9 replies to this topic

[advancedatheist]

Apparently someone calling himself Larry Johnson, professing a grievance about Ted Williams's cryosuspension, has tried to frame cryonics as a "cult" on this forum. The forum offers free registration:

http://forum.rickros...match_forum=ALL

[Cyberbrain]

Apparently someone calling himself Larry Johnson, professing a grievance about Ted Williams's cryosuspension, has tried to frame cryonics as a "cult" on this forum. The forum offers free registration:

http://forum.rickros...match_forum=ALL

Larry Johnson is a complete idiot and moron. Yes cryonics is not a perfected science, and one has every right to question the ethics of cryonics, but Larry Johnson is clearly making this crusade against cryonics purely for his own selfish gains.

[Cyberbrain]

There is a lot of criticism of cryonics going on:

"The brain will end up as mash since ice crystals destroy everything"
"Cryonics is based on science fiction ... cryonicists are deluded"
"Cryonics is a scam to make money off of frozen dead people"
... and so on and so on

First off, these people have nothing better to do, second they obviously don't know much about cryonics other then what they see on shows like Penn & Teller BS. Thirdly, if one doesn't like cryonics then they don't have to sign up. However, the people who DO sign up know all the risks associated with cryonics. They're perfectly aware that it may not work. BUT the point of cryonics is to hope for that small chance that IT MAY work. Not everyone wants to live forever or see the future, but for those who do have every right to sign up for cryonics. It's the only logical choice. Whats a few thousand dollars for immortality?

I also believe that a son or daughter has every right to put their parents on cryonics in the same way a husband has the right to put his wife in cryonics (and vv) and the same way a parent has the right to put there child in cryonics. It's called love and the bond found between members of a family is infinite. Most funerals these days cost as much as cryonics anyway, the only difference is that with cryonics one has a chance of coming back, with cremation or burial one has 0% of coming back.

For all those bio-luddites out there I say:



Good luck on in that forum advancedatheist!

[niner]

Whats a few thousand dollars for immortality?

Most funerals these days cost as much as cryonics anyway

Is this true? I thought cryonics cost tens of thousands of dollars, maybe as much as a hundred thousand. I suppose you could spend any amount on a funeral, but all of them that I've been to have been modest affairs.

[eternaltraveler]

Whats a few thousand dollars for immortality?

Most funerals these days cost as much as cryonics anyway

Is this true? I thought cryonics cost tens of thousands of dollars, maybe as much as a hundred thousand. I suppose you could spend any amount on a funeral, but all of them that I've been to have been modest affairs.

the average cost of a funeral is about 6500. Which is less than suspension at CI, but still in the same ballpark.

If many more people signed up for cryo economies of scale would bring down the price to around the cost of the average funeral easily (of course the only reason that costs so much is because of the inherent crooked nature of the funeral industry).

[advancedatheist]

the average cost of a funeral is about 6500. Which is less than suspension at CI, but still in the same ballpark.

The comparison make no sense because cryonicists don't consider their patients "dead," only in a state of profound trauma that future medicine could repair.

As for the costs, most people can afford life insurance to fund their cryosuspension costing several hundred dollars a year, comparable to what they piss away on junk food, cable TV or cell phone bills.

Even if you have to pay for your cryotransport out of pocket, consider the following: Trying to save your life through cryonics costs a fortune by most people's standards. But losing your life costs everything you have.

[eternaltraveler]

the average cost of a funeral is about 6500. Which is less than suspension at CI, but still in the same ballpark.

The comparison make no sense because cryonicists don't consider their patients "dead," only in a state of profound trauma that future medicine could repair.

As for the costs, most people can afford life insurance to fund their cryosuspension costing several hundred dollars a year, comparable to what they piss away on junk food, cable TV or cell phone bills.

Even if you have to pay for your cryotransport out of pocket, consider the following: Trying to save your life through cryonics costs a fortune by most people's standards. But losing your life costs everything you have.

I'm not arguing any of the above. I am signed up myself

[advancedatheist]

Larry Johnson is a complete idiot and moron. Yes cryonics is not a perfected science, and one has every right to question the ethics of cryonics, but Larry Johnson is clearly making this crusade against cryonics purely for his own selfish gains.

I wouldn't say that about Johnson, because I don't think I've ever met the guy. His behavior makes me wonder if he took the job at Alcor just to find out what happened to TW, but I clearly label that a speculation.

I also wouldn't assume that the personal nastiness of his attacks on Alcor are of the "Alcor is evil because I've wronged it" variety, because I don't know that for a fact, either.

I look forward to reading his vanity-press book when it comes out in a couple months just to study his side of the story.

His posts make him seem strangely paranoid about me, for some reason. I just use Google to find links to stories, blogs and and web pages about cryonics, and I've found and drawn attention to ones he has apparently published under the online name "FREETED." But he's tried to frame that like I've engaged in cyber-stalking him or something.

[advancedatheist]

BTW, does anyone know if Johnson professes Asatru or white supremacists beliefs? I just have a wild-ass intuition about his personal hostility towards me, even though I've never met the guy.

Edited by advancedatheist, 30 January 2009 - 04:24 AM.

[advancedatheist]

The Cult Education Forum has banned me:

http://forum.rickros...65044#msg-65044

Apparently they didn't like my post, which they blocked, where I raised the possibility that Johnson's personal hostility towards me derives from the fact that one of my videos on YouTube mocks Germanic neopagan beliefs. Kind of ironic for a forum dedicated to "cult education."

So, I have to wonder if I've embarrassed Johnson inadvertently by outing him as some kind of Thor-worshiping white supremacist.

Edited by advancedatheist, 30 January 2009 - 02:42 PM.