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#1 caliban

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Posted 11 June 2009 - 02:56 PM


This forum is a trial for assembling a team that shares information and co-ordinates efforts in contacting 'famous' people.

Team Leader is dfowler, with oversight by ImmInst chair Shannon Vyff.

I have moves some previos discussions here, let the navigators know if there are others.
Also set up a wiki page to consolidate information: http://www.imminst.o...hp/VIP_outreach

Good Luck!




To join, indicate your interest in a reply at this topic. Team is currently looking for people to help edit letters, and people interested in making the calls to the VIPs in one of the developing stages of the project.

Edited by brokenportal, 26 August 2009 - 12:02 AM.
to add in join note


#2 bacopa

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Posted 12 June 2009 - 04:56 AM

Well my latest idea is to have a draft letter created, a template if you will, of a letter that will go out to most of the VIP, which is a better term for it imo. We could also make calls and either read from the letter or memorize the content of the letter.

Shepard recommended that I make changes in the letter for scientists like Richard Dawkins. Maybe the changes could include a more science based approach since he would appreciate a science angle, I believe.

The hard work will be getting enough people on board for this project, and figuring out who to contact and why. But I've advertised this project several times in the Contacting Celebs thread, which I should continue to bump and if I don't than BrokenPortal or anyone else can, if they want.

Once we have people on board the next thing will be to actually make a successful contact. This could be extremely hard but it's like throwing darts; the more you do the better the chances of success.

Than Portal suggested if we get them on board tell them, or write to them, that a sponsor I think, will call them and talk to them about getting on the Sunday chat.

Than we have done our job if that celeb agrees to it. From there we can get them to spread the meme on talk shows like Letterman, as a random example, and we can eventually down the line see if they wish to contribute to the cause. As Portal suggested we should just tell them information and not try to do a hard sell of this kind of thing.

We keep doing this with as many people as we can get on board. Life extension should be an easy sell as no one wants to die and this doesn't matter if you are atheist or religious.

So I'm excited about this project as I think it could really get some interest from around the world if we can get VIP's on board for it.

Shannon? Portal? Feel free to chime in.

Edited by dfowler, 12 June 2009 - 04:59 AM.


#3 bacopa

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Posted 12 June 2009 - 05:05 AM

Some great links Caliban. Now we have to figure out who to contact. It is my suggestion that we contact Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time, a political show with guests on including politicians, scientists, religious people, and celebs. Bill is an agnostic from what I gather and he despises organized religion as evidence watch Religiolous; a film that asks some pretty controversial questions regarding does God exist? Does heaven exist? etc. I only saw the beginning unfortunately.

Bill Maher is a very sarcastic and intelligent guy who probably would take interest in the field of life extension.

I'll look for his address tomorrow. If I have no luck than someone else who would like to go for it should do so.

Your thoughts on Bill Maher as our first attempted contact. If there is a better method for going about this than please tell me. For instance we could first gather a group of members interested and than have each of them come up with a specific celeb.

thoughts?

Edited by dfowler, 12 June 2009 - 05:19 AM.


#4 bacopa

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Posted 12 June 2009 - 05:16 AM

Alright, this looks like a fantastic site that lists every celeb known to man. The problem is it is a paid site. I was wondering if imminst could get a group subscription at this site than it would be pennies for each of us. I think the site charges $27 a month, which is really expensive, I know. Here is the site http://www.contactan.../index-test.htm People chime in here.

#5 Shannon Vyff

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Posted 19 June 2009 - 03:51 PM

I would not trust that website, usually it costs to contact celebrities as you have your paid publicist contact their publicist. Now, if a reputable review "vetted' the site, and someone we knew used it with success then, possibly. Bill Maher would rip apart extreme life extension because of all the other problems he'd deem as more pressing. Someone like Jon Stewart would be more supportive-
-again having a top-notch publicist (usually paid for by your publishing or production company) gets you on the various news shows. I still think that sending letters with books would have a better chance of getting through to some celebrities, they are used to getting gifts--if the book interests them they may read it. The Scientific Conquest of Death and Ending Aging have catchy titles, the content is not that entertaining however, they'd have to be interested in the science and questions regarding living longer.

