X-Message-Number: 26574
References: <>
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Re: More about religion and cryonics
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:46:49 +0200

On 10 Jul 2005, at 02:09, Beth Bailey wrote:

>
> Re: I also feel we need to do something dramatic.
>
> My response: There are 7 basic dramatic plots: overcoming a  
> monster, rags to riches, quests, voyage and return, comedy,  
> tragedy, and rebirth. For the audience to care, the story has to  
> connect with them on a gut level. In this case, the "audience"  
> would be people not signed up for cryonics. The dramatic goal would  
> be to make the audience identify with and actually root for  
> cryonics to win. For example, Romeo and Juliette 2035 (with  
> apologies to William Shakespeare); young couple, deeply in love,  
> separated by misguided family members. Romeo takes a poison that  
> simulates death. When he wakes up, Romeo finds that the distraught  
> Juliette actually killed herself, and her parents have placed her  
> in cryonic suspension. What should Romeo do?
>
> I would rather read a book or see a movie depicting a religion vs.  
> cryonics scenario because you can present your case with as much  
> drama as you see fit, manipulate the audience's emotions anyway you  
> want them to go, and still write yourself a happy ending. Not  
> something that real-life generally allows you to do.

This is great idea. However, I am not sure that making the religion  
vs cryonics theme central would have the best effect. It might cause  
resistance from religious persons to the message. There are already a  
lot of people who consider reversible suspension possible. This is  
probably due to films like 2001, Dark Star, etc. in which suspension  
plays a minor role. For example, if you are traveling to the stars,  
of course being suspended is appropriate, due to the length of time  
for the trip, etc. (Most people don't know that radical life  
extension is probably an easier problem than reanimation.)

Another barrier to the acceptance of cryonics is imagining what a  
society that included vastly extended life spans and cryonics would  
be like. People often think of problems, such as the revival of  
previous spouse after remarriage, etc. This assumes that currently  
accepted life styles would remain dominant in the future, even tho  
this is extremely unlikely. Similarly, they see overpopulation as a  
result of extended life spans, not considering the vast changes in  
technologies for resource utilization that are coming. So, just  
giving people an alternative view of a future society could have a  
very positive effect.


>
> I would also like to propose the following alternative to a lawsuit  
> in order to facilitate positive PR and drama:
>
> Rags to riches: Find a financially disadvantaged church in your  
> community and work with them to set up a scholarship fund for a  
> deserving child to go to college, with the following stipulations:  
> the scholarship recipient must study a scientific field that can  
> benefit cryonics, he or she must maintain a B average or higher,  
> and must also sign up for cryonic suspension. (If they let their  
> cryonics membership lapse, they must pay back the scholarship money.)
>
> Following the above guidelines, set up a scholarship fund for  
> nursing, EMT and mortuary science students. If you give young  
> people the opportunity to get an education, become financially  
> stable, and participate in cryonics, I believe this would build  
> positive relationships and make allies in the community.

Right. Especially if it was done by a "fellow" church ;-)


dss


David Stodolsky    Skype: davidstodolsky

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