42 replies to this topic

[Vgamer1]

So here's my first draft of the letter going to Shatner. I'm still not exactly sure how to address it and format it properly since it's not going to him directly. Any advice is welcome.

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Dear Mr. Shatner,

My name is Daniel Penso, and I represent the Immortality Institute. Our mission is the advocacy and research of the potential for indefinite life extension. Maybe you have heard of us. We have relations with Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey de Grey, Nason Schooler, and other advocates of radical life extension. The Immortality Institute (imminst) was instrumental in raising funds for Nason Schooler's Laser Ablation research, which is in line with Aubrey de Grey's SENS initiative. The Immortality Institute's main front is an online community where thousands of life extensionists have gathered to share information and lend their active support to the cause of radical life extension.

As a part of our advocacy, we support cryonics - a procedure that can potentially give people a second chance at life. I see cryonics as a backup plan for those who have no other choice. Earlier this year The Immortality Institute funded a cryonics procedure for one of its lifetime members who was stricken with terminal cancer and did not survive. He could not afford the procedure, but thanks to imminst, he has the chance to live again.

The Immortality Institute has a great wealth of information on life extension and many connections to other advocates and researchers. We are a registered nonprofit organization with paid staff and a full executive board along with hundreds of volunteers who give their time, energy, and money for this cause. We often have celebrity guests appear on our weekly show known as The Sunday Evening Update. Former guests include Aubrey de Grey, .... (who else that shatner might know?).

What we are asking of you, Mr. Shatner, is your support. And what we are offering you in return is a connection with the largest radical life extension community on the planet. As a representative of the Immortality Institute, and as a fan of yours, I extend the invitation for you to become a member of our online community and forum. In addition, it would be my great pleasure to invite you to be interviewed on our Sunday show by our Executive Director to speak about your opinions on life extension, your career, your relationship with Ray Kurzweil, and your experience at Transvision 2007. I have personally searched the web for footage of your speech at the conference, but sadly have not been successful. The interview would also include an open text-based chat that imminst members would be able to use to ask you questions of their choosing. Personally, to be able to communicate with you directly would bring me back to my childhood of watching Star Trek episodes with my dad. I would be ecstatic. It would be a great honor to have you, and the invitation is open for any time that you would accept it.

As a nonprofit organization, The Immortality Institute is always in search for more funding and more connections. Right now we are implementing dozens volunteer-run projects, one of which is VIP outreach. You were picked as one of the first high-profile VIP's because of your attendance at Transvision 2007, your appearance in the documentary on Kurzweil called Transcendent Man, your relationship with Ray Kurzweil, and of course your fame. The Immortality Institute is always open for donations, which is our primary source of income. We use such donations to fund life-extending technologies, cryonics, networking and outreach, research, merchandise such as books, t-shirts, and artwork, and to pay our dedicated staff. If you would be willing, any donation - large or small - would be unfathomably appreciated.

Mr. Shatner, thank you for your time and consideration. Above all at the Immortality Institute, we desire to bring life-extensionists together so that they may support each other in their endeavors. If there is anything that The Immortality Institute may do for you; whether it be connecting you with a cryonics program such as Alcor, providing you with information or news on life extension research and development, or networking you with other life-extensionists, it would be our pleasure.

If you would like to contact The Immortality Institute you are more than welcome to respond to this letter, or to contact me directly via e-mail, which I have enclosed. (Do I need this line??)

Once again, thank you for your time and peace be with you.

Sincerely,

Daniel Penso
danpenso@gmail.com
VIP Outreach
The Immortality Institute
www.imminst.org

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Questions:

Too much personal stuff?

Who's been on the sunday evening update? (big names? maybe people shatner knows?)

Our executive director, Justin - should I include his full name?

What conferences have imminst members attended? Did any go to transvision '07?

Can we offer shatner imminst membership? Other things? Books?

Edited by Vgamer1, 14 October 2009 - 08:25 PM.

[bacopa]

Wow, well written letter Vgamer1. I am wondering why the margins are so loopy? Did you write that on notebook or something like that? Could you format it better so it's easier to read for draft 2?

Some things. Don't say you represent the immortality institute. Maybe say you're a member of imminst.org etc. or something like that.