#6 bacopa

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Posted 22 June 2009 - 12:18 AM

I would not trust that website, usually it costs to contact celebrities as you have your paid publicist contact their publicist. Now, if a reputable review "vetted' the site, and someone we knew used it with success then, possibly. Bill Maher would rip apart extreme life extension because of all the other problems he'd deem as more pressing. Someone like Jon Stewart would be more supportive-
-again having a top-notch publicist (usually paid for by your publishing or production company) gets you on the various news shows. I still think that sending letters with books would have a better chance of getting through to some celebrities, they are used to getting gifts--if the book interests them they may read it. The Scientific Conquest of Death and Ending Aging have catchy titles, the content is not that entertaining however, they'd have to be interested in the science and questions regarding living longer.


I don't think Bill would rip apart life extension if we put it in more modest ways. He's way against religion and probably fears death himself. I don't see your argument for why Stewart would be more interested? Maher focuses alot on religious ideologies and all that it has done to subjegate science. Stewart would be more mainstream in my opinion. I agree with you on the publicist idea however. But how would we get the publicists names and numbers? I agree that the Aubrey book would be the best to send.

#7 bacopa

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Posted 22 June 2009 - 07:09 AM

Shannon and Brokenportal. I just read a very encouraging article that Bill Gates has promised to give the vast majority of his own wealth as well as all the money made from his foundation to various charities from vaccinations for the poor, laptops for the poor, research into AIDS, and scholarship funding. Perhaps, and this idea maybe shot down, we could contact his foundation, or him directly, and try to interest him and educate him more on what we're doing here. The Longevity Dividend states that in time trillions will be saved by simply delaying the aging process. If this is true than I would imagine someone like Gates would see it not only as advantageous to himself and the world but it will free up funds that can be better allocated to his charities of choice. So I think someone like Bill Gates would be someone we could really interest in radical life extension. He already is interested in existential dillemmas like polio and malaria that in some countries are killing hundreds of thousands. So why wouldn't he be interested in this?

Edited by dfowler, 22 June 2009 - 07:35 PM.


#8 bacopa

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Posted 22 June 2009 - 08:13 AM

Here's a favorable review of the King of Contacting Celebrity Website. http://www.make-easy.....y review.html

Here's another contacting celeb paid site
http://www.contactvip.com/

Edited by dfowler, 22 June 2009 - 08:15 AM.


#9 brokenportal

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Posted 22 June 2009 - 05:53 PM

Why dont you at least start off with some free listings that you can find. See what kind of success you get from these contacts and then report on it here. Depending on that then we can consider maybe ordering a couple dozen books to send out like Shannon says, or something like that.

If I were you, I would schedule a meeting/workshop time for this each week, and then work on contacting these people for at least that amount of time. It will give you something to aim for, it will give you a consistent time to work on it which will build over time, and it will give other people an easier way to catch up with you and join in on the action.

#10 seekonk

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Posted 22 June 2009 - 06:23 PM

Not going to happen.

Life extension for its own sake is rightly or wrongly considered by society to be a self-serving pursuit. No celebrity with a minimally intelligent PR person is going to risk the inevitable brand damage. Well, you might get the crazy ones, like the scientologists, to play along, but that would be more damaging than helpful.

#11 brokenportal

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Posted 22 June 2009 - 06:51 PM

Life Extension is considered as whatever people consider it as based on the amount of and sources of information they have been exposed to about it. The people that you see that see life extension as a self serving pursuit dont think that because they are fully informed about ending aging and indefinite life extension. They see it that way because they are under informed. I cant even think of anybody I know of that thinks about life extension in terms of being a self serving pursuit. The thing I see the most is people that are slowly catching on to and thinking more and more about the implications and realities of this cause.

Thats great news, thats no problem, thats what people like us are here for. This cause isnt going to go from 0 to accepted by the world because a few of us think it should. Its going to take continued work and diligence on our part, which we are doing. We are getting there.

Celebrities have minds of their own. Some are ultra conservative and wont talk to us, some are liberal and can think outside of the box. If we can find a VIP who realizes the realities of this cause, they are going to latch on. They wont all latch on, your right, but we dont need them all.

#12 DJS

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Posted 22 June 2009 - 07:09 PM

Although I believe that Devon&Co will do a great job writing outreach letters I do hope that there will be a review process before sending anything out?!

Well, good luck on this. I think the probability of 'connecting' with any one particular celebrity is low, but the impact of getting even one on board would be well worth the effort.

