> Well, in many ways the cryonics community has these attributes. Cryonics
> of course provides an alternative approach to death, and has the full
> spectrum of experiences, solidarity and squabbles of any community,
> with a nice stories about possible futures. And sacred ground in the form
> of storage sites....
Well, cryonics has some surface similarities with religion, but I have
never encountered a cryonicist that feels that his or her life have
got meaning thanks to cryonics. Cryonics might give us hope, but it
doesn't privide our lives with a strong sense of direction. And that
was what I was discussing in my original post.
> In another direction, most religions split into two components. One builds
> churches, institutions, rules and dogma. The other stays close to creating
> altered states for all of the members.
Maybe. But I think you left out simple community-building, which is
the part of religion that seems to be of most practical use in life
extension. That aspect seems to be more linked to the creation of
working low-level institutions rather than actual altered states of
consciousness.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y