Eliezer writes
> Getting a place in the history books isn't a good reason to do
> something.
Of course. But it would seem almost unbelievably difficult for
anyone to get truly beyond that need. My own best theory as to
why a number of famous people who admit that cryonics would work,
e.g. Issac Asimov, never bothered to get themselves frozen, is
that they had begun to live for their fame. I am seriously
doubtful of denials of the appeal of fame and fortune; to some
degree they remind me of the calls to altruism made by failed
economic systems. Perhaps it's only deeply unconsciously, but
I don't think that there is anyone who can stand up and claim
that no *comparitively mundane* aren't also a factor in the
working of his or her mind. We just have to learn to live with
this, and, indeed make the best use of it.
I never feel any the worse about someone when I come to have
reason to think that either fame or fortune is a factor in their
behavior. The only thing that annoys me is when they're so
transparent about it that it comes accross as petty and blind,
and seems to bespeak an inability to see the situation from
others' points of view.
Lee
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:13 MDT