Just look in Sunday Evening Update archives, I forget where, but it lists most of our guests, if not all.

Don't ask for dontations! I'm not even sure if you should say we are open to donations. That's an instant turn off.

I think it's Justin Loewe. But I'm not sure if the spelling is correct.

We CAN offer Shatner an imminst membership, I mean as an honorary member and I think we did it with Aubrey.

Of course we should offer him books, but being a rich celeb just say we're including such and such a book, otherwise it seems like we are trying to impress him when he has plenty of material goods, and thus would not be impressed.

yes include your email and phone number and explain it's cool for him to contact you.

Overall just change those things and we should be good to go.

Devon

Edited by dfowler, 14 October 2009 - 12:15 PM.

[TheFountain]

I would hope he would be impressed with a book because of its content not because it is a material good per se so describing it as 'reading material' would probably justify giving it to him better. And no matter what you have state the purpose of our organization, I wouldn't back down from that aspect of it. But I agree that representation is the most we should expect or ask for from the guy. Just out of curiosity what made you think Shatner would be more opened to this than his working partner Leonard Nimoy? I would think both would be equally opened to the prospect.

Edited by TheFountain, 14 October 2009 - 12:58 PM.

[thestuffjunky]

well gamer... i dont know why you chose shatner also, however, the host of the show that loops at is hosted by johnathan frakes. so, it not like we would have to explain to much who degrey and kurzweil are. I know he only narrated it, however, frakes is in the science realm.... maybe we can collaborate a letter i'll send him???

[Vgamer1]

To those asking why Shatner was picked. This is just one of the many VIP's we are going to attempt to contact. If you guys want to suggest more VIP's we are completely open to that. Shatner is just the first one we are attempting to contact. He attended Transvision 2007 and has some kind of relationship with Kurzweil. Also, he is very high-profile. For these reasons we picked Shatner as our first major VIP to contact. This was a group decision by the entire VIP team, not mine alone. Again, we are planning to contact as many VIP's as possible so please give your suggestions.

Devon, do you think we should start a thread in the VIP section solely to discuss potential VIP's? I think your forum could use some compartmentalization and having more threads on specific subjects would help.

Don't ask for dontations! I'm not even sure if you should say we are open to donations. That's an instant turn off.

Are you sure? I was kinda reluctant to put the donation thing in the letter, but at least it leaves the door open. Maybe I could be more subtle. I will remove it if BP and Shannon agree.

Edit: Derkee, we'll take your suggestion of Jonathan Farkes as a potential VIP to contact. I really think we should have a thread solely to discuss potential VIP's. We could have a running list in the first post and discussion in the thread following.

Edited by Vgamer1, 14 October 2009 - 06:02 PM.

[Cyberbrain]

Shall we say we're interested in non-monetary support. It may be more appealing and more attractive on a noble level if we don't ask for money. The fame of VIP's is more important than their donations imo.

But overall fantastic letter Vgamer1!!

[Cyberbrain]

Don't ask for dontations! I'm not even sure if you should say we are open to donations. That's an instant turn off.

Ah just read this. I totally agree with dfowler.

[Vgamer1]

I am wondering why the margins are so loopy? Did you write that on notebook or something like that? Could you format it better so it's easier to read for draft 2?

I'm not quite sure what you mean. I wrote the thing on google docs and I have it saved there. What is the issue you're having exactly?

Edited by Vgamer1, 14 October 2009 - 08:21 PM.

[bacopa]

I am wondering why the margins are so loopy? Did you write that on notebook or something like that? Could you format it better so it's easier to read for draft 2?

I'm not quite sure what you mean. I wrote the thing on google docs and I have it saved there. What is the issue you're having exactly?

no the first letter scrolled on and on to the right, but you obviously corrected this problem.

yeah, I still wouldn't ask for donations and Portal has agreed in the past with this.

I guess saying you're one of the represenatives to imminst makes more sense to me, but be your own judge.

Shatner is indeed a great choice mostly because he spoke at Transvision.

The last line saying you can feel free to contact you is important imo.

all in all a really nicely written letter and I'm starting to get more excited again.

Vgamer1, would you like to help me in paying for the ask any celeb site? If not no biggie, I can find someone else. Just curious.

This is going along nicely so far, we just need to hear back from these guys.

