X-Message-Number: 6282
From: 
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 19:03:17 -0400
Subject: nets & civility

Steve Bridge's renewed request for more positive postings on Cryonet
highlights again the question of optimum exploitation of the nets and the
web.

I have not had time to learn much about the web, but it is plausible that
there are a lot of good cryonics prospects out there, and we--especially
Alcor--have plenty of computer-capable people to work out a strategy, or the
mechanics for implementing a strategy. Dr. Kevin Brown, who manages Cryonet,
of course would have ideas.

If I understand it correctly, Cryonet itself goes only to its subscribers, at
most a few hundred. Posts marked SCI. CRYONICS go also to the cryonics
section of a SCIENCE listing which may be browsed by thousands. Alcor,
CryoCare, and perhaps others also have "home pages" on the Web; my impression
is that they get browsers by the dozen or possibly hundreds.

Several issues arise:

1. Are we better off with each organization doing its own thing? Will a
larger total number of people be exposed this way? Will the variation in
approaches result in something for everyone, with a larger total number moved
to participate?...........Or would some kind of consolidation convey a
stronger impression?

2. With or without some kind of consolidation or overt cooperation, is there
a practical way to reduce the worst aspects of competition? My suggestion for
a start is as follows:  Let each organization limit its public bragging to
ABSOLUTE claims, not comparative ones. In other words, just refrain from
saying that "we are the best" in this way or that way; say instead simply
that "we have this and that, we do thus and so," etc. Instead of CI saying it
is the only organization that has never raised prices, we could (and now
generally do) merely say that we have never raised our prices, period. (Our
new brochure will have only statements about CI, no comparisons or negative
statements about others.) Instead of BioP saying it is the only firm that
offers liquid lung oxygenation, it could leave out the "only"--even while
implying it by noting that it is a new technique. Instead of Alcor saying it
is the biggest, it could just state its membership and patient population.
The newcomers will make the comparisons anyway soon enough, but meanwhile
will get an impression of civility and fellowship. This policy should be
maintained in personal follow-up conversations with potential members. (In
other words, follow Grandma's advice: If you can't say something nice about
someone, don't say anything.) This may seem a difficult prescription, in an
era when Anusol knocks Preparation H right on TV, but as nascent superhumans
maybe we can pull up our socks and do it.

Newcomers are going to react not only to the logic of our thesis, but
also--and perhaps even more--to their impression of us as people. If we are
too quarrelsome or unpleasant, reactions will tend to be negative. That
doesn't mean we have to turn the other cheek all the time or be Pollyanas,
but it means using consistent good sense. 

3. We need to make our net or web postings not only informative, but
entertaining (interesting), in order to attract browsers who may then stick
around. This requires work and would be helped by cooperation. We are really
talking about an on-line publication that would be demanding but possibly
worth while. 

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society


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