X-Message-Number: 13174
From: Daniel Ust <>
Subject: Re: #13162 promoting cryonics
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 10:42:06 -0500 

On Sat, 29 Jan 2000 17:05:49 PST "john grigg"  wrote:
>I do know there was a table set up by Alcor to do promotion at a major
science-
>fiction Con several years ago but interest was not overwhelming.

I'd heard the same several years ago at a NYC meeting.  In another post, I
mention that we need to examine too why these things pass of fail.  We also
need to understand that what doesn't work at one time might work at another
- and this applies to audiences and venues too.  If promotions are not done
in a systematic way and if people expect a "magic bullet" - such as 30 new
people signing up in a week - then failure will most likely result and we
will wind up with the culture of pessimism that infects a lot of small
movements.

In this case, which SF Convention was it?  What was the response?  What was
done to promote cryonics there?  A booth?  Pamphlets?  Hawking the wares?:)
How did the [cryonics] people handle themselves?  Was there an "post mortem"
on what happened - or was the low response something just mentioned in
passing and the idea of ever doing this again trashed?

>I think the idea of promoting cryonics on college campuses is a great one.
>Has it been tried?  College students are at a stage in their development.
>where they might be more open to cryonics then any other age group.
>Taking cryonics "on the road" by giving lectures at campuses nation-wide
>could be a great method of reaching others for successful promotion.  It
>could "plant seeds" that bear fruit if not right away then years down the
>road.

This is the idea!  However, one minor criticism.  I'd say start out by
setting up such things in campuses where it is convenient to cryonics
organizations and such so as to keep costs low.  For instance, the Boston
area not only has lots of colleges but lots of transhumanists and
technology-oriented people.  I think that would be a good area to start - as
opposed to trying to start up a (costly) road show or cover each and every
event that happens anywhere on the planet.

>I realize many people already have heard of cryonics but only a very
>few go all the way to sign up but again, the college demographic is the
>one we should be reaching out to for longterm growth.

I've seen it mentioned that many people - probably just about anyone with a
TV set or who goes to the movies regularly - know about cryonics.  (This
comment is not directed at John, but at what I see as the accepted wisdom
here.)  There's a big difference, however, between having a vague idea of
something and being willing to commit to it.  (I think this is what Thomas
Donaldson is getting at in his previous posts.)  The problem here is that
this should not be viewed as a binary process - that having the population
know a tiny bit about cryonics is enough.  We should not think that people
right now have enough information about cryonics and a few who we can reach
by more intensive methods is enough.  I think that accepting that is
accepting a low and slow growth strategy.

Add to this, that if more people become interested in the idea - at whatever
level of knowledge and commitment - more cryonics organizations might sprout
up.  Different approaches might be tried.  All of this because more minds
usually equals more imagination, more creativity, and more results.

At least, this is my hope.

Daniel Ust
http://mars.superlink.net/neptune/

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