Re: Cryo-suspension for death row

From: Alex Future Bokov (alexboko@umich.edu)
Date: Mon Oct 09 2000 - 08:53:20 MDT


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On Mon, 9 Oct 2000, Brian D Williams wrote:

>
> From: Max More <max@maxmore.com>
>
> >I just heard this news item while driving, but missed the name of
> >the governor (I think it was a governor) proposing the idea. I'm
> >hoping someone can fill in the details. The governor of whichever
> >state was seriously proposing to deal with the problem of possible
> >mistakes in administering the death penalty by putting those
> >executed into cryonic suspension. According to the report, the
> >governor was completely serious and simply "thinking outside the
> >box" (his words).
>
> >I'd *really* like to find out who he is and in which state, as
> >well as monitor the responses. Whether you are for or against the
> >death penalty, as administered by the government, I think this is
> >a positive thing--it sends the message that an "official" sees
> >cryonic suspension as holding out real hope.
>
> As a death penalty advocate, I would be against any attempt to
> cryonically suspend anyone to whom the death penalty has been
> administered.

I don't know if a centralized government so far removed from its
citizenry should be trusted with such a serious decision, but
maybe I'm just being a bleeding heart Libertarian again.

> The death penalty should be "final death" as covered in Jim
> Halperins "The first Immortal".
>
> Since it is final, it should only be administered when there is
> little or no doubt.

...but we all know that we don't live in a perfect world and the
state will go right on killing people whenever it feels like it until
the people finally kill the state or the state dies of natural causes.
So, for the here and now, it would be very useful politically to be
able to freeze death-row inmates. It would bring cryonics squarely into
the spotlight. I just hope cryonics is ready. On the technical side,
this should hasten the first cryonic revivals because those doing the
reviving will only have to worry about the revival, not about reversing
whatever problem caused death in the first place.

Of course, I'm beginning to suspect this is a moot point, since nobody
has yet been able to find a reference to this. I mean, what Max heard on
the radio could easily have been the plot of some science fiction book
getting retold or something.
 
- --

Linda Thompson Kahl M16
Why are the above words in my signature? Check out:
http://www.echelon.wiretapped.net

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