X-Message-Number: 25903
From: Kennita Watson <>
Subject: FDGD 5005 Survey Analysis
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 00:40:02 -0800

Apologies for tabulation format inconsistencies:  I haven't done
this before, and was refining my notation as I went.  Further
comments at the end.

FDGD 2005 Survey Analysis

83 surveys returned

80 usable (3 scrawled/illegible)

50 with contact info (36 contact info blank, 4 contact info incomplete)

36 of the 50 include email address and either prefer email or don t 
specify; of these, 9 ask to receive no info.
14 of the 50 prefer contact by postal mail or included postal and no 
email address; of these, 5 ask to receive no info. 

I decide to send everyone the notice of whether or not they won a 
prize, with how the winners were chosen, how they can get the prizes 
for themselves if they didn't win, and my email and Web site.

Writing address labels for every envelope is tedious for 14 people; for 
many more it would be impractical. Maybe have people fill out their own 
return address label.
Maybe make a computer-based version of the survey, and capture the 
email address.

Gender Breakdown (using name as indicator; next time have it be a 
separate question before the Contacts header):
33 Female
18 Male

29 Unknown (coincidence; a couple of people with contact info only gave 
first initials, and a couple of people without contact info put their 
name)

I think I'll try breaking down the survey responses question by 
question, with commentary. 

Frozen Dead Guy Days 2005 Cryonics Attitudes Survey

Questions About Grandpa Bredo

The header (mine) and the dividing questions into groups (suggested to 
me) seemed to work well.

Do you think science will ever allow us to revive Grandpa Bredo? Yes / 
No
55 No (2 specifically wrote in cloning as a possibility)
23 Yes (only 3 were among the 36 people who didn't leave contact info)
(13 Yes were F, 6 M, 4 U)
2 Don't Know

If so, when? .
0-50 years: 14
50-100 years:1
100-300 years:2
300+ years:2
??/blank: 4 (3 of these were from the No Contact Info section

Do you consider Grandpa Bredo to be in cryonic suspension? Yes / No

18 F No, 14 F Yes, 1 F Maybe
11 M No, 6 M Yes, 1 M Maybe
16 U No, 10 U Yes, 3 U Maybe

What this says is that a lot of people don't know what distinguishes 
cryonic suspension from plain cold storage.


I think Grandpa Bredo should
a) be left where he is: 25 F, 15 M, 21 U
b) be removed from dry ice and buried or cremated: 1 F, 2 U
c) be taken to a cryonics facility and stored in liquid nitrogen: 5 F, 
2 M, 1 U
d) be moved to a more prominent and easy-to-reach location: 0
e) other (specify): 2 F (do what family wants, none of my business), 1 
M (don't light a match), 5 U (he's been thawed, improperly frozen, do 
what family wants x 2, knight Sir Bredo)

Questions About Cryonics

How do the Frozen Dead Guy Days affect your view of cryonics 
(1=unfavorably, 10=favorably, 0=not at all)? .
I think a lot of people didn't get that they could pick a number 
_between_ 1 and 10. Next time, I'll print the whole scale.

The most people, 36, (16 F, 6 M, 14U) chose 0 (it didn't affect at 
all). Next highest number was 18 (8 F, 6 M, 4 U) choosing 10 (very 
favorably). For third place, nine respondents (1 F, 2 M, 6 U) chose 5 
(neutral) -- I'd sure like to hear how they distinguish that from "not 
at all".

Two people (1 F, 1 M) gave it a 1; one F gave it a 2; one U gave it a 
4. The rest (13) were between 6 and 8 (no 9s) -- 6 F, 3 M, 4 U.

How does the presence of a cryonics representative at the Frozen Dead 
Guy Days affect your view of cryonics (1=unfavorably, 10=favorably, 
0=not at all)? .
Same 1-10 comment.
Much closer between 0 and 10.
25 chose 0 (13 F, 4 M, 8 U). 24 chose 10 (9 F, 7 M, 8 U).

This time, third place went to "mostly positive"; 13 chose 8 (5 F, 4 M, 
4 U). Two F and one M gave it a 1, one U gave it a 2, and one U gave it 
a 3. The other 13 were neutral to positive (5, one F and three U; 6, 
one F and three U; 7, two F and 1 U; and 9, two M).