If I were you I wouldn't waste my time with Dawkins, but go ahead and knock yourself out. :)

#13 bacopa

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Posted 22 June 2009 - 07:34 PM

Although I believe that Devon&Co will do a great job writing outreach letters I do hope that there will be a review process before sending anything out?!

Well, good luck on this. I think the probability of 'connecting' with any one particular celebrity is low, but the impact of getting even one on board would be well worth the effort.

If I were you I wouldn't waste my time with Dawkins, but go ahead and knock yourself out. :)


Yes Don I will ensure that at least a few people look at the letters before sending them out. I may not be the best person right now for writing these letters due to all I've been through. However my girlfriend Lauren is an excellent writer and has agreed to help out. If you can recommend anyone else who writes well and would be exellent at writing this kind of letter please tell me!

On that note is there anyone here who thinks they could compose a great letter to VIP's?

#14 solbanger

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Posted 26 June 2009 - 01:36 PM

Life Extension is considered as whatever people consider it as based on the amount of and sources of information they have been exposed to about it. The people that you see that see life extension as a self serving pursuit dont think that because they are fully informed about ending aging and indefinite life extension. They see it that way because they are under informed. I cant even think of anybody I know of that thinks about life extension in terms of being a self serving pursuit. The thing I see the most is people that are slowly catching on to and thinking more and more about the implications and realities of this cause.

Thats great news, thats no problem, thats what people like us are here for. This cause isnt going to go from 0 to accepted by the world because a few of us think it should. Its going to take continued work and diligence on our part, which we are doing. We are getting there.

Celebrities have minds of their own. Some are ultra conservative and wont talk to us, some are liberal and can think outside of the box. If we can find a VIP who realizes the realities of this cause, they are going to latch on. They wont all latch on, your right, but we dont need them all.


That's very true. All you have to do is spin it as a Health and Wellness concept that will allieviate old-timers of their pains. Kind of like the next step after taking Metamucil. Not too far fetched and "humble" in its advertising appeal. I could imagine the ads being just like a pill commercial with a couple of 60-year-olds smirking while playing a soft game of tennis.

Better that than the kneejerk image of the immortality seeker as a bloodshot eyed lunatic who equates immortality with superpowers like ray beams or super strength and only wants it to press an advantage on others. This is merely an image of desperation and not even representative of what life extension really is. I mean nobody equates cancer treatments to a mad retention of power.

After all life extension is really just the next step in medical technology, albeit more of a pole vault than a hop. So sell it as a mindbending treatment of ills, rather than some science project for the powerhungry. After all many celebrities live in a wonderland that they think will never end and they would love to do some good in this world in order to relieve their guilt for having so much pleasure as the world writhes in misery. This could be something that leaves a lasting impression on the populace as a medical revolution branded by famous donors.

#15 bacopa

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Posted 27 June 2009 - 10:28 AM

Life Extension is considered as whatever people consider it as based on the amount of and sources of information they have been exposed to about it. The people that you see that see life extension as a self serving pursuit dont think that because they are fully informed about ending aging and indefinite life extension. They see it that way because they are under informed. I cant even think of anybody I know of that thinks about life extension in terms of being a self serving pursuit. The thing I see the most is people that are slowly catching on to and thinking more and more about the implications and realities of this cause.

Thats great news, thats no problem, thats what people like us are here for. This cause isnt going to go from 0 to accepted by the world because a few of us think it should. Its going to take continued work and diligence on our part, which we are doing. We are getting there.

Celebrities have minds of their own. Some are ultra conservative and wont talk to us, some are liberal and can think outside of the box. If we can find a VIP who realizes the realities of this cause, they are going to latch on. They wont all latch on, your right, but we dont need them all.


That's very true. All you have to do is spin it as a Health and Wellness concept that will allieviate old-timers of their pains. Kind of like the next step after taking Metamucil. Not too far fetched and "humble" in its advertising appeal. I could imagine the ads being just like a pill commercial with a couple of 60-year-olds smirking while playing a soft game of tennis.

Better that than the kneejerk image of the immortality seeker as a bloodshot eyed lunatic who equates immortality with superpowers like ray beams or super strength and only wants it to press an advantage on others. This is merely an image of desperation and not even representative of what life extension really is. I mean nobody equates cancer treatments to a mad retention of power.

