X-Message-Number: 9597 Date: Sat, 2 May 1998 18:53:59 -0400 From: Saul Kent <> Subject: Opinions On Why People Don't Sign Up I asked people for their opinions on why people don't sign up for cryonics (9576) and several people responded. Here are my comments on their responses: den Otter says (9576) that he thinks that "lots of people (most?) are more or less afraid of cryonics because it's death-related and 'unconventional'. Mostly I've heard arguments like 'who wants to live again/forever', 'one life is bad enough' or 'it's not natural' or 'I believe in some (vague) life after death' etc." I agree there are many people who aren't especially interested in cryonics because they're unhappy and don't look forward to the future. I don't think it's profitable even to attempt to recruit such people because they're not motivated to attempt to live longer. I also think that people who truly believe in a religious concept of life-after-death aren't good candidates for recruitment now, although I think many of them will come around when cryonics has more credibility. As far as those people who don't sign up because cryonics is unconventional or death-related, these too will start to come around when cryonics becomes more associated with doctors and medicine than with funeral directors and death, and when cryonics has more credibility. Andrew S. Davidson says (9580) that a strong factor that keeps people from signing up is that they don't think it's possible to restore people to life after "death". I agree. The fact that we have to freeze people *after* they're declared "dead" has been a major obstacle to growth in cryonics since the beginning. Not only because it makes it difficult for many people to accept the fact that it's possible to restore a person to life after "death", but also because it makes it difficult and expensive to conduct the standby necessary to start the freezing process as soon as possible. One solution to this problem would be if laws such as the one passed in Oregon to permit assisted suicide would become widespread, but that's unlikely at this time because of staunch opposition among right-to-lifer's, physicians, and a significant segment of the general public. The best solution to the problem would be the achieve- ment of suspended animation, but that's still a long way off. How- ever, it may become possible to convince society that assisted "suicide" (or assisted cryonics) should be made legal if we can provide scientific evidence that freezing or vitrification preserves memory in laboratory animals. That's one goal that might be achievable in the relatively near future...perhaps within a few years. Davidson also notes that the media often focus on the "high" cost of cryonics, and that "the perception that freezing is an impossibly expensive procedure" may be a major factor in preventing people from signing up. This perception is easy to overcome for relatively young and healthy people by simply pointing out that using life insurance to sign up for cryonics is *not* expensive. Of course, you have to get their attention first before you can convince them of this. One way would be for cryonics organizations to put together a brochure specially designed to deliver this message. Such a brochure could not only point out that cryonics is affordable for most people, but also that there are significant costs associated with the alternatives (burial and cremation). Finally, Davidson notes that he is not yet signed up and gives several reasons for this: first, because of a "lack of confidence in the current organization"; second because of a "general feeling that I have plenty of time"; and third, because nobody is "banging on my door" trying to sell him on signing up for cryonics. I want to point out that, first, Davidson is *exactly* the kind of prospect that the cryonics organization should be making efforts to recruit. He accepts the value of the idea and he knows something about it. There are a good many others in the same boat and, I believe, that virtually all advertising and marketing efforts in cryonics should concentrate on locating and signing up such people. (In Davidson's case, we don't have to locate him; he's already located us). At a time when few people see the value of cryonics, and even fewer people can be *made* to see the value of cryonics, it is absolutely imperative to focus our marketing efforts on those who do. In other words, we have to mine the high-grade ore because other types of ore are of such a low grade that it isn't profitable to try to mine them. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9597