X-Message-Number: 23740
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 18:57:15 -0800
Subject: John Grigg re Century City and FDGD
From: Kennita Watson <>

> "John Grigg" <> wrote:
> Subject: New tv series, "Century City"
>
> Saturday night I watched "Century City" on CBS (next episode will be 
> this Tuesday night).  It is set in a law firm circa the year 2030, and 
> shows how various technologies like cloning, A.I., etc. may impact 
> humanity. ...

I think the time may be ripe for a cryonics TV show.  It would
certainly reach a lot more people than FDGD!  More on this
later.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> "John Grigg" <> wrote:
> Subject: Why mainstream cryonics SHOULD be represented at the "Frozen 
> Dead Guy" Festival
> ...
> ...by NOT having a mainstream cryonics booth/representative there, we 
> are setting ourselves up by default to be in a position where we end 
> up looking really bad (as we get lumped in with Trygve's inept attempt 
> at "do it yourself" body preservation by the public & media).

In his defense, I don't think it's all *that* inept.  There's a
continuum of "goodness", along which dry ice isn't nearly as good
as liquid nitrogen, but is better than permafrost (which other
"do-it-yourself" cryopreservationists have buried their loved ones in).
And in each group, there's the matter of how much room-temperature
ischemia there was (for example).  Sorry, programmers (I'm one), no
binary here.

??!  Google turned up 113 entries for the phrase "permafrost burial"
and 978 for the phrase "Frozen Dead Guy Days".  I think quite a few
people are hearing about cryonics from, and only from, the Frozen
Dead Guy Days, so getting a voice in there to say "this isn't all
there is to cryonics" could help save us down the road.
>
> If Alcor or the Society for Venturism were to set up a very 
> professional looking booth which was manned by friendly, balanced and 
> knowledgeable people, we could do some good and offset a great deal of 
> potential longterm derision from a festival which perhaps could be 
> said to openly mock our goals.
>
That sounds great.  I hope I can get enough support for the idea that
I can have a couple of people come with me.  I still need to find out
when it is, how much it costs, etc.  I'm also not sure just what it 
would
take to make it look "professional" (trying to be "interesting" as 
well, so
people will want to stop by).  "Friendly" I can definitely manage.
  "Balanced" I can probably fake ;-) .  "Knowledgeable" could bea 
stretch,
in that MS has done bad things for both my memory and my information
  access speed.

I think that insofar as the festival mocks our goals, it is largely
because and to the extent that the organizers and attendees don't
actually believe it is possible to achieve them.

> So I think the big question here is this..., do we have the people, 
> money, resources and will to set up a booth there and make a good 
> impression on the media and the festival goers?  I hope we do.

Good, we surely do; the question is, how _large_ an impression can we
afford to make?  I can make a tiny good impression with me, a card 
table,
and an easel if I have to; it's all uphill from there.  I'll be working 
on levels of
what-can-be-done and what-it-will-take-to-do-it in the coming 
weeks/months.
>
> Rudi Hoffman did give some great ideas for what we could do either in 
> place of a booth or in conjunction with it.  I hope Alcor and its 
> membership will choose to hit this festival from every angle to turn 
> things in our favor.
>
I don't have things well-enough organized in my mind yet to know what
kinds of help would help the most.  Stay tuned.  And keep those cards
and letters coming! :-)

Hope, but don't expect.  I can hit one angle.  With help, I can hit it
harder and maybe a couple more.  We won't get "every angle"; count on
it.  Note to self:  Identify as many of the "angles" as possible --
there may be someone interested in one of them.

> Thoughts?
>
Nope.  Not me ;-) .

Live long and prosper,
Kennita
--
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
none but ourselves can free our minds.
           -- Bob Marley, "Redemption Song"

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