Jonathan Standley (staphx) - A Lament
It has been brought to my attention by ‘nrv8’ that a fellow ImmInst member Jonathan Standley, also know as ‘staphx’, has died. I wish to relay this information not for spectacle but for lament and instructional purposes.
Biological bodies are wonderfully complex yet exceptionally delicate. Humans are in a sense trapped in a dying shell. John I'm sure, like most of us, was aware of this. His body failed after chemotherapy complications on July 18th 2003. He was 24 and had Hodgkin's Disease.
I’m not sure if he was signed up for cryonics and I don’t know much more about his life than what is found at his website. I do know he was interested in relevant immortalist issues. In his own words
Currently, my main intellectual pursuits are the theoretical side of artificial intelligence research, and compiling a couple years worth of stuff into a book, which I hope to have done by the first month or so of spring.
John also contributed an interesting Member Article to ImmInst on how naming is important in terms of PR. The following is a sampling of his post:
Scare-words are bad, Scare-names are worse. EXI, WTA, SIAI, and many other Transhumanist organizations have very scary names indeed. To those of us who are used to such ideas and goals, these terms and words and concepts feel completely natural. Many of us work in the sciences; many of us teach or are students. A good number have devoted their lives to medicine, whether it is saving lives in the OR or in the lab. Almost without exception, we are well educated, formally, self-taught, or a combination of both. We watch or read the news. We appreciate and often create art, literature, etc. Some of us believe in God, some don’t. Those who believe are sincere and thoughtful in their faith, not intolerant and judgmental.
His death is a considerable loss to our small community. Rotaerk, a fellow ImmInst member laments John’s loss:
The problem with losing a friend is that a friend in a way is an extension of yourself and a chunk of you disappears. I don't mean this in some mystical, new age way I mean that the interface between yourself and a friend can be an extension of yourself not localized in your brain.
On behalf of ImmInst, I extend warm condolence to John's family. His friends are free to reply to this thread with their thoughts.
