X-Message-Number: 12067 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: For George Smith and others Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 22:35:51 +1000 (EST) For George Smith and others: There is very little mystery to why no cryonics group has hired a full public relations staff. They're all still very small compared to most societies in the US or the world, and correspondingly lack resources. If those who think that we first of all need to hire a public relations company are prepared to provide the money to do so, then they should do so ASAP, and end the debate over whether or not that would work. One thing a small group of people must do is to select carefully just where they will use what money they do have. Right now I would say that the most important thing is to fund (or even take part in) studies aimed at improving our suspension methods. I very much do not agree that Our Friends in the Future will solve all the problems for us --- though (since the future is a very long time indeed) I would not be surprised if eventually (hundreds of years from now) we have advanced enough that suspension patients on whom we've now given up completely turn out to be revivable. (I would not be surprised if the opposite happened, too!). But we should NOT depend on Our Friends in the Future. In this I may well differ from a substantial number of cryonicists. That is unfortunate, but those who do NOT take a religious view of cryonics must simply press on and do what they feel necessary while all the others are giving comparatively minor amounts of money while thinking about OFITF (Our Friends in the Future). For there is a very hard truth that even many cryonicists may not yet have absorbed: cryonics is presently your ONLY chance at living well past the standard age. There is no other. Cryonics, with all its faults and questions, remains the only movement offering any of us ANY hope of real, physical immortality (*). Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson (*) Yes, there is all the work on life extension. But I note that even calorie restriction, if begun in maturity, gives only about a 30% increase in lifespan. If you work away to improve cryonics, that increase may become quite meaningful; otherwise you've just lived a few years longer than normal. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12067