After all life extension is really just the next step in medical technology, albeit more of a pole vault than a hop. So sell it as a mindbending treatment of ills, rather than some science project for the powerhungry. After all many celebrities live in a wonderland that they think will never end and they would love to do some good in this world in order to relieve their guilt for having so much pleasure as the world writhes in misery. This could be something that leaves a lasting impression on the populace as a medical revolution branded by famous donors.


Yes I never understood how these rich and seemingly happy celebs don't get mad about it all coming to a quick end so soon. But a great example is Bill Gates who has promised to give the "vast majority" oh his earnings away to charity! But Bill is especially intelligent and probably never got too deluded about his comfy life going on forever. It's the Paris Hilton's of the world who I'd imagine would be easily sucked into a belief in heaven and other mystical phenomena. But even Hilton toyed with the idea of doing cryonics. This shows me that she has enough brains to not have complete faith in religion, and I know she read the bible in jail. But there are so many celebs who seem to question death and don't want to tolerate it anymore. We just have to get through to them and inform them of what is actually going on at this moment.

Radical life extension is not a thing of power, unless you are already a power hungry kind of person. I think extremely long lifespans will humble people into realizing that they will have enough time to play with roles in life. It's the constraint on time that I think leads people to want power as power is a drug that can mask a rational fear of death! I think if we bought more time it would only give us more time to aquire more knowledge; knowledge that will emancipate us from feeling like we need to become supermen.

#16 bacopa

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Posted 30 June 2009 - 02:02 AM

Here's just an extremely rough draft of a letter idea.


Dear celebs name,

Wer'e with the human longevity organization imminst.org, which stands for the Immortality Institute for Research into Indefinite Lifespans. We are starting a campaign to get people like yourself interested in the very real prospect of achieving radically longer life spans in the next 20 to 50 years. Basically there is emerging research into slowing down, halting or even reversing the human aging process. In order to do this we are focusing on a few key areas. One is trying to see how long scientists can keep a mouse alive for. This initiative is part of a research study that is going on now which is being done at an organization called The Methuselah Foundation. Here is there website. http://www.methusela...ions_membership We've already raised X amount of dollars for this cause. If we are successful in prolonging the life span of a mouse than we have another project we are working on called SENS Foundation which is a project run by Dr. Aubrey De Grey, a biogerentologist out of Enlgand, who has come up with a way of engineering an approach to comabat what he calls the 7 causes of aging in humans. Here is there website. http://www.sens.org/

This is going to be an expansive project that will require quite a bit of fundraising. I should tell you we are NOT looking necessarily for charitable donations at this time. Our mission, really, is to inform people like yourself who might be a good representative for the human longevity cause. We really want to inform people that there is something currently being done about ending human aging in our lifetime. We think aging is a degenerative disease that should be fought and ultimately cured just like any other disease such as Cancer, Aids, Diabetes, and Heart Disease. 150 years ago people only lived an average of 40 years. This is because they died of diseases that we can easily cure today. As I said aging can be thought of also as a disease that leave people's minds and bodies frail and suspeptible to the diseases of old age that will eventually kill them.

We've also included a copy of Dr. Degrey's book entitiled Ending Aging. It has all the basic information you'll need to better understand this new approach to the human aging problem. We would also be very grateful if you could attend one of our Sunday Evening Chats on our website imminst.org. We feature prominent scientists, imminst members, and radical thinkers who sometimes call themselves Transhumanists on our Sunday online chat forum every Sunday. We want to hear what you have to say about your thoughts on living longer and the prospect of how you feel your life could be improved if we even could live longer or even indefinitely. (maybe we can mention our book here.)

We realize this is probably all new news for you as there is not that much press so far for radical life extension. However we have made some good strides. Aubrey was featured on 20/20 with Barbra Walters in their special "How to live to 150." Dr. Degrey was also featured on a smaller segment of the Colbert Report. It is our belief here at imminst that we only need to spread the word as to what is currently being done in the field of aging to get Americans and the rest of the world to see that something can indeed be done to prolong our life span in a realistic and hopefully rather short time frame. And of course the big step will be funding and seeing empirical results.

