X-Message-Number: 1624
Date: 16 Jan 93 09:00:24 EST
From: "A.J. Clifford" <>
Subject: CRYONICS : The unmentionable "S" word

   Alongside "Neuro-preservation" and "Immortality" in the armoury of
terms that talk-show hosts love to hit cryonicists with is the
unmentionable S word.  "Space".  
   In response to the question "What do you want to do in the 22nd
Century?" it is natural to mention space travel.  Future technology
will make the Solar System as accessable as any part of Earth is today.
   But this is a risky line of discussion.  The number of people who
have been into space is lower than the number of dedicated cryonicists
there are.  The public view space travel as a hugely expensive almost
irrelevant exercise.  What does Joe Sixpack think the benefits of L5
are? 
   One mention of the S word risks placing a cryonist tying to make a
point into the shaven-headed, sun-stroked, half-baked, woolly-jumpered
lunatic fringe.
   In June 1990 when Mike Price, Steve Whitrow and I were being
interviewed by the BBC for an off-beat science program "Life on One" 
(despite filming all day) one of the few lines they used was an
off-the-cuff "I want to travel in space."
   I thought Charles Platt's sarcastic promotional line for cryonics
(cryomsg #1594) was hilarious.  In first person I would like to
suggest:
   "I am a cryonicist because I want to pay thousands of dollars to
have my head chopped off when I am stiff and cold so in the future I
can be made immortal and travel to hundreds of planets and galaxies."

Regards - AJC

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