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

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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."

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