X-Message-Number: 8784
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #8775 - #8779
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 22:05:55 -0800 (PST)

Hi again!

Steve Harris has once more chimed in with some very useful ideas.

My sense of the situation with recruiting corresponds in some ways to Steve
Harris's, others not. Lots of people don't want to do anything different from
those around them, mainly because they think it will alienate them from
those around them. We almost ALL do want some kind of social contact, even the
technogeeks. Many people just don't want to stand out by doing something
odd; sure, they're happy to stand out for doing something those around them
support, but not otherwise (sure, they'll do the PC things, but certainly
nothing different from PC --- even if it isn't the opposite of PC). This sense
of fear about doing anything really different, and fear of the isolation it
might cause, is so strong that such people seem to happily give up their 
lives to prevent it.

When I was living and working in Australia, and even a bit now in the US, I
got lots of interviews, and so got to speak to people who in some sense
knew about cryonics but had not joined. For what it's worth, here were some
of their questions:

I've been interviewed by several newsmen or newswomen over the years who 
ask about whether or not I would feel alone after my revival. The first time,
I said I would make new friends. I said the same on the second time. Finally,
I got a bit irritated and simply shrugged, saying: well, I won't feel alone
because lots of people I know are going to be suspended too. Not only was it,
by that time, an entirely correct answer, but it left the newperson hanging in
the air, not knowing what to say for a few seconds.

I've also encountered a good number of people who don't doubt, even now, that
it will work. Usually when I ask such people why they haven't joined the
most I can get out of them is a shrug. I've never found such a person who
could tell me why.

One cure for that sense of isolation people may fear is simply to make sure
we have plenty of meetings and a wide spectrum of cryonicists present there.
Not everyone, even in Silicon Valley, is involved with computers. There is,
after all, the biotech side to Silicon Valley. Then we ALL will be able to
say, truthfully, that we have many friends who will also be suspended.

Steve's point about why simply asking people probably won't work is a good one.
If we really try to find out, empirically, just why people don't sign up
then we'll have to work out a more subtle way. I still think it can be
done, but not easily. Suggestions welcome.

			Best and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson

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