I completely agree with you in that we should compartmentalize threads better and I'll start one for VIP suggestions right now.

[Mind]

Good work so far. I haven't had a chance to read it "in detail" yet. Also, don't send anything on behalf of "Imminst", until the Board has a chance to weigh in.

[Ben Simon]

In my opinion the letter, while a good idea, is both far too long and in need of structural revisions.

Your opening paragraph should be about what Imminst is, but instead you start talking about Nason Schooler as though Shatner ought to be aware who he is and as though Schooler's research will be the subject of the letter. Is there any reason to think he would be aware of Nason's work? If not, ditch it. Even if he is, mention it later in the email than in the introduction.

I would suggest devising a structure first and then attempting a rewrite. For example it could go something like this:

Paragraph 1. Introduce Imminst, outlining it's aims. Mention affiliation with Kurzweil here as Shatner and Kurzweil are aquatinted.

Paragraph 2. Mention work done by Imminst. Show how the organisation is putting it's money where it's mouth is. (Here is where you mention the funding of research, but without personalising it as though Nason is a celebrity or something - it's about the work Imminst is doing)

Paragraph 3. Acknowledge Shatner's interest in life extension and indicate that you are sending him reading material, as you thought he might be interested.

Paragraph 4. Thank him for his time and get the hell out of dodge, but not before directing him to the website and providing some contact info.

Make it succinct. Don't ask for money. Get in. Get out.

Edited by ben, 15 October 2009 - 12:03 PM.

[Shannon Vyff]

I'm in agreement with the comments so far, keep it brief, don't ask for any donations. From what I've heard he really doesn't do any publicity or support unless he is paid, that being said--no harm in trying though, he may be taken by something in your letter and want to lend his name to anti-aging research, SENS, or even Immortality Institute.

[Vgamer1]

OK, here's a second draft. I got rid of the part about donations and I cut out an entire other paragraph. I also removed the part about Nason. I can put it back though. It's a bit shorter now. What do you guys think?

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Dear Mr. Shatner,

My name is Daniel Penso, and I represent The Immortality Institute. Our mission is the advocacy and research of the potential for indefinite life extension. Maybe you have heard of us. We have relations with Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey de Grey, Nason Schooler, Terry Grossman, and other advocates of radical life extension. The Immortality Institute's main front is an online community where thousands of life extensionists have gathered to share information and lend their active support to the cause of radical life extension.

As a part of our advocacy, we support cryonics - a procedure that can potentially give people a second chance at life. I see cryonics as a backup plan for those who have no other choice. Earlier this year The Immortality Institute funded a cryonics procedure for one of its lifetime members who was stricken with terminal cancer and did not survive. He could not afford the procedure, but thanks to imminst, he has the chance to live again.

The Immortality Institute has a great wealth of information on life extension and many connections to other advocates and researchers. We are a registered nonprofit organization with paid staff and a full executive board along with hundreds of volunteers who give their time, energy, and money for this cause. We often have celebrity guests appear on our weekly show known as The Sunday Evening Update. Former guests include Aubrey de Grey, Terry Grossman, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and Michael Annisimov.

What we are asking of you, Mr. Shatner, is your support. And what we are offering you in return is a connection with the largest radical life extension community on the planet. As a representative of the Immortality Institute, and as a fan of yours, I extend the invitation for you to become a member of our online community and forum. In addition, it would be my great pleasure to invite you to be interviewed on our Sunday show by our Executive Director, Justin Loew, to speak about your opinions on life extension, your career, your relationship with Ray Kurzweil, and your experience at Transvision 2007. I have personally searched the web for footage of your speech at the conference, but sadly have not been successful. The interview would also include an open text-based chat that imminst members would be able to use to ask you questions of their choosing. Personally, to be able to communicate with you directly would bring me back to my childhood of watching Star Trek episodes with my dad. I would be ecstatic. It would be a great honor to have you, and the invitation is open for any time that you would accept it.

Mr. Shatner, thank you for your time and consideration. Above all at the Immortality Institute, we desire to bring life extensionists together so that they may support each other in their endeavors. If there is anything that The Immortality Institute may do for you; whether it be connecting you with a cryonics program such as Alcor, providing you with information or news on life extension research and development, or networking you with other life extensionists, it would be our pleasure.

