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Thursday, July 21, 2011

A quotation looking for an application

From Prometheus Unbound, Act III, by Percy Bysshe Shelley:

The loathsome mask has fallen, the man remains
Sceptreless, free, uncircumscribed - but man:
Equal, unclassed, tribeless and nationless,
Exempt from awe, worship, degree, - the King
Over himself; just, gentle, wise - but man:
Passionless? no - yet free from guilt or pain
Which were, for his will made, or suffered them,
Nor yet exempt, though ruling them like slaves,
From chance and death and mutability,
The clogs of that which else might oversoar
The loftiest star of unascended Heaven
Pinnacled dim in the intense inane.




I have a partly baked idea of writing a book about the "soft" aspects of cryonics, namely, the philosophical, social, economic, psychological, political, demographic, environmental and even, ugh! the religious issues people seem to get hung up on when they confront the cryonics idea as a serious proposal. I might use Shelley's verse on the dedication page, "To the Sovereign Individual."

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