X-Message-Number: 33092
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: Formalised Group Approach
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:37:12 -0000


A lot has been written about the possibility of a "formalised group approach" 
for cryonics.


Historically, most revolutionary faith based movements have centred around a 
charismatic leader who attracts flock of unformalised followers. Only later do 
formalised structures appear. In the case of the followers of Christ, the Roman 
Emperor Constantine did the formalising out of a whole swarm of sects hundreds 
of years later. Once a large formalised group had been (literally in this 
instance) beaten onto shape, it can then splinter. Here the eastern orthodox and
catholic faiths were the first main branches of a tree that has now spawned 
hundreds of religions believing basically the same thing.


The difference between the early and present positions of this is that during 
this process millions of people are drawn to these unquestioning beliefs. There 
are probably more people in the Westboro Baptist Church today than the whole of 
Christianity in say 100AD, and certainly more in the Jehovah's Witnesses. Yet 
these are just minority faiths on the fringes of the mainstream Christianity.


There are some successful religions that have started with a formalised group 
approach (also known as a "business plan") before they were anything more than 
"a twinkle in the founder's eye". The only one I can think of is Scientology, 
but there must be others. But they are a small proportion of all the religions 
out there.


Supporters of cryonics could try and use an existing religion. In this case, 
some adherents of that religion may be displeased with the association. 
Alternatively, an existing religion could decide to incorporate cryonics. This 
could be very disconcerting to cryonicists for those individuals who did not 
agree with it, or more importantly if they felt the rest of the world wouldn't 
like it and therefore take a greater stance against cryonics as a result. 


How happy would we be if some hellfire cult decided that cryonics was the only 
way to avoid hellfire - and paying their leaders a large fee on the way. It may 
even double or treble our membership, but the public perception with everyone 
else may give greater long term damage.

-- 
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

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