Comments on: Semantics and Cryonics Propaganda

By: Mark Plus

Mark Plus — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 22:27:01 +0000

Tanya Jones published online a case report of a suspension where she wrote that the cryonicist “passed away.” I drew attention to that and asked if that represented Alcor’s official view of the people in its care. She then changed the wording to “went into cardiac arrest” or something to that effect.

By: cath

cath — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 06:12:09 +0000

A history of “cryonics language” would be informative, as it accompanies our history to embed cryonics into a lively and useful intellectual framework. I noted that in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s we cryonicists struggled to develop a language that was both truthful and conveyed philosophical and practical intentions, wherefore words such as ‘suspension’, ‘patient’, ‘biostasis’ were debated as to utility and accuracy. With transhumanism, nanotechnologism, and other technoenthusiasms that were appended to the critical effort of cryonics, the language debate moved into these areas and the real need to establish our own semantic foothold and territory was ceded to the excitement and novelty of these other ideas.

This was brought home to me in a jolt, where at a recent Transhumanist conference, a long term cryonicist and I met, with his saying “I haven’t seen you since Thomas passed away”. I appreciate that our activities in cryonics for some is delicate and even anonymous, but I revolted at this phrase to the core of my being, and corrected this friend by saying “entered cryonic suspension”. But it got me to thinking about OUR language, and that his uncorrected statement was another victory for death.

The word “cryonics” encompasses both the critical care medical procedures used to stabilize and cool our patients, and the maintenance of a physically and financially stable environment of the patient. The language of radical life extension is in its infancy, and the generation and analysis of all useful expressions will serve to enhance our thinking.

By: Synaptic

Synaptic — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 20:44:33 +0000

You guys might find this thread interesting: http://www.geripal.org/2012/05/mostly-dead-vs-completely-dead.html.

I’m with MD. It doesn’t matter what’s convenient. We must present our best estimate of the truth.

By: Jordan Sparks

Jordan Sparks — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:30:36 +0000

Nearly 100% of society, including scientists, don’t grasp (or choose to disregard) that death is not binary. We can’t even get past that! If you insist that I quit referring to our patients as alive, then would it be acceptable to you if I refer to them as not dead? It’s a bit awkward to use “not dead” all the time, especially since any listener will just translate that internally as “alive”. But it does seem like a good habit to get into in order to be more accurate in situations where accuracy is important.