X-Message-Number: 32746
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: [Cryonics_Institute] Cryonet Chat call
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 09:47:18 +0100

I certainly agree with "You never know until you try" and sometimes it needs 
things to be tried several times before they catch on. Microsoft wasn't the 
first company to try and introduce a graphical user interface, for example.

However a synchronous medium of communication is somewhat "last century" 
although they do still have their place. The great thing with Yahoo groups 
and similar media is that people can communicate at the same time, or 
dispersed through time.

Two people can communicate at once in a way two people can't talk at once on 
the telephone or face to face. In a synchronous conversation, two perfectly 
valid points may be raised, but synchronously one may get forgotten or the 
conversation driven in an entirely different direction by the speaker who 
predominates.

Writers on a Yahoo group don't have to be present at the same time as they 
do on the telephone, so there isn't the situation as has been mentioned of 
some speakers having to be up, awake and on "on the ball" at 3 o'clock in 
their morning. People can't be left out because they have some other 
engagement at the same time.

If some writing isn't clear, it can be re-read until it is without 
irritating the author by what may be seen as silly questions. In scientific 
matters, there is time for things to be looked up from other sources.

Different means of communication bring out ideas in different ways. The 
telephone can make the people on either end of it focus in a way they can't 
if physically present and liable to interruption. An oft repeated comic 
sketch or cartoon is of someone in a queue at a shop telephoning the shop on 
a mobile telephone to make an enquiry. It doesn't work if someone else has 
already telephoned the shop.

Even hand written letters can make people focus their thoughts in a way that 
direct conversation cannot. The computer improves on this by enabling 
corrections to be performed without spending nearly as much time or 
introducing new errors. And then the speed of email followed the convenience 
of the word processor. However people need to be aware that email isn't 
totally reliable, so if an important message is ignored, it may be that the 
recipient never got it, so send again the next day. Subtle clues such as 
body language aren't present, which can lead to people being uneccessarily 
agressive with emails, but once one is aware of this care can usually be 
taken or allowance made to correct for this.

-- 
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:  http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including
Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley
Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy,  Nomad .. and
more

<del>
A similar earlier effort with the Cryonics Institute group also had just
two people. While this seemed like a good idea and it worked well
technically, it appears there is just not much interest. I doubt that I'll 
try to
repeat it.

You never know until you try, and I'm glad we were able to try, but it just
didn't go. Thanks to all who had suggestions.

<del> 

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