From: Harvey Newstrom (newstrom@newstaffinc.com)
Date: Wed Dec 08 1999 - 11:01:02 MST
Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se> wrote on Wednesday, December 08, 1999 9:10
am,
> hal@finney.org writes:
>
> > Is this a universal phenomenon? Does everyone experience this as a
> > traumatic moment, after which you know that your days are numbered?
>
> I cannot recall when I realized my mortality. It must have been one of
> those gradual affairs - or maybe I haven't really realized it yet,
I was born premature. In my first year of life, I was declared legally dead
three times. Each time, my infant body was placed in a body bag, and the
time of death noted. Each time, my mother's doctor arrived, pulled me out
and performed resuscitation.
I was told these stories throughout my childhood. Even before I understood
what death was, I felt that I had died three times and come back. I also
felt like some doctors were good and could save me, while other doctors are
bad and would give up.
I have always been worried about my mortality for as long as I can remember.
I also have been worried about bad doctors giving up, and the medical
establishment ignoring controversial therapies. I was interested in
nutrition and life extension very early. In the 1970s, the idea that diet
could fight heart disease or cancer was considered quackery. I even wrote a
story when I was about 10-11 years old about a child who was killed and
brought back to life. I got the idea from Frankenstein, but tried to take a
more scientific approach. I remember thinking that Dr. Frankenstein was a
brilliant doctor who was far beyond his time, and was misunderstood by his
peers. Most of my friends thought he was a horrible, misguided creator of
monsters.
Anyway, the idea about fighting death occurred to me early in the '60s and
'70s. I have been fighting death ever since.
-- Harvey Newstrom <mailto://newstrom@newstaffinc.com> <http://harveynewstrom.com> Author, Consultant, Engineer, Legal Hacker, Researcher, Scientist.
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