Will science ever allow us to revive people currently in cryonic 
suspension? Yes / No
Yes: 43 (17 F, 13 M, 13 U)
No: 29 (12 F, 5 M, 12 U)
Other: 8 (4 F, 4 U)

If so, when? .
I think next time I'll have people check off multiple-choice bins, 
which I'll simulate here (you can email me if you insist on seeing the 
raw data). Of the 43 who answered Yes that we'll someday be able to 
revive those currently in suspension, 27 hazarded a guess as to when.

0-50 years: 16 (9 F, 6 M, 1 U)
51-100 years: 4 (1 F, 1 M, 2 U)
101-200 years: 2 (1 M, 1 U)
201-500 years: 1 M
501-1000 years: 4 (3 M, 1 U)
1001+ years: 0 (some of the people who didn't guess might end up here 
with multiple choice)

If not, will we ever be able to suspend people such that they can be 
revived? Yes / No

This wasn't worded well (or laid out well): some people who answered 
Yes to the last question also answered this one. Nobody was confused 
enough to answer Yes to the previous question and No to this one, 
though one person did say it would take 300 years to revive people 
currently suspended but 700 years to suspend people such that they 
could be revived. Go figure. Anyhow, here I only count people who 
didn't answer Yes to the previous question (i.e., 37 people). Same 
bins.
No: 10 (6 F, 4 U)
Yes: 17 (7 F, 3 M, 7 U)

When?
0-50 years: 5 (1 F, 1 M, 3 U)
51-100 years: 2 (1 F, 1 M)
101-200 years: 2 (1 M, 1 U)
201-500 years: 2 (1 F, 1 U)
501-1000 years: 0
1001+ years: 1 F
no guess: 5 (3 F, 2 U)
Other: 10 (3 F, 2 M, 5 U)

To tease out some of the confusion, I may want to add a question: do 
preservation methods need improvement, or do we just need to develop 
revival/repair technology, or both?

I may then want to add to the confusion by adding some metaphysics 
questions: do you believe in reincarnation? life after death? astral 
projection? etc.

Had you heard of cryonics before Frozen Dead Guy Days 2005? Yes / No
Yes: 73 (18 F, 9 M, 28 U)
No: 6 (2 F, 4 M)
Other: 1

If so, when and how did you hear about it? .
Reading: 12 (F 6, M 5, U 1)
Blank: 20 (F 7, M 2, U 12)
In the past: 11 (5 F, 2 M, 4 U)
TV/Radio: 9 (1 F, 3 M, 5 U)
Movies: 7 (4 F, 1 M, 2 U)
Prev. FDGD: 3 (2 F, 1 U)
Ted Williams: 2 U
Walt Disney: 7 (4 F, 3 U)
When Trygve deported: 1 M, 1 U

Many random answers, with a few bins. One thing I didn't get from this 
that I'd like to is whether the TV and book presentations were 
fictional or nonfictional. Maybe "check all the places you've heard, 
read, or seen anything about cryonics before today" (with "none of the 
above" as a choice). Then maybe "all the places  cryonics _as a 
science_  (print (fiction/nonfiction): books, magazines, newspapers; 
movies; friends; TV/radio fiction/nonfiction 

I think I'm less interested in "when" than "where/how" (except insofar 
as "when" may spur memories of "where/how").

Name any cryonics organizations you have heard of. .
Virtually everyone answered some variation on None: None, 0, N/A, dash, 
?, no, haven't, um , or blank. One F answered "Liver", one F answered 
"FDGD", and one M named "Alcor, CI". Definitely a lot of information 
dissemination to be done here!

Questions About You

What is your current age? .
I think I had some vague notion of trying to find some correlation 
between people's current age and other questions on the survey, but 
when I started thinking of actually trying to do it, my head started to 
spin. I'll consider one or two simple ones if someone suggests them, or 
hand over the whole data set if someone thinks they can automate it or 
has a lot of time and patience their hands. I know next to nothing 
about Excel.

