From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Thu Jul 25 2002 - 15:54:25 MDT
News on the Ted Williams front: Reuters is reporting that his son
has exhibited a note signed by the famous baseball player indicating
that he wanted to be cryonically suspended upon his death.
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1253495
The note, co-signed by Williams, his son John Henry and daughter Claudia,
dated November 2, 2000, reads, "JHW, Claudia and Dad all agree to be
put into Bio-Stasis after we die. This is what we want, to be able to be
together in the future, even if it is only a chance." This contradicts
claims by his estranged daughter Barbara Ferrell that Ted Williams wanted
to be cremated, and that John Henry had arranged the whole thing as a
scheme to get rich off his father's DNA. (Of course we insiders knew
that cryonic suspension would be an absurd way to accomplish such a goal.)
The issue is being addressed in a Florida court.
A statement by John Henry and Claudia Williams closed with the comment,
"Our father was not a religious man. The faith that many people place
in God, we place in science and other human endeavors."
Of course such a view is probably pretty much universal among cryonics
clients, but it is quite unusual for someone to espouse it publicly
these days. And given the intense negative reaction to the news
surrounding Williams' suspension, it seems even less likely that public
figures will be willing in the future to endorse the practice.
Williams was by all reports an intensely private man, and it is sad that
his daughter Barbara Ferrell has brought so much attention to the case.
It seems that the original intention of his other children was to avoid
publicity as much as possible. They refrained from commenting publicly
for quite some time. But now in court they are having their say, and
the public is learning that the story as Ferrell presented it was not
completely accurate.
Hal
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