X-Message-Number: 25874 From: Kennita Watson <> Subject: Article about FDGD in Boulder Weekly Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:58:24 -0800 Without comment: http://boulderweekly.com/headcheck.html HeadCheck Life after ice - - - - - - - - - - - - by Tyler Wilcox () Last Sunday, Nederland's world-famous Frozen Dead Guy Days festival was winding down. The last coffin race had been run, the winners of the frozen T-shirt contest had been announced and artists were putting the final touches on their snow sculptures. Throughout the weekend, the body of the frozen dead guy himself, Bredo Morstoel, remained the same as it has been for the last decade: in a steel coffin packed tightly in dry ice in an insulated wooden box stored in a Tuff Shed in the hills above the town. Let's not mince words: Frozen Dead Guy Days is a joke. Since the first festival was held in 2002, it's been an unabashed celebration of small town eccentricity, a welcome excuse for a town full of oddballs to act just a little odder for a few days. What it hasn't been is a serious exploration of Cryonics, the speculative practice of using ultra-cold temperatures to preserve human life. But this year, that changed a bit. In the Frozen Dead Guy Days' Expo Center, Kennita Watson manned a table filled with information on Cryonics, gamely fielding questions from cynics and handing out brochures with titles like "Conquering the Blight of Involuntary Death" and "What is the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence?" "I'm here to let people know that Cryonics isn't just a joke," the San Francisco-based Watson said. "This may be a lighthearted event, but there's something real behind it all." Despite a reputation as a baseless pseudo-science, there are a growing number of people who view Cryonics as a valid, enticing prospect. They believe that they can have their body cooled to the point where physical decay virtually stops and then restored to normal healthy functioning. The theory has yet to be proven. No one has ever been revived from temperatures far below freezing. But that hasn't stopped thousands of people all over the world from signing up to be stored at Cryonics service providers like the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz. Patients there are cared for in the expectation that future technology, especially molecular nanotechnology, will be available to reverse the Cryonics process. Believers expect that such technology will be available by the turn of the 22nd century. "They haven't made it to the point where they can revive people," Watson said. "A lot of people say it's impossible. But people also said it was impossible to go to the moon." Watson was up front about the reason for her own personal interest in Cryonics. Plain and simple, she wants to cheat death. "I've thought that dying sucked for a long time," she said. "As soon as I heard that [Cryonics] existed, I said, 'Sign me up!' I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to miss anything." Watson flew out to Colorado from San Francisco on her own dime in order to spread the gospel of Cryonics. She's not affiliated with any organization; her business card lists her title as "advocate." "The Cryonics Institute and other organizations don't want anything to do with Frozen Dead Guy Days," she said. "They think it'll put Cryonics in a bad light. I think it's a good time to reach people. They're having a good time and they're open and willing to listen." So does all of this mean that sometime in the not-so-distant future, Bredo Morstoel will be resurrected from his Tuff Shed? Watson hates to disappoint, but she doubts it. "Dry ice really isn't cold enough," she said. "I'd say his chances are slim to none." Respond: Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25874