We appreciate your time and we here at imminst believe whether we live to only 80 or much much longer is up to people like yourselves and scientists getting on board and doing something about this problem. 100,000 people die of old age everyday and if we can do something about it we think that this is an ethical and right thing to do. Most people I've talked to say they would want to extend their lives by quite a large margin and mabye even live indefintiely or as long as they want to. We believe that this is going to be the norm as death should not be so easily tolerated anymore in civilized society.

Thank your for your time!

Devon fowler
imminst.org

Maybe we should also mention the more mainstream antiaging ideas like therapeutic cloning and stem cell therapy. And if anyone like Don or Mind has any other ideas please feel free to say.

Edited by dfowler, 01 July 2009 - 12:37 PM.


#17 bacopa

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Posted 30 June 2009 - 02:22 AM

As for the phone pitch I would imagine it should be a condensed version of the letter. In order to be effective we need someone who can answer any question that the VIP, agent, or publicist may have. If I had a sheet with factual details at my disposal I could help in this part of the project. But I would really need this sheet as my memory is not the greatest for specific technical science details.

#18 brokenportal

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Posted 30 June 2009 - 07:14 PM

Alright, this is a good start to at least one version to try out. I would add something in there like, "even if you disagree we want to hear from you, hear your views."

Can you now take this, and condense it down? Try to say each paragraph, but in half as many words each. We can then go over it again from there.

If they ask questions you dont know in the phone version then tell them you can put them in touch with a spokesperson that knows more of those details and ask what a good time to have them call would be.

So condense this for now and we can try to pull talking points from that version for the phone version like you ellude to.

#19 bacopa

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 06:01 AM

Yeah we should get them to tell us their views, that's very important. I didn't think it was that long are you sure you want me to condense it? I'll put out another version tomorrow and than maybe you can make some changes from there.

#20 AgeVivo

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 11:10 AM

I didn't think it was that long are you sure you want me to condense it?

i personnally indeed think that the letter is great but that it would be nice to condense it. Also oral expressions like "require quite a bit of " should be converted to more formal expressions. keep up the good work so that celebs can soon be contacted. it's great to see things really advancing, not just talks.

#21 bacopa

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 12:44 PM

This is an edited version. I tried to be less wordy but still thought it was important to mention the Mprize, SENS, the book, and one or two statistics and thoughts on the importance of ending aging. It's essential, I think, to convey the urgency of this initiative. So I needed to include certain things like explaining that aging is a disease that should be cured like any other. I also included Brokenportals idea of asking them for their opinion on the matter. Again this is my edit and could still be improved upon. Tear it apart insert ideas, take away others. Let's make this a perfect letter! We need to excite our targeted VIP about the prospect of living much much longer not bore them.

Dear celebs name,

We're with the human longevity organization imminst.org, which stands for the Immortality Institute for Research into Indefinite Lifespans. We are starting a campaign to get people, like yourself, interested in the very real prospect of achieving radically longer life spans in the next 20 to 50 years. Basically there is now alot of research into slowing down, halting or even reversing the human aging process. In order to do this we are focusing on a few key areas. One is trying to see how long scientists can keep a mouse alive for. This initiative is part of a research study that is going on now at an organization called The Methuselah Foundation. Here is there website. http://www.methusela...ions_membership We've already raised X amount of dollars for this cause. If we are successful in prolonging the life span of a mouse than we have another project many people are working on called SENS Foundation who has come up with a way of engineering an approach to combat the aging process. Here is there website. http://www.sens.org/ Please take the time to look over this exciting project.

I should tell you we are NOT looking necessarily for charitable donations at this time. Our mission, really, is to inform people like yourself who might be a good representative for the human longevity cause. We really want to inform people that there is something currently being done about ending human aging in our lifetime. We really want to hear your opinions on human life extension whether positive or negative. How might you benefit from a much longer life? Aging really is a degenerative disease that should be fought and ultimately cured just like any other disease such as Cancer, Aids, Diabetes, and Heart Disease. 150 years ago people only lived an average of 40 years. This is because they died of diseases that we can easily cure today.

We've also included a copy of Dr. Degrey's book entitiled Ending Aging. It has all the information you'll need to better understand aging and the SENS approach to the human aging problem. We would also be very grateful if you could attend one of our Sunday Evening Chats on our website imminst.org. We feature prominent scientists, imminst members, and progressive thinkers who sometimes call themselves Transhumanists on our Sunday online chat forum every Sunday. We want to hear what you have to say about your thoughts on living longer and how you feel your life could be improved if we could extend our lives by a much longer time frame. (maybe we can mention our book here.)

