CryoNet #32163

CryoNet - Tue 17 Nov 2009

    #32163: New old subject: belief [HEYMIKE]

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Message #32163
From: [email protected]
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:52:44 EST
Subject: New old subject: belief

It occurs to me that the biggest obstacle to cryonics is belief.  Not 
religious belief, but belief that cryonics could ever work.

If you talk someone all the way through the idea, they generally see the 
concept.  But then most choose to disbelieve it might work.  Ever.

When Apollo 11 went to the Moon, people were saying the day it launched 
that it would never get there, or that it was fake.

The day after it landed, and the excitement was over, everyone "knew" it 
was going to work all along. I remember vividly being surprised at how 
ordinary it became to everyone, and how quickly.

Remember the first heart transplant and the prevailing attitudes? 

I think that even with cell and organ and animal experiments, until the 
first person is revived, there will be a long road on the way to acceptance of 
cryonics. 

And then everyone will know that it was going to work all along. 

So in the meantime, I think that getting the word out to people is really 
important. But trying to convert someone is pretty useless.  Either they will 
accept the idea readily as a good shot at longer life, or reject it. Most 
cryonicists are born with the ability to see outside the box that contains 
most people's perceptions of reality.

 So perhaps the best policy is to get more accurate representations of 
cryonics into media distribution so those receptive can hear about cryonics and 
possibly choose to join.  But proselytizing is pretty useless, I expect.

But there is so much misinformation in popular media... the CSI Miami show 
about cryonics, which was pretty rediculous, in that the screenwriter didn't 
understand the concepts he was writing about so the characters were making 
random nonsensical commentary!   If that had been written to accurately 
reflect the hope and ideas behind cryonics, that would have been a great thing. 

As it was, it was confusing, or detrimental. 

Mike







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