X-Message-Number: 3930 Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 17:33:04 From: Steve Bridge <> Subject: College cryonics lectures To CryoNet >From Steve Bridge, Alcor February 28, 1995 In reply to: Message #3916 From: (Joseph J. Strout) Subject: Campus speakers? Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 11:53:03 -0800 (PST) Mr. Strout asks about whether campus talks are generally given, whether they are effective, and if there is anyone on-line here who can give such a talk at UCSD (which I assume is University of California at San Diego). Several of us on CryoNet have given public talks on cryonics, to audiences from grade school through senior citizens. I have given dozens of these talks myself over the years, including to college students, and I know that Bob Ettinger, Mike Darwin, Ralph Merkle, Steve Harris, Keith Henson, Carlos Mondragon, Brenda Peters, Jim Yount, Dave Pizer, and Derek Ryan also have done many. And I'm probably forgetting some people. Matching the right speaker with the right audience can sometimes be tricky, although most of us can handle most audiences. For instance, I am adept with general audiences and students; but do not have the technical background to do as well in front of a neurology convention. If I needed someone to talk to nanotechnologists or computer people, I might think first of Ralph Merkle (a Xerox nanotechnology researcher). To a group of pathologists, Steve Harris (an M.D.). Both would be interesting in a talk to a neuroscience department, although they might give very different presentations. Bob Ettinger and Mike Darwin would also do fairly well with neurologists (again with much different talks than either Merkle or Harris), although both have cut back severely on the number of presentations they do. Then there are the political considerations. There are several different cryonics groups. Since none of us want the rival organizations to have the jump on us, there is a tendency for several of us to volunteer for things like this, and each of us would emphasis our own organizations in our talks. As far as I am aware, there is no totally "non-partisan" cryonics speaker out there yet. >I would think that this would be a >inexpensive and particularly compelling way to reach a good pool of >potential customers. "Inexpensive" can be defined in many ways. If I take a day or two out of my life to fly somewhere to give a free talk for 25 random people, this is VERY expensive in terms of my time and what else I could have done with it. The price of the flight can be less significant. I wouldn't be surprised if the people named above have given a total of over one thousand group talks about cryonics, yet there are well under one thousand suspension members total in all of the cryonics organizations. Short- term, this is not very cost-efficient. Yet, some valuable people were brought into cryonics because of public talks they heard. Every opportunity to have the ideas heard *might* be the one that brings in the next dedicated researcher or wealthy benefactor. And, especially with young people, new ideas planted today might bear fruit a decade later. That has always been our idea, although I admit that so far the statistical evidence is pretty slim for this in cryonics. > College students, we may also suspect, might be more receptive to >what is still a new idea (to most people) than the average American would >be. On the other hand, I suppose most college students are not yet >sufficiently concerned about their deaths to do anything about it. Right on both counts. Also college students are poor, busy with studies, and being bombarded with dozens of new ideas, lifestyles, and career possibilities -- not to mention the distractions of sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. Most college students are ready to say what a neat idea this is; but much less ready to give it their full attention or take action. (As a counter-balance to this, there are a number of full-time students who are sign-up cryonicists; although most of them are older, "back-to- school" types.) >Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing opinions on the notion of campus >talks in general, and whether anyone could be persuaded to come speak >at UCSD in particular (in particular, that I may help arrange it). I'd be happy to come to SD sometime for a general audience talk, and I suspect some others would also. Some of the above names might be willing to talk to your neurosciences department. Most of us would be much more willing to come your way if some benefits could be added: 1. Expenses being paid. 2. If it is a general college crowd, charge a couple of bucks each and pay the speaker a fee. This might even make the speaker look more important and draw a bigger audience. 3. Arrange for the speaker to be interviewed by the local college paper, the best city paper, and local TV and radio while they are visiting. It exposes many more people to the ideas and increases the cost-effectiveness of the trip. 4. Promise to do some real publicity for the talk. Nothing is more depressing than to spend a lot of time preparing for a presentation, then speaking to three people because the organizer had a term paper due and couldn't get around to notifying the newspapers, radio station, etc., that the program was being offered. This includes you personally inviting people you know would be interested and possibly arranging an advance newspaper or radio interview over the phone to plug the talk. Now, I didn't exactly make your life easier with these suggestions; but just think how much more "interesting" it's going to be! Steve Bridge Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3930