We realize this is probably mostly new news for you as there is not that much press so far for radical life extension. However we have made some good strides. Aubrey De Grey author of the book we included and founder and creator of SENS, was featured on 20/20 with Barbra Walters in their special "How to live to 150." Dr. Degrey was also featured on a smaller segment of the Colbert Report. It is our belief here at imminst that we only need to spread the word about aging to get it to become more talked about and to see real results as soon as possible. And of course the next big step will be funding projects and seeing actual results.

We appreciate your time and we here at imminst believe whether we live to only 80 years or much much longer is up to people like yourselves and scientists getting on board and doing something about this problem! 100,000 people die of old age everyday and if we can do something about it we think that this is the ethical and right thing to do. Most people I've talked to say they would want to extend their lives by quite a large margin and maybe even live indefinitely. Just think of all the things we could be doing with extended lives that we simply don't have time for now! We believe that this is going to be the norm as death should not be so easily accepted in civilized society.

Thank your for your time!

Devon fowler
imminst.org

Edited by dfowler, 01 July 2009 - 01:02 PM.


#22 bacopa

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 01:05 PM

Maybe we should send them a hard copy of the letter as well as an email. This way they could look at the links in the email version. I think it's essential to show them the Mprize link as well as the SENSF link to give them an understanding of what it is that's going on. This will be like throwing darts; hit or miss. I don't think we should go for the Tom Cruise's at this time because people like him will probably think we are some kind of a cult. That's why mentioning any good publicity that is associated with the movement is so important to give some credibility to us.

#23 brokenportal

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 06:34 PM

If anybody else wants to, please also submit alternate versions of a letter to send. Im going to try my hand at it too.

Part of the purpose of this version, in addition to getting the first working version going, is to get people thinking about it, thinking about what they might write, etc..

If you can, condense this one a bit more, at least 3 or 4 lines less. Make the intro shorter. Maybe cut that first paragraph in two. Do a little final clean up on this and it should be ready to go in that capacity. I was thinking no email, but now that you mention it, I suppose sending an email in additition to the letter is a good idea. So maybe make up a more detailed letter with more bullet points about all the ways they can get involved with whats going on and set that up as an email. I would only send them a book if you get them on the hook because if they dont read it then sending them will get expensive. Maybe send one here and there, to people that you think are more apt to read it. I suppose it would be nice to get at least a few copies of ending aging sitting around in vip houses, in agents offices etc...

#24 bacopa

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Posted 03 July 2009 - 02:52 AM

So are you saying we should set up a longer letter with bullet points on how they can help out, and the email should be short? This makes some sense only wouldn't the email maybe have to be longer since it would contain all of the links? Before I condense this letter again, trying to cut the intro letter way shorter, maybe you help me figure out if I should even mention the M Prize and SENS. Do you have a better idea?

Portal I'm not sure if I would make the letter any shorter because we are trying to explain to them a complex and important thing here. We are not selling them Oxiclean! If we made it any shorter we wouldn't be able to convey at all what we are trying to do. What do you think?

Edited by dfowler, 03 July 2009 - 02:59 AM.


#25 brokenportal

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Posted 03 July 2009 - 03:09 AM

So are you saying we should set up a longer letter with bullet points on how they can help out, and the email should be short? This makes some sense only wouldn't the email maybe have to be longer since it would contain all of the links? Before I condense this letter again, trying to cut the intro letter way shorter, maybe you help me figure out if I should even mention the M Prize and SENS. Do you have a better idea?

Portal I'm not sure if I would make the letter any shorter because we are trying to explain to them a complex and important thing here. We are not selling them Oxiclean! If we made it any shorter we wouldn't be able to convey at all what we are trying to do. What do you think?


These are just some ideas. Feel free to take it in a direction you think is best, and anybody else feel free to give ideas and help direct this down the right avenues.

What I mean is, keep the snail mail letter more short and succinct, about like you have it, but maybe a few lines shorter if you can. Make the email longer like you say, for those reasons, yes. Mention Mprize and SENS if you want yes.

