X-Message-Number: 30673
References: <>
From: Kennita Watson <>
Subject: Re: Barbara Walters aging program surprisingly good! Yippee!
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 11:11:51 -0700

> From: 
>
> Did any of you catch the ABC Barbara Walters special, "Living to   
> 150...Can
> You Do It?" special last night at 10 Eastern?

I think it's on abcnews.com, and the DVD is/will be
available on abcnewsstore.com .  I may buy it just
to show that I approve of that sort of programming.
>
> Surprize!  I  thought this was a well done take on antiaging,  
> longevity, and
> cryonics. ...[kudos for ABC and the people who represented cryonics]

I was impressed because they didn't get into the
yuck-factor aspects, playing god, loneliness,
overpopulation, etc.
>
> I was dissapointed that no one got the sound bite in about the  
> substantial
> cost of procedure being generally covered with life  
> insurance...this was no
> doubt mentioned but did not survive the editing.

As far as I recall, they didn't mention expense
at all -- I usually cringe at that.  Probably
just as well that money wasn't mentioned.  They
didn't talk about how much lab-grown organs
would start out costing, either -- no sense
injecting class warfare into the discussion (I
was going to say argument, but there was no
argument; that was the beauty of the special).
>
> All in all, a bit of needed good news on the popular press front  
> regarding
> cryonics, IMO.  I even liked the Aubrey DeGray segment.    
> Congratulations to
> all involved.
>
> Any others have observations on this show?

I was stunned and elated.  Healthy aging was seen
as a good thing, living a long time (they got as
far as 1000 years) was seen as a good thing, even
sex was seen as a good thing.  They even got in a
good bit on lesbianism without noting that it
wouldn't be needed once everybody was living
longer :-) .

Showing the active centenarians was inspiring.
I'm tempted to find a prediction market and see
what I can get for various dates on which Jeanne
Calment's longevity record might be broken, and
for whether someone born in the 19th Century
will break that record.

Live long and prosper,
Kennita

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