X-Message-Number: 11146
From: 
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 09:41:52 EST
Subject: growth in cryonics

Philip Rhoades asks whether there has been any increase in interest in
cryonics in recent years.

The short answer is yes, but slowly and irregularly. Growth in patient
population--at Cryonics Institute in particular--has been more striking than
growth in membership. We currently have 29 human patients (all full body), of
whom all but two came in this decade, and seven in 1998 (including two
transfers from another organization). Interest as measured by media requests
for interviews and tours has also increased in the last couple of years. 

My guesses as to explanations are mainly as follows:

1. The overriding reason for slow growth has always been, and continues to be,
just the weight of cultural inertia, our radically different viewpoint,
together with the reluctance of almost everyone to expend effort and money for
an uncertain reward (however potentially large) in a dim future and in the
absence of support by major institutions. 

2. The main reasons for noticeable recent improvement in interest include (a)
the cumulative effect of constant new achievements in science and medicine,
including more and more open talk about "immortality;" (b) the cumulative
effect of books including fiction such as Halperin's, and (c) the greater ease
of locating us and becoming informed through the Web.  

I believe that, beneath the surface, public psychology is slowly shifting in
our favor, and any of several possible catalysts or triggers could suddenly
produce a surge of action. The catalyst need not necessarily be anything
dramatic (such as a break-through in perfected cryopreservation methods), and
may not even be identifiable after the fact (just as reversals of stock market
psychology are sometimes not clearly identifiable even by hindsight). 

As always, the thing to remember is that your personal participation, as soon
as possible and as actively as possible, will improve your own chances both
directly and through its contribution to your organization, the immortalist
movement, and public perception. 

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org

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