Well, the question is how to spin it as medical care.
As I see it the political biases are very deep and pernicious, firstly there ‘s there right, with its view of a god given natural order, and how breaking free of that is an affront to any such entity. Then there’s the woo laden portions of the left, which take a distinctly non-reductionist view of the world, accepting things like homeopathy and whatnot. Speaking from experience, a lot of people with that worldview have two major roadblocks to accepting cryonics, firstly a steadfast belief that ‘natural == good’ and a distinctly dualist view of consciousness. (how those translate into not liking cryonics is an exercise for the reader :P )
The big problem with any marketing campaign, is that is will trigger the ire/disdain/revulsion of these groups, and neither of them are known for being quiet. Coupled with the fact that both groups are quite susceptible to fads …
Really, there’s a significant risk that any marketing campaign will leave cryonics (and possibly rationalism) worse off culturally, due to the backlash, and the already low status if the idea.
There is a way around this though. One way to lift a low status idea is by associating it with a high status group. So what sort of group can we attach it to? Well, first let’s see how we can evangelize here without trouble, it’s partly our small size, but mainly because LW selects for the sort of people who’d like the idea anyway.
Now we’re too small to have status, so yeah associating cryonics with us wouldn’t help. But when thinking of groups that both have high status and have a probable friendly disposition to cryonics, one in particular comes to mind (i’m sure there are others though) googlers.
Now, people who work at google are preselected in a way that probably corresponds favorably to rationality. Google also has money, provides the people who work there with insurance, and there’s good evidence that Larry Page has a distinctly singularitarian/transhumanist leaning.
I’d say we’re likely to get more cultural cachet for cryonics if google were to quietly insert a little opt-in cryonics insurance checkbox on their insurance forms, than from a more direct marketing campaign. I mean, even keeping it quiet the word of it will leak, and it’ll prompt a discussion among the tech business aware. There’ll be little media backlash from the religious right and silly left, because it’s all too easy to dismiss it as “silly geeks doing their silly geek things”.
Anyway that’s my probably silly take on this. Feel free to rip it to shreds ^_^
Edit: Erm, i forgot to answer my “How to spin it as medical care?” opening … oops. Oh well, i’m too tired to fix it.
P.S. Alicorn: I’ve been reading your fiction, it’s quite good :)
Well, the question is how to spin it as medical care.
As I see it the political biases are very deep and pernicious, firstly there ‘s there right, with its view of a god given natural order, and how breaking free of that is an affront to any such entity. Then there’s the woo laden portions of the left, which take a distinctly non-reductionist view of the world, accepting things like homeopathy and whatnot. Speaking from experience, a lot of people with that worldview have two major roadblocks to accepting cryonics, firstly a steadfast belief that ‘natural == good’ and a distinctly dualist view of consciousness. (how those translate into not liking cryonics is an exercise for the reader :P )
The big problem with any marketing campaign, is that is will trigger the ire/disdain/revulsion of these groups, and neither of them are known for being quiet. Coupled with the fact that both groups are quite susceptible to fads …
Really, there’s a significant risk that any marketing campaign will leave cryonics (and possibly rationalism) worse off culturally, due to the backlash, and the already low status if the idea.
There is a way around this though. One way to lift a low status idea is by associating it with a high status group. So what sort of group can we attach it to? Well, first let’s see how we can evangelize here without trouble, it’s partly our small size, but mainly because LW selects for the sort of people who’d like the idea anyway.
Now we’re too small to have status, so yeah associating cryonics with us wouldn’t help. But when thinking of groups that both have high status and have a probable friendly disposition to cryonics, one in particular comes to mind (i’m sure there are others though) googlers.
Now, people who work at google are preselected in a way that probably corresponds favorably to rationality. Google also has money, provides the people who work there with insurance, and there’s good evidence that Larry Page has a distinctly singularitarian/transhumanist leaning.
I’d say we’re likely to get more cultural cachet for cryonics if google were to quietly insert a little opt-in cryonics insurance checkbox on their insurance forms, than from a more direct marketing campaign. I mean, even keeping it quiet the word of it will leak, and it’ll prompt a discussion among the tech business aware. There’ll be little media backlash from the religious right and silly left, because it’s all too easy to dismiss it as “silly geeks doing their silly geek things”.
Anyway that’s my probably silly take on this. Feel free to rip it to shreds ^_^
Edit: Erm, i forgot to answer my “How to spin it as medical care?” opening … oops. Oh well, i’m too tired to fix it.
P.S. Alicorn: I’ve been reading your fiction, it’s quite good :)