Society for Venturism

Who are Venturists?

We believe in realizing the fullest of which we are capable as human beings—as a start.

We feel that humanity must assume responsibility for its own betterment.

We advocate the application of reason, science, and technology for the benefit of mankind, and feel that benefit will follow if our actions are rightly directed, under moral principles that are tested and validated by their consequences.

We recognize that there are limits to our ability to solve the problems of life but also that our ability will improve with our knowledge, our wisdom, and our technology.

We believe that death is an imposition on life, and something that can and should be eliminated through technological means. Thus we are really aiming at realizing the human potential by, in the end, becoming much more than human.

Eventually, we expect that aging and now-terminal illnesses will be curable. The body is a vastly complicated mechanism, and we certainly do not fully understand it yet, but we believe that its workings can be completely elucidated through scientific study. Understanding will lead to control: there is reason to think that we will eventually be able to build tiny machines out of individual atoms, that will greatly extend our control of events on the molecular level. Thus it should be possible to send microscopic devices into cells to repair whatever is ailing them, such as diseases and aging, all of which have physical causes. But this, of course, is only part of the problem, since this technology will probably not be developed for some time, and there remains the issue of whether there is any way that those living today can benefit. We think there is—through cryonics:  freezing (or otherwise cryopreserving) the person at clinical death, and storing this individual indefinitely at low temperature. In this way it should be possible to bring people back to life at a time when their diseases and aging can be cured, whether that is fifty or one hundred or more years from now. Again, we would invoke molecular devices, adapted to perform many specialized functions. Frozen, damaged tissue, for example, might be taken apart and repaired and reassembled, molecule by molecule, or atom by atom, at a low temperature, and put into a more viable form from which it could be rewarmed and revived.

We are a supportive community of like-minded individuals who are interested in cryonics and who, in particular, benefit from sympathetic support and assistance as our time for suspension draws near. The Venturist organization does not do any actual cryopreserving, though our full members are required to be signed up for cryopreservation. This is because we feel that cryonics offers by far the best prospect for defeating death if you should die today or any time soon. Thus it becomes a test of sincerity: if you really believe in the human conquest of death and reject mystical approaches and are logical about it, you will sign up. We are open to possible other preservation options too, but would want to see more evidence both of how well they might work and of a stable organization to watch over the preserved patient. You must put your trust in something and, while we do not claim to know with certainty that cryonics will work, we do believe that making cryonics  arrangements is the right and best thing to do, and that destructive alternatives such as conventional burial and cremation are mistaken.

To join in active discussions, or to start a discussion please join our Yahoo Web Group: Venturist Yahoo Group