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From: kqb@ho5cad.att.com
Newsgroups: sci.nanotech
Subject: Re: Is Cryonics a Religion ???
Message-ID: 
Date: 9 Aug 89 02:17:50 GMT
Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu
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Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu

mmm@cup.portal.com asked if cryonics is a religion:
> 1)  Is it a religion?  It certainly promises the great promise of any real
> religion -- an afterlife.  When it comes time to die, you get frozen and
> begin that great trek into the glorious future.  . . .

You have a good point.  The traditional proposed scenario for survival through
reanimation from cryonic suspension sounds a lot like heaven; when you
first re-awake you will be surrounded by your friends and loved ones (who have
come back before you) and these people will all be young, healthy, wise,
incredibly wealthy and powerful by today's standards, and, of course, in
immortal bliss.  That particular scenario seems too simplistic to me, but
your point about there being a relationship between cryonics and religion is,
I think, well founded.  For example, as hkhenson@cup.portal.com has pointed
out on occasion, the cryonics meme and the religion meme do seem to occupy the
same ecological niche in our minds.  A better way to word your question may
thus be "Is the cryonics meme a religious meme?".  (Cryonics itself is a
technology, not a meme or religion.)

Several, but certainly not all, cryonicists have pursued the cryonics meme
as a religious meme.  A few years ago some solid (but not frozen solid)
cryonicists created a non-theistic religion called Venturism with the goal:
  "the worldwide conquest of death through technological means."
The Venturist organization qualifies (according to the IRS)
  "as an educational, religious and scientific organization"
(but not as a church) and is legally nonprofit and tax-exempt.  By becoming
a Venturist you can fill out a Certificate of Religious Belief that says that
you want to be cryonically suspended, not autopsied, when a doctor declares
you dead.  This cannot hurt and it may save your life.  As to whether or not
Venturism is really what you would call a religion, well, maybe philosphy
would be a better word.  (However, the practice of cryonics actually does
involve some amount of faith.  Cryonicists believe that life and, in
particular, consciousness have a purely physical basis, yet have no proof of
that.)  Venturism is not just a gimmick to enable people to claim a religious
objection to autopsy, though.  Venturist Monthly News provides a forum for
immortalist philosophy, fiction, poetry, etc. and Dave Pizer, one of the two
founders of Venturism, has plans for creating a cryonicist's "retreat" on a
plot of land that he owns in Arizona.  Even though the Venturists have no
plans for creating a cryonic suspension capability themselves, they will be
happy to give you information about those organizations that do.  (In fact,
to be a full member of the Venturists, you need to be signed up for suspension
with one of the cryonic suspension organizations.)  Also, the Venturists
sell several cryonics-related promotional products: cryonics T-shirts,
cryonics buttons, cryonics bumper stickers, little yellow diamonds to stick
in your car window (Cryonicist on Board), etc.  For more information write to:
     The Venturists, 1355 E. Peoria Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85020.
For a year subscription to Venturist Monthly News send $8.00 (made payable to
The Venturists) to the address above.  (For people in Canada the subscription
costs $10.00 and for those overseas the cost is $15.00.)
                                       - Kevin Q. Brown
                                       ...att!ho5cad!kqb
                                       kqb@ho5cad.ATT.COM
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