X-Message-Number: 23976 Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2004 12:29:53 -0400 From: randolfe wicker <> Subject: Celebrities can be valuable tools. Content-type: text/plain; charset=Windows-1252 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Free services for cryonic preservation for celebrities has been the subject of several postings recently. I personally think many of the objections to "free services" are well taken. However, I can tell you that I shared Rudi Hoffman's letter to Dr. Crick with two of the nation's leading science reporters at national publications. I got an immediate response from one asking to be kept informed of any further developments. It would be a real coop for Dr. Crick, or any scientist of similar stature, to become interested in cryonics. The controversy around Ted Williams revolved around the family squabble that followed. There was a lot of publicity but very little information involved in that news coverage. With a scientist like Dr. Crick, the debate would focus on "why" he made the decision to embrace cryonics. This would introduce the entire issue in a "arguments for" and "arguments against" format. The result would be widespread dissemination of information. Cryonics, unlike nanotechnology, calorie restriction, AI, and even the Singularity, is still dismissed out of hand. There is a new book entitled "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Cloning" by Jay D. Gralla, Ph.D., which devotes its last 100 pages to "Beyond Cloning" issues--bioengineering of plants and people, gene therapy, pharming, nanotechnology, thoughts of Ray Kurzweil, etc. Each of these subjects was explored in the "pro and con" informative format. Cryonics, Alcor and Ted Williams got totally dismissed. "Ted Williams died in 2002," the book says on page 210, "and his after-death fate has elements of farce, the grotesque,tragedy and seaminess-and it's an example of what can happen when bioengineering goes wrong." Except for cryonics, this book turned out to be an excellent reference resource -although it did give Alcor's web address. I got a basically positive legitimate non-charlatan profile on two pages which contained only two minor errors. My ideas were presented in a concise and comprehensive manner. That is saying a lot given the drivel-driven level of public discussion in books and the press about cloning in general. Of course, those opposed to cloning got the most coverage. The discussion of cryonics was totally framed by the Ted Williams controversy and coverage of the decapitation and holes being drilled in the head carried in Sports Illustrated. "Making the story even more of a farce is that John-Henry owed Alcor $110,000 for the storage, says the magazine." the two-page summary in the book concluded. "According to the magazine, an Alcor board member and advisor joked that as a way to convince John-Henry to pay up, they should throw away the body, send it in a 'frosted cardboard box' C.O.D. to John-Henry, or else put it on eBay as an auction item. "As we go to press, the story continues with no resolution. It's a cautionary tale about the desire for immortality via genetics and engineering". Failure to even be "discussed" in a far ranging and generally fair book like this one, shows how far cryonics has to go to become a mainstream subject of debate in our society. Cloningly yours, For eternal life, Randolfe Wicker Founder, Clone Rights United Front, www.clonerights.com Spokesperson, Reproductive Cloning Network, www.reproductivecloning.net Advisor, The Immortality Institute, www.imminst.org Special Correspondent, www.stemcellsclub.com email: phone: 201-656-3280 Content-type: text/html; charset=Windows-1252 [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=23976