X-Message-Number: 10449 Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 22:33:39 -0700 From: Hara Ra <> Subject: Selling Cryonics OK, I'll jump in here.... I am, at this point, responsible for 4 signups for Cryonics. Each case is different: #1: A close male friend for several years, who works as a psychiatrist, interested in the occult and is otherwise a sane rationalist. His original plan when he felt his body to be failing was to take a boat and sail out to nowhere. He was hesitant until I explained how the information preservation notion applied to cryonics, which gave him a sounder basis than the mystical concepts of soul and essence. #2: I was staying at a friend's place (whom I met via the Extropy mailing list) in Phoenix for a week for the Alcor Cryo Fest and transport tech training. I talked him into coming to the Cryo Fest and 5 days later he was signed up. This one just took a nudge, I think. #3: My partner is a very spiritually oriented woman, spent 7 years at Sri Aurobindo's ashram, was totally shocked when I told her I was a cryonicist (this was very early on in our discovering each other). Occasional discussions over 18 months, and she became interested in auditing the Transport Tech course to know what to do when I expired. In negotiating this with Alcor, I got a copy of "Reaching for Tomorrow" and it convinced her - she saw the logic of it all. So she signed up. It helps that I bought the insurance policy.... #4: My son. He is 11 years old, his mother doesn't approve of Cryonics and has custody. He hasn't been told yet. The key to the first 3 signups is simple: DIRECT HONEST PATIENT COMMUNICATIONS And I think, this is the only effective and ethical way to sell cryonics, by careful caring education on the topic, with patience. BTW, there is one person who is likely to eventually sign up, and about three others who are in the education process at the moment. O--------------------------------O | Hara Ra <> | | Box 8334 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 | | | | Death is for animals; | | immortality for gods. | | Technology is the means by | | which we make the transition. | O--------------------------------O Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10449