X-Message-Number: 1625
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: cryonics: #1616-#1622
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 21:33:32 PST

Hi again.

Some comments about Charles Platt's last message, on the issue of frankness
about immortalism and neurosuspension:

The problem with what you are saying is that you (and every other person who
wants to promote cryonics) simply aren't operating on a field that has never
been touched before. The number of people who have HEARD about cryonics is
far greater than the number who ACCEPT it. And not only have they heard about
cryonics, but they've also at least heard hints about immortality and neuro-
suspension too. 

And so if you come on denying either of these you're going to alienate your
audience. If you had a totally naive audience, what you say might make sense,
but you do NOT. Far from it--- especially if the moderator of the talk show
you're on decides to bring up both subjects. As for Ralph Merkle's comments on
this issue (Ralph and I have publicly disagreed about it already), the same 
problems exist: some people are totally turned off even by freezing "dead"
people. It's not that in an ideal world I would advocate abandoning them, but
as a practical matter we need to first speak to those who AREN'T turned off.
And I do believe that even for the alienated, we have much more chance of 
winning them over by speaking openly than by trying to bring up our goals in
more "acceptable" ways.

Please remember: you're not speaking to First Graders, but to adult human
beings who have already heard about cryonics, perhaps from unfriendly sources.
					Best and long life,
						Thomas

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