CryoNet #32154 - #32157

CryoNet - Wed 11 Nov 2009

    #32154: immortality projects can bring death closer [John de Rivaz]
    #32155: Re: Bob Brakeman [John de Rivaz]
    #32156: RE:  immortality projects can bring death closer [Mark Plus]
    #32157: writing [Ettinger]

Rate This Digest: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32154%2D32157

Administrivia

To subscribe to CryoNet, send email to:
    [email protected]
with the subject line (not message _body_):
    subscribe
To unsubscribe, use the subject line:
    unsubscribe


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message #32154
From: "John de Rivaz" <[email protected]>
Subject: immortality projects can bring death closer
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:37:20 -0000

An article in The Guardian, ostensibly about TV personality Clive James' attitude to global warming, has a great deal to say about the failure of cryonics to attract the 30% of the population who tell pollsters that they would be interested.

>>>

In 1973 the cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker proposed that the fear of death drives us to protect ourselves with "vital lies" or "the armour of character". We defend ourselves from the ultimate terror by engaging in immortality projects, which boost our self-esteem and grant us meaning that extends beyond death. More than 300 studies conducted in 15 countries appear to confirm Becker's thesis. When people are confronted with images or words or questions that remind them of death they respond by shoring up their worldview, rejecting people and ideas that threaten it, and increasing their striving for self-esteem.

One of the most arresting findings is that immortality projects can bring death closer. In seeking to defend the symbolic, heroic self that we create to suppress thoughts of death, we might expose the physical self to greater danger. For example, researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Israel found that people who reported that driving boosted their self-esteem drove faster and took greater risks after they had been exposed to reminders of death.

<<<

more on

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/02/climate-change-denial-clive-james

-- 
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:  http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including
Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley
Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy,  Nomad .. and
more

 Content-Type: text/html;

[ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32154

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message #32155
From: "John de Rivaz" <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Bob Brakeman
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:50:49 -0000

A lot of Bob Brakeman's material appeared in Longevity Report, available on the web, http://www.longevity-report.com


-- 
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:  http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including
Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley
Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy,  Nomad .. and
more

----- Original Message ----- 

    #32153: WEHT Bob Brakeman? [rr ss]
From: rr ss <[email protected]>
Subject: WEHT Bob Brakeman?

Hey, what the heck ever happened to Bob Brakeman? Best damn cryonics writer there ever wuz.

Bob, get them writing muscles back in shape. Cryonics needs you. Have you looked at the writing product being turned out by cryonicists lately? We need you!






A lot of Bob Brakeman's material appeared in Longevity Report, available on the web, http://www.longevity-report.com


-- 
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:  http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including
Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley
Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy,  Nomad .. and
more

----- Original Message ----- 

    #32153: WEHT Bob Brakeman? [rr ss]
From: rr ss <[email protected]>
Subject: WEHT Bob Brakeman?

Hey, what the heck ever happened to Bob Brakeman? Best damn cryonics writer there ever wuz.

Bob, get them writing muscles back in shape. Cryonics needs you. Have you looked at the writing product being turned out by cryonicists lately? We need you!



 Content-Type: text/html;

[ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32155

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message #32156
From: Mark Plus <[email protected]>
Subject: RE:  immortality projects can bring death closer
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:44:23 -0800
References: <6CEEF95DEB424BD5A3A2C3AE8708A804@p4dc>

John de Rivaz writes:

>An article in The Guardian, ostensibly about TV personality Clive James' attitude to global warming, has a great deal to say about the failure of cryonics to attract the 30% of the population who tell pollsters that they would be interested.
>>>
>In 1973 the cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker proposed that the fear of death drives us to protect ourselves with "vital lies" or "the armour of character". We defend ourselves from the ultimate terror by engaging in immortality projects, which boost our self-esteem and grant us meaning that extends beyond death. More than 300 studies conducted in 15 countries appear to confirm Becker's thesis. When people are confronted with images or words or questions that remind them of death they respond by shoring up their worldview, rejecting people and ideas that threaten it, and increasing their striving for self-esteem.
>One of the most arresting findings is that immortality projects can bring death closer. In seeking to defend the symbolic, heroic self that we create to suppress thoughts of death, we might expose the physical self to greater danger. For example, researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Israel found that people who reported that driving boosted their self-esteem drove faster and took greater risks after they had been exposed to reminders of death.

In other words, humans created "self-esteem" as a kind of magical thinking to manage their terror. Self-esteem doesn't sound that far removed mentally from the wearing of talismans to ward off evil.
 
Self-esteem can generate other problems as well:
 
The Trouble With Self-Esteem
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/03/magazine/the-trouble-with-self-esteem.html
 
I submit that the human population needs less self-esteem and other magical thinking about death (e.g., singularitarianism), and more engagement with finding technological solutions to the problem.
 
Mark Plus 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
Bing brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=restaurants&form=MFESRP&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MFESRP_Local_MapsMenu_Resturants_1x1

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32156

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message #32157
From: [email protected]
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:04:59 EST
Subject: writing

(See below) Thank you. Brakeman is still involved, although 
I don't know about any recent writing of his.
 
 
This year a new version of my  book YOUNIVERSE was
published, available through Amazon.com or BN.com
(Barnes & Noble) or Universal Publishers. 
 
 
Robert Ettinger
Message #32153
Date: Mon, 9  Nov 2009 10:52:38 -0800 (PST)
From: rr ss  <[email protected]>
Subject: WEHT Bob Brakeman?

Hey, what the  heck ever happened to Bob Brakeman? Best damn cryonics 
writer there ever  wuz.

Bob, get them writing muscles back in shape. Cryonics needs you.  Have you 
looked at the writing product being turned out by cryonicists lately?  We 
need you!

Rate This Message:  http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32153




 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"

[ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32157

----------------------------------------------------------------------

End of CryoNet Digest
*********************