I got into an interesting discussion (if I do say so myself), over at 2 blowhards, with a cryonics enthusiast, on a post about ageing, here.
I was wondering what thoughts Mr. Kalb or any other Turnabout regulars (or occasionals like me) might have on the whole cryonics movement. What do you think the cryonics people are trying to do? (Beyond their stated aims of continued life.) Are they indeed trying to bring about their own version of the resurrection of the body? And why? And what are the implications?
Liquid nitrogen and eschatology
Well if redemption lies in the technological future, in which we will all be able to get whatever we want, then cryonics really does provide an equivalent to resurrection into the Kingdom and eternal life.
Rem tene, verba sequentur.
Indeed, although I don’t
Indeed, although I don’t see the two as all that similar except superficially, I can certainly appreciate how a materialist might take comfort from the life-extending possibilities that sufficiently advanced technologies might bring about.
Cryonics has, of course, been a theme in science fiction for some time now, and does tend to tie in neatly with the utopian secular humanist liberal mindset predominant amongst writers and fans of sci-fi. Man as the master of his own destiny, is the ideal upheld in that community.