3 replies to this topic

[Janusz Czoch]

You will no doubt have heard the deeply sad news Leonard Nimoy died recently.

 

I humbly suggest individual LC members try to use this as an opportunity to reach other communities. -There are many.

 

i.e. ps://teksyndicate.com/forum/policy-tech/leonard-nimoy-tragic-reminder/195553#new

 

 

[Droplet]

I would personally say to be careful about this, as it could be interpreted by some as profitting from someone's death. Whilst I understand that we are trying to stop involuntary death once and for all, remember that the life extension movement still has lots of opponents who look upon it the same way as a lot of us look upon religion.

[Sanhar]

I can't access that post.  Here is a NY Times post confirming his death:

http://www.nytimes.c...at-83.html?_r=0

As to using this to reach out to others, I have to echo Droplet.  Leonard was prominently known for his Jewish heritage and beliefs and unless we know for a certainty that he supported the concept of LE we should be cautious in talking to others about it in light of his passing.

 

For example, Albert Einstein (also a Jew) could be seen as someone we would have liked to kept alive if possible (and indeed his brain was preserved without his permission, causing a scandal) but he did in fact refuse surgery to prolong his life.  He died due to an abdominal aneurysm, something he had seen repaired a few years earlier, and stated ""I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."  (Cohen, J.R.; Graver, L.M. (November 1995), "The ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm of Albert Einstein", Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics 170 (5): 455–8, PMID 2183375).

 

How do I know this?  I was going to use him as an example of what would have happened had his life been extended.  Given this fact however I did not.

[Droplet]

 Leonard was prominently known for his Jewish heritage and beliefs and unless we know for a certainty that he supported the concept of LE we should be cautious in talking to others about it in light of his passing.

 

For example, Albert Einstein (also a Jew) could be seen as someone we would have liked to kept alive if possible (and indeed his brain was preserved without his permission, causing a scandal) but he did in fact refuse surgery to prolong his life.  He died due to an abdominal aneurysm, something he had seen repaired a few years earlier, and stated ""I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."  (Cohen, J.R.; Graver, L.M. (November 1995), "The ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm of Albert Einstein", Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics 170 (5): 455–8, PMID 2183375).

 

How do I know this?  I was going to use him as an example of what would have happened had his life been extended.  Given this fact however I did not.

 

You make a very good point about individual beliefs and life extension. I dream of a world where death from ill health and age is a CHOICE and that includes being allowed to die at seventy if that is what you really wish for. I do think that as this cause becomes more mainstream, people will choose less and less to adhere to the paltry human lifespan that we are currently given by nature. I know people who I love absolutely dearly who are against the concept of life extension and as much as I wish they weren't, I still have to respect their wishes and beliefs on the matter whilst loving them for however long they are here.