X-Message-Number: 30061 From: Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 09:10:50 EST Subject: Cryonics marketing, worth our continual hand-wringing IMO In a message dated 11/24/2007 5:14:22 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, writes: Respect for "authority" is sometimes a good idea, but don't suspend your critical faculty. Robert Ettinger (This is Rudi Hoffman writing) I have been following the marketing discussion on cryonet with interest. What a delicious contrast in styles are represented by DS and RE! Robert Ettinger, you are as incisive, precise, and on point as ever. If cryonics did have enough money to hire a "consultant" your ideas would surely be more practical and helpful than DS, whose snooty academic arrogance and blatant self-promotion continues to come through in all his writings. By the way, I think this topic, "How we protect and grow the cryonics community" is as relevant as any most of us non-technicians can speculate on. And I am in favor of all of us adding whatever our skills, relationships, and credibility allow us to add in this area. My credentials in this matter are rather practical. Over the last several years, about 83% of the folks who have signed up for cryonics on the planet have done this with the assistance of insurance or annuities made available by Rudi Hoffman. (This is my version of blatant self promotion...and a heck of a lot more pragmatic and "real world" than being published in academic journals or a "Piled Higher and Deeper" set of letters after one's name.) Walking people through the mechanics, logistics, funding issues, and ideological concerns is what I do about 60 hours a week. I just had a rather good article published in Free Inquiry about cryonics which resulted in a few signups, and I am writing THE book on cryonics/cryonics funding, called "The Affordable Immortal: How You Can Afford the New Science of Biostasis." (To continue my personal horn tooting, which gives me some "street cred" in the cryonics community, but not nearly as much as Ettinger...but a bunch more than DS.) David S....can I ask exactly how many folks you have personally encouraged to sign up for cryonics? Are you personally signed up? You are clearly a reasonably well educated guy, but I suspect your real world effectiveness in this arena is a bit less than of Robert Ettinger. I also find your references non-compelling, and is some cases as today's Ettinger posting observed, downright loony. Which is not to say that academic credentials and a demographic analysis or political activism are not generally good ideas. I respect the work the CI and Alcor have done in developing better relationships with government agencies. Barry Ahrens (sp?) is an enormously talented guy based on the talks he has given at Alcor conferences, and seems to be doing outstanding work as a lobbyist for Alcor and cryonics. There are already very smart, dedicated people continuing to work on this, who remain deeply involved in cryonics marketing and protection. Perhaps, however, we could begin with what we KNOW works regarding the spreading the meme of cryonics. A large percentage of the folks help sign up for cryonics have heard about this idea from a trusted friend or spouse or family member. A good first start to helping cryonics grow BEGINS with more of us becoming "OUT OF THE CLOSET CRYONICISTS." This is an idea of practical value that each person reading this board can do. So, let the memosphere and the blogoshere continue to ring with ideas about this important area of inquiry. And let's all remember that we are all working to develop this lifeboat together. And that our collective brain can be even better than our individual brains, if we learn to work together as mutually respectful adults. This posting is not a critique of anyone, including David S., but is instead an endorsement of the writings of Robert Ettinger, who continues to create prose showing he a genuine thought leader in the cryonics community and the wider world of ideas. Rudi Rudi Richard Hoffman CFP CLU ChFC I am proud to support Ron Paul for President--Google Ron Paul Board Member Financial Planning Association fpafla.com Board Member Salvation Army salvationarmy.org Member Alcor Life Extension Foundation alcor.org Certified Financial Planner(TM) CFP Board of Standards Member Libertarian Party libertarianparty.org Member National Rifle Association nra.org Member World Transhumanist Association http://transhumanism.org/ World's Leading Cryonics Insurance Provider rudihoffman.com **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001) Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=30061