X-Message-Number: 31291 From: Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:01:38 EST Subject: Congratulations to Regina and Phoenix group In a message dated 12/22/2008 5:00:43 AM Eastern Standard Time, writes: So, yeah, we got some community going on. Come visit! www.meetup.com (search Cryonics Phoenix and you'll find us) http://hplusclub.com/ (on left go to "Chapters" and you'll see) Regina Pancake Thank you, Regina Pancake, for the detailed and inspiring posting of the activities of the Phoenix based cryonicist/ transhumanist groups. I could be wrong, but I feel strongly this type of activity is precisely what cryonics needs. Yes, the technical components obviously need further development (I hasten to add because of the nature of the some of the unnecessarily critical posts that occur on cryonet.) If you look at any organization, business, church, community group, political affiliation, movement that succeeds, they HAVE a sense of community. And regular local and social infrastructure that people can plug into and be a part of. Just because a fairly high percentage of cryonicists tend to be independent, anti-authoritarian, libertarian oriented folks, does not mean that voluntary community building is not a vital but sadly overlooked component of growth and vibrancy. Humans, even smart humans, still feel the pull of tribalism, and there are all sorts of good reasons why the we as a group with an interest in expanded healthspans should seek and develop social infrastructure. The developer of a highly successful marketing firm, which had astounding growth and vibrancy, was a master at motivation and growth. (It is useful to take advice from folks who have documentable and undeniable track records of effectiveness...as opposed to giving much consideration to unsolicited advice from anonymous and obscure dilatante detractors.) Anyway, in a period of about 8 years, this guy built an organization of about 80,000 licensed individuals, and changed an entire industry. The annual meetings of this group were legendary, epic, powerful, and memorrable. He often said, "You build from EVENT to EVENT." Which is why I think it is regretable that there is no Alcor/cryonics meeting scheduled for 2009. CI will be having their annual meeting. And I understand it takes huge time and money committments to put on a quality meeting. And why WE as a grassroots group of individuals need to CREATE meetings and opportunities for friendships and mutual support to happen. I am going to be pulling a gathering together in the Spring of 2009 in Florida, and I would be happy to have suggestions and/or someone volunteer to be a point person for this. More on this later. So, again, thank you to Regina and Aschwin and Chana and Richard and folks who are making the BEST elements of "community" happen. Happy Holidays, Rudi Rudi Richard Hoffman CFP CLU ChFC 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 **************One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025) Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=31291