X-Message-Number: 11396 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: more questions for Scott Badger Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 23:27:47 +1100 (EST) For Scott Badger and Saul Kent: While I'd have to think hard if I had to choose only 5 people to be resurrected ... not that I don't admire the accomplishments of Sellers, Kubrick, and others, Saul"s posting here raises an interesting question: Just how many people are there who become interested in cryonics after a major illness but for some reason fail to follow through? Possibly Peter Sellers was only doing a (very unfortunately!) normal thing, which had nothing whatever to do with his public status. I know that some cryonicists with whom I've talked believe that celebrities tend more than most to show up briefly and then forget the matter and die, but it would be interesting to see just what really happens. One major reason someone can fail to follow through is simply that their illness makes it much harder for them to get anything at all done. But this reason probably doesn't cover even half the cases. If I understand the case of Peter Sellers, he didn't have that problem. But still he did not follow through. So this is another question for Scott Badger to ask us. I'm raising it first because it might tell us something about why people DON'T sign up (just WHY didn't they follow through?), and second because the experience of any individual cryonicist (me too!) probably provides a very poor statistical sample, while that of many of us, combined, may come closer to reality. And for those who actually run cryonics societies, there are added questions: did ANY of these guys ever ask for forms? Did any of them fill some of them out? Alcor keeps a record of those who apply; it would be interesting too if Alcor officers could give statistics on the ratio of those who apply to those who actually join, broken down by time ie. N1 people asked for forms and submitted them after 1 month, N2 asked and submitted after 2 months, N3 after 3 months etc. If long delays are common we have the beginnings of an explanation right there. Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11396