X-Message-Number: 3554
From: Peter Merel <>
Subject: CRYONICS Marketing cryonics.
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 1994 14:45:12 +1100 (EST)

Robert Ettinger writes,

>I think it is appropriate to call computer people "scientists"--they are not
>"engineers" in the traditional sense. Certainly the software people are
>applied mathematicians and work very rigorously. 

My apologies if it appeared that I was debating your dictionary. For me,
it is clear that an engineer constructs things, and a scientist discovers
things, and that the two activities are generally quite different. The
reason I drew the distinction was that your original mail asked why 
'computer people' are better represented among cryonicists than other
"scientists"; if you don't feel the distinction answers this then I'm happy 
to forget it.

However I have another suggestion as to why "computer people" are so
well represented. Perhaps, rather than "computer people" per se, 
it is Internet veterans that constitute the majority of the cryonics 
enthusiasts, and perhaps it is _this_very_list_ that is responsible for 
that - in which case all credit to Kevin, of course.

>I did NOT  say or imply that computer people think anything is possible--I
>was saying (clearly enough, I thought) the same thing as Mr. Merel, just that
>they believe sufficient work and ingenuity will eventually make feasible
>whatever is possible in theory (a weak form of the Feinberg Principle).

Your original posting said that "[...] ingenuity can accomplish almost 
anything". If my interpretation of your comment was broader than you intended
then again I can only apologise.
 
>On Mr. Merel's suggestions for improving public relations and recruitment in
>cryonics, I'm a bit puzzled. Does he think Bill Gates (or any very wealthy
>person) would endorse cryonics because he is offered a free freezing? 

Of course not. I plainly suggested that media-shapers and popular icons should
be directly canvassed because of the effect that their opinions can have on
their fans/flunkies. Free suspension might not get you Bill Gates's ear, but
it certainly would get the ear of some mass market idols, producers, writers 
and commentators. What does it hurt to try? 

I take your point that Gates certainly doesn't need to be concerned with
membership fees :-) Neither, I imagine do Jobs, Atkinson, Berners-Lee, 
Stallman, Torvalds or any of the other techno-luminaries. Still, what's 
to lose? 

>As for COCOON and the like, millions HAVE seen those fictions, and 
>hundreds have been involved in their production, with no visible result.

Exactly, you said the magic word. Fiction. People are used to thinking about
resurrection as a power reserved for use by gods, supermen and extra-
terrestrials. As long as they continue to think that way, they'll laugh in
your face. What I was suggesting was that these images be used as reference
material - take that Cocoon scene and add a fellow in a white coat saying,
"once upon a time, space travel, computers, atomic bombs and the Internet 
were science fiction. Today all these things are reality. Cryonics is real 
too - call <insert number here> for more information".

Okay, I'm no marketeer; all I'm suggesting is that such marketing can work.

>Would one week of prime time advertising have a million customers lined up?
>No one with the ability to pay for it seems to think so. 

Ah, it hasn't been done so it can't be done ...

>At any rate, Cryonics Institute will probably get a fair amount of free 
>advertising this year, and we expect at least some acceleration.

Do you mean the sort of article that features a coroner, a church leader and
a "scientist" who will speak against cryonics with a sidebar featuring 
sleeping bags in dewars? That sort of "balanced" article reinforces the 
popular view of cryonicists-as-eccentrics - it will lose as many clients 
as it gains. 

No offence intended, and I'm well aware of your your devotion to the work that
you yourself pioneered, but I think that what's needed is something that will 
grab the punters in their millions, not in their dozens, something that alters 
the stereotypes. If cryonics can shake off its "looney" image then it will
attract the investment and custom that would make its finances secure and 
its development rapid. All means of doing this should be pursued.

--

Internet:           |         Accept Everything.            |

http://www.usyd.edu.au/~pete           |         Reject Nothing.               |

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