Re: US Science Education Sucks

From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Sun Aug 26 2001 - 13:18:49 MDT


Randy Smith wrote:

> Actually, the immigration of all those mexican peasants does indeed matter
> to us all, especially those of us who are planning to be frozen if old age
> aint cured pretty soon...

I have pondered this comment in light of my experience with my
brother-in-law's brother-in-law, Arne Gutierrez. Arne grew up
mostly in Mexico, got his degree in chemistry in Mexico, came to
Taxifornia, got a masters in chemistry from San Jose State U and
eventually a doctorate in chemistry from Stanford. He now
works for a company in Redwood City that is finding ways
to make AIDS drugs in large quantities.

Arne is logical to a fault, always a very deep thinker. We discussed
the extrapolation of Moore's law down to nanoscale, we discussed
life extension techniques, we discussed artificial intelligence, all with
the logic of Mr. Spock, no problems. But as soon as I hit cryonics,
he choked. This logical scientist comes up with the *wackiest*
arguments against cryonics, so much so that I am totally baffled.
I dont even know how to argue against them. He argues not that
cryonics will not work, but that it is a bad idea to do it. This is the
only area on which he falls back on the value of tradition, and the
natural life cycle of humans, etc, or in other words, it really is a
good thing that all people die. Im at a loss with him. {8^D spike



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