X-Message-Number: 8928
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #8923 - #8925
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 00:35:18 -0800 (PST)

Hi Keith!

A small comment. When I read Peter Merel's message I thought he was writing in
jest. Even without the ;) sign, what he was saying was so far out of it that
he had to be joking. Of course, he may chime in here to give his own statement.

In one way, though disappointing, it was still interesting what happened to
Leary. We see all these Public Figgers in the newspaper and on Terribleision.
Some are scientists, some a politicians, businessmen, etc. ALL have gotten in
the public eye (=) (a representation of the public eye). And doing so may 
give them a feeling of immortality which they do not want to lose. For such
people, to actually arrange for your cryonic suspension, and then go through
with it, may seem the ultimate betrayal of the public whose attention and
acclaim they have come to crave. And so they become very hard to convince to
join --- much harder than others who are not "famous" --- and hard to 
keep once they've joined. While others, not so enmeshed in the web of fame,
continue to join (even if slowly) and then get frozen when nothing else can
be done for them.

I'm thinking of all the many Public Figgers that have briefly turned to us
and then turned away. 

Someday we may actually convince the public that suspension is the wise
thing to do. Then we'll see such a person join and stay with it. But to get
them to join beforehand is trying to do it backwards: so long as that web of
fame holds them, the spiders who built it must first be convinced about
cryonics. And its those spiders who control their Figgers even though the
Figgers fondly believe themselves to be in control.

			Best and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8928