donated the largest portion to my suspension fund from his own estate. If it's a scam he scammed himself! Which of course is nonsense.

I too do not any longer believe in a mystical afterlife and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my only likely chance for continued life other than living long enough for my aging process to be halted and reversed and other measures to make my life more robust, is to be cryonicly suspended and if possible brought back to life with future science. I have faith, yes faith, that human science will continue to progress and make such dreams possible. One can say that my religion is 'immortality granting science' and that cryonics is a major tenet of that faith. I would consider legislative or judicial action that impedes cryonics science progress to be discrimination against my right to religious autonomy as provided in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights (1.) and also an afront to my right to the pursuit of happiness.

Depriving me of my right to excercise my religiuous right to choose my own course for interment would, if cryonics were to prove to someday work, amount to depriving me of "life and liberty" as guaranteed in the positive in the Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights (2.).


James Swayze
http://home.comcast.net/~swayzej/jspage_main.html
State of Washington, USA
(Image caveat: Sorry, no other better recent image available via URL. This one is made in 1982.)

Ok, here's a more recent image [edited 4/20/05]




This post has been edited by FutureQ: Apr 20 2005, 03:34 PM

I support cryonics 100%. Whether I choose to one day act accodringly or not is irrelevent to whether I should show it support or not. It is a choice that should be made solely by the person it affects. To legislate that no one may do it is a ridicules step. There is no benefit to be gained from such legislation, and plenty of people will be upset by it. Where the goal of any given society should be to keep as many people as happy as possible, denying Cryonics can only work against that goal: Allowing it will hurt no one, and benefit many.

Cryonics will only ever be a last resort, but we all need last resorts.


Shane Greenup
Sydney, Australia

Cryonics is a potentially lifesaving technology unlike any other. To attempt to shoehorn it into a preexisting box for the sake of legislative convenience is to handicap the development of this technology.

As an Alcor member whose life may one day be at stake, and on behalf of all those already suspended who have already entrusted their fates to Alcor and its ability to continue its progress, please support Alcor in its mission of preserving people for a time when they can be restored to youthful good health, by allowing it to proceed unhindered by bureaucracy to the greatest degree possible.

Thank you for your attention.


Kennita Watson
Palo Alto, CA

I have the constitutional right to determine what is done with my body once it is no longer able to sustain itself in that state we call "life". I have the right to cling to my body, to my life, to keep both in a pristine state of preservation. I have a right-to-life that includes my right to preserve my physical self in the belief that someday I will be revived.

No politician has the right to deny me the right to fight for my life, to say I must die completely, whether that be by denying my desire to cryonically suspend myself or to reproduce myself through cells cryonically preserved via cloning technology. I embrace cryonics because it offers hope. There is nothing else that can offer us deliverance from decay and disintegration.


Randolfe Wicker
Hoboken, New Jersey

The heaps of money spent in the healthcare industry show that given the chance, most people would like to avoid or at least postpone death. Cryonics advocates do not stop with the end of established health treatments (some of which are far more bizarre!). Cryonics is an extension of current life-preserving practices.

Without cryonics, my every day life becomes infinitely more dangerous. I routinely entrust my health to restaurant workers, mechanics, utilities workers, pharmacists and exterminators. Simply getting to school or work requires me to trust other drivers with my very life! Hearing the expression “one for the road” brings me chills. Cryonics is a safety net.

There is still a wealth of knowledge we can gain about the human brain and how we die. Continuing cryonics experiments undoubtedly have direct bearings on current neurological research.

I believe death is an ultimate and comprehensive end. Once met, my ability to think and feel is abolished, and everything that is "me" ceases to exist. Truly there is no real fate worse than death. Cryonics is an eleventh-hour barricade against nothing short of absolute annihilation.


Tom Andrys
Memphis, TN

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