You can try long if you want, but I dont think most people are going to read it if you make the first thing you send them in trying to get through to them very long. You want the first hook to be succinct. You could try a cover letter with a longer letter inside maybe. What you have so far will be a good starter letter though. You dont have to get much shorter, if any shorter than that. This is just kind of a rough draft version too, to get our feet wet until a better letter writer comes along, to get the cogs turning, draw people in to help with it, and to get the project moving. If theres multiple versions in the end then that will be good too.

#26 bacopa

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Posted 03 July 2009 - 04:06 AM

Hey I shortened the intro paragraph but didn't think I needed to edit the rest of the paragraphs since we need to convey enough info about aging etc. But Portal feel free to edit yourself!

Dear celebs name,

We're with the human longevity organization imminst.org, which stands for the Immortality Institute for Research into Indefinite Lifespans. We are starting a campaign to get people, like yourself, interested in the very real prospect of achieving radically longer life spans in the next 20 to 50 years. Basically there is now alot of research into slowing down, halting or even reversing the human aging process. In order to do this we are focusing in on two key areas. One is the MPrize which is a prize given to whoever can keep a mouse alive the longest. And the second is SENS Foundation; which is a foundation setup to utilize an engineering approach to combat the aging process.

I should tell you we are NOT looking necessarily for charitable donations at this time. Our mission, really, is to inform people like yourself who might be a good representative for the human longevity cause. We really want to inform people that there is something currently being done about ending human aging in our lifetime. We really want to hear your opinions on human life extension whether positive or negative. How might you benefit from a much longer life? Aging really is a degenerative disease that should be fought and ultimately cured just like any other disease such as Cancer, Aids, Diabetes, and Heart Disease. 150 years ago people only lived an average of 40 years. This is because they died of diseases that we can easily cure today.

We've also included a copy of Dr. Degrey's book entitiled Ending Aging. It has all the information you'll need to better understand aging and the SENS approach to the human aging problem. We would also be very grateful if you could attend one of our Sunday Evening Chats on our website imminst.org. We feature prominent scientists, imminst members, and progressive thinkers who sometimes call themselves Transhumanists on our Sunday online chat forum every Sunday. We want to hear what you have to say about your thoughts on living longer and how you feel your life could be improved if we could extend our lives by a much longer time frame. (maybe we can mention our book here.)

We realize this is probably mostly new news for you as there is not that much press so far for radical life extension. However we have made some good strides. Aubrey De Grey author of the book we included and founder and creator of SENS, was featured on 20/20 with Barbra Walters in their special "How to live to 150." Dr. Degrey was also featured on a smaller segment of the Colbert Report. It is our belief here at imminst that we only need to spread the word about aging to get it to become more talked about and to see real results as soon as possible. And of course the next big step will be funding projects and seeing actual results.

We appreciate your time and we here at imminst believe whether we live to only 80 years or much much longer is up to people like yourselves and scientists getting on board and doing something about this problem! 100,000 people die of old age everyday and if we can do something about it we think that this is the ethical and right thing to do. Most people I've talked to say they would want to extend their lives by quite a large margin and maybe even live indefinitely. Just think of all the things we could be doing with extended lives that we simply don't have time for now! We believe that this is going to be the norm as death should not be so easily accepted in civilized society.

Thank your for your time!

Devon fowler
imminst.org

Edited by dfowler, 03 July 2009 - 04:09 AM.


#27 brokenportal

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Posted 03 July 2009 - 04:24 AM

I wrote this snail mail version, then my computer froze, and it was erased. So Ive written it again in a bit of haste here, but Im really dissapointed with this re do. Its going to need a lot of editing, but in the least it should encourage you by comparison because yours is a lot better. These are the basics of the version:



Letter Head ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter Head


Hello,

(Example of a personalized opener, "Hello Dr. Kaku, we chat about you around our longevity forums all the time. We work with advocacy and research for unlimited lifspans. Your work is inspiring in its depth, and in its integration of various fields. Some of us see you as a transhuman pioneer. You would fit right in with our discussions really.")

We want to chat with you about this cause on our growing internet show called the Sunday Evening Update. Call me and we will set it up. You may not have heard of the work surrounding unlimited lifespans yet, but it’s the cause of all causes, the most monumental cause ever undertaken in the history of humanity, and as it grows, you will hear about it more and more.