I'll put people in bins, anyhow:
<18: 14 (8 F, 3 M, 3 U)
18-25: 9 (2 F, 5 M, 2 U)
26-35: 25 (11 F, 3 M, 11 U)
36-45: 14 (6 F, 2 M, 6 U)
46-55: 12 (4 F, 3 M, 6 U)
56-65: 5 (1 F, 2 M, 2 U)
66+: 1 F

How much would you say you enjoy life overall now (1= not at all, 
10=very much)? .
10: 37 (18 F, 7 M, 12 U)
9: 12 (5 F, 3 M, 4 U)
8: 14 (4 F, 6 M, 4 U)
7: 4 (3 F, 1 U)
6: 0
5: 2 (1 F, 1 U)
4: 1 M
3: 0
2: 0
1: 0
blank: 1 U
 
Till what age would you like to live if you could be in good health the 
entire time? .
This one shows we have a lot to do spreading longevity memes, 
especially among women!

<=100: 43 (18 F, 8 M, 17 U)
101-130: 10 (7 F, 2 M, 1 U)
131-180: 8 (5 F, 3 U) (note, 4 F and 2 U said exactly 150)
181-500: 2 M
501+: 4 (1 F (1K), 2 M (2K and 10K), 1 U (90K)
Indefinitely/forever: 7 (3 M, 4 U)
No answer/"any"/-/?: 6 (1 F, 1 M, 4 U)
One F said "Never thought about it. Don't want to."

If money were no object, would you consider signing up for cryonic 
suspension? Yes / No
Yes: 30 (11 F, 7 M, 12 U)
No: 46 (20 F, 10 M, 16 U)
Maybe: 3(2 F, 1 M)
No answer: 1 U

If not, why not? .

Two Yeses filled in reasons:

1 F: Better than donating body to science for the time being
1 ?: I'm gonna live forever or die trying

This may have been the most telling question on the survey: answers 
don't fit very neatly into bins, but I'll identify categories where I 
can. It might have been nice to have more of a cooldown question after 
this one.

 From the 46 Nos on the previous question, 14 gave no answer to this one 
(6 F, 2 M, 6 U). Here are the rest, separated out by gender -- (I note 
that 4 F and 1 M mention reincarnation):

F:
1.	b/c the change would be to great to adjust to
2.	I would like to be at rest after I died
3.	becus I don t believe in it
4.	organ donation is important to me and I believe in reincarnation
5.	believe in reincarnation - no need to
6.	I'll pick a new body (reincarnate)
7.	I don't think science is advanced enough to avoid complications. I 
also want to reincarnate.
8.	Seems weird
9.	I believe death to be an essential part of the soul's evolution. 
Without death, life & growth could not exist.
10.	if money were no object, it could be used to feed and clothe the 
living cold and hungry
11.	religious reasons
12.	my body isn't alive without its spirit which will be in heaven - or 
so I hope!
13.	don't one too
14.	no interest

M:
1.	if I can't live my life to the fullest, it is for naught
2.	dieing is ok with me
3.	unnatural, no real purpose for me
4.	it would be strange to wake up in distant future
5.	I believe the damage to cells, especially neurons, is not repairable
6.	I want to come back as a dog or something.
7.	need to see more progress
8.	I believe it is natural to die. It may well be necessary and 
benefitial to our spiritual life.

?:
1.	I don't think it works
2.	when it's over - it's over!
3.	because I would have already died
4.	Too creepy! :-)
5.	Death is okay
6.	when your time is up time to move on
7.	wish not to bother my family
8.	can't live forever -get used to it. -accept it
9.	Then I wouldn't live life to the fullest _now_.
10.	thawing out would be a hassle

The rest is contact information, which is omitted here.

If anyone feels it's worthwhile for me to clean this up and
present the results to folks at CI, Alcor, etc., and/or to put
it up on the Web, do more data reduction, etc., please let me
know, here or in private email.  Otherwise, I'll put this away
and turn to other things.

I consider the entire Frozen Dead Guy Days experience valuable,
especially these surveys, and I would love to be able to travel
to other conferences/conventions/festivals/etc. and get similar
input about what people think; if anyone can think of ways for
me to pitch it to the cryonics hegemony to get help with travel
expenses, convention display spaces, etc., please let me know.

Also, if anyone is interested in being affiliated with the
Cryonics Advocacy Group (which at this point will mostly mean
that you're interested in what I'm doing and that I'll solicit
your opinions first about things like what project I should
work on next, what the domain name for the Web site should be,
etc.), please email me and let me know.

Incidentally, I'm not planning to send anything to even the
people who didn't write "no info".  If you have better ideas,
please email me and let me know.

Thanks!  I'm having fun!

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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