We can and are working more and more to increase our healthy lifespans indefinitely by ending the aging process and the horrible. debilitating, dream crushing related diseases that come along with it. A process of damage accumulation that kills 100,000 people per day, costs billions of dollars per year and causes diseases like cancer and Parkinsons to name a few. We actively combat these things in a cause that can win, with radical research strategies like SENS, and fields like stem cells and nanotechnology.

In the past few years this cause has been in the news, and has been on shows like 60 minutes and the Barbara Walters Special to name a few. We provide links to these things in an email we have also sent you. Also see ImmInst.org, sens.org, coalitiontoextendlife.org and longevitymeme.org to name a few. Contact us at the ImmInst.org forums. We do not, mean vitamins and cosmetic type stuff. We mean ending the damages of the aging process so we can live to be 100, 200, 500, - indefinitely with health.

Whether you support this, are interested in learning more, or vehemently oppose this, we want to know your views about it through an interview at our Sunday Evening Update show. Some of the shows past guests include Ray Kurzweils personal doctor and co author of one of his books, Dr. Terry Grossman, the famed Dr. Aubrey de Grey, and the evolutionary biologist Dr. Michael Rose to name a few.

Let us know if you want a free book or two about this and we will send them to you. We don’t want your money, don’t even send it to us. We just want to get more views from people like you on our show, to attract more discussion surrounding this critical cause, and to possibly get support from more VIP’s like you. Please do say yes. Call me at --- and we’ll arrange it for a show that works best for you.


Yours Truly,
So and so
Imminst.org
Longevity Communities Network


This version here needs to be shortened and edited too.

Some things I keep in mind, and need to edit with in mind:

Try to personalize it, connect to them on a personal level.

Add appeals to authority

Add the tell them say it, tell what you said thing.

Use renns, reasons, examples, names, numbers, senses.

Tell them whats in it for them, be real, not stiff and fakey.

Explain what they can do next that is easy to do, and understandable and straightforward.

#28 bacopa

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Posted 03 July 2009 - 04:47 AM

Hey actually pretty damn good letter. You really crammed in alot of information plus you seem to appeal to them on a personal level which my letter didn't. Maybe combine some things from your letter with mine and we'll be onto something?

#29 bacopa

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Posted 18 July 2009 - 01:07 AM

Dear Bill Maher,

Many of us saw your recent movie Religulous, which was a great examination and satire of organized religion. Being a proponent of free thought yourself, we here at imminst, would like to give you some interesting books on the subject of radical life extension, and Cryonics, both of which our non-profit website is so focused on. We also would be honored and privileged if you could attend one of our Sunday evening update chats here at our website.

Enclosed:

1. The Scientific Conquest of Death, (an overview of many issues surrounding the topic of conquering death)
2. 21st Century Kids, (written to explain cryonics to kids, sort of like Daddy Day, Daughter Day was written to help with pain of divorce)
3. Ending Aging, (what is being done to end aging and how it most likely can be accomplished)
4. The Prospect of Immortality, (a classic introduction to cryonics)

We here at imminst have ties to many organizations that are doing vital research into trying to slow down, halt, or even reversing the aging process in humans. We hope you will look at some of the books we provided that go into more detail on how this can be done. Some of the most promising research is being done at the SENS foundation, with Aubrey De Grey.

We wanted to also bring to your attention the importance of Cryonics. Cryonics, although not proven to work yet, could give many people a chance of continuing their lives such that one day in the future scientists can find a cure for what killed the person, and then using nanotechnology be able to unthaw the individual; thus bringing them back to life. Reversing the aging process is likely to be a normal practice by then, so the possibilities are limitless for what one day can, and we think, will be done for people.

There is a lot of information at the Cryonics Institute website and Alcor website. http://www.cryonics.org/refs.html and http://www.alcor.org/

Feel free to contact me with any questions, I am an enthusiast myself and believe that human life extension and Cryonics will play a vital role in many of our lives very soon.

Best of luck with your show Real Time!

Devon Fowler

Edited by dfowler, 18 July 2009 - 01:27 AM.


#30 bacopa

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Posted 18 July 2009 - 01:12 AM

I'm going to hold off on the other 2 celebs in the wiki, as I don't know much about them. If anyone else would like to write a personalized letter to them, please do. I'll write one for Dawkins next.

Edited by dfowler, 18 July 2009 - 01:18 AM.





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