If you would like to contact The Immortality Institute you are more than welcome to respond to this letter, or to contact me directly via e-mail, which I have enclosed.

Once again, thank you for your time and peace be with you.

Sincerely,

Daniel Penso
danpenso@gmail.com
VIP Outreach
The Immortality Institute
www.imminst.org

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Edited by Vgamer1, 16 October 2009 - 05:12 AM.

[Cyberbrain]

I like the second draft, but I was wonder if we should say at the beginning or in the header that our main interest is to interview him first then say if he would like to be a supporter in the event that he doesn't read as far as the forth paragraph.

[Vgamer1]

Bump. This is supposed to be sent Wednesday, but I guess I still need approval from the board? Mind, can you help out with that? Otherwise, can you either approve it yourself or make suggestions so that it meets your approval?

[brokenportal]

Just take the representative parts out for now and send it yes. This will work. There are so many things it needs, but until our official templates get here this works. Instead of "I represent the Immortality Institute," try, "Im a supporter of the Immortality Institute," and things like that.

[Vgamer1]

Will that fly for mind?

[brokenportal]

Yes, hes pointing out that we dont want it to sound like official imminst correspondence unless the board approves it. We'll keep the official correspondence parts out of things until we get a template going. I really wouldnt put Immortality Institute in there at all really I guess. Immortality Institute seems to me more like skull and bones is to politics. It exists, people know about it, they arent ashamed of it or try to hide it, but they dont run on the "skull and bones" platform. What will work best to put as a place to look up on the net is Longecity, when its fully running, if that all works out, or a site like it.

[Vgamer1]

How am I supposed to invite him to be interviewed without mentioning the organization's name? Seems like it would be very awkward. It would appear secretive instead of open.

Edit: I'd rather get Mind's approval and put imminst's name on it than not.

Edited by Vgamer1, 20 October 2009 - 03:40 AM.

[Mind]

Wait until tomorrow, and I will look at it. As BP mentioned, you could send a letter on your own and mention Imminst without saying or implying you "represent Imminst". But if you are going to say you are an "official person" at Imminst, then the Board should approve it.

[Vgamer1]

OK, here's a third (and hopefully final) draft. It's basically the same as the second, except I replaced the "I represent" parts with something else so that we don't need board approval. Although I still want the go ahead from Mind. What do you guys think?

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Dear Mr. Shatner,

My name is Daniel Penso, and I support The Immortality Institute. Our mission is the advocacy and research of the potential for indefinite life extension. Maybe you have heard of us. We have relations with Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey de Grey, Nason Schooler, Terry Grossman, and other advocates of radical life extension. The Immortality Institute's main front is an online community where thousands of life extensionists have gathered to share information and lend their active support to the cause of radical life extension.

As a part of our advocacy, we support cryonics - a procedure that can potentially give people a second chance at life. I see cryonics as a backup plan for those who have no other choice. Earlier this year The Immortality Institute funded a cryonics procedure for one of its lifetime members who was stricken with terminal cancer and did not survive. He could not afford the procedure, but thanks to imminst, he has the chance to live again.

The Immortality Institute has a great wealth of information on life extension and many connections to other advocates and researchers. We are a registered nonprofit organization with paid staff and a full executive board along with hundreds of volunteers who give their time, energy, and money for this cause. We often have celebrity guests appear on our weekly show known as The Sunday Evening Update. Former guests include Aubrey de Grey, Terry Grossman, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and Michael Annisimov.

What we are asking of you, Mr. Shatner, is your support. And what we are offering you in return is a connection with the largest radical life extension community on the planet. As a member of The Immortality Institute, and as a fan of yours, I extend the invitation for you to become a member of our online community and forum. In addition, it would be my great pleasure to invite you to be interviewed on our Sunday show by our Executive Director, Justin Loew, to speak about your opinions on life extension, your career, your relationship with Ray Kurzweil, and your experience at Transvision 2007. I have personally searched the web for footage of your speech at the conference, but sadly have not been successful. The interview would also include an open text-based chat that imminst members would be able to use to ask you questions of their choosing. Personally, to be able to communicate with you directly would bring me back to my childhood of watching Star Trek episodes with my dad. I would be ecstatic. It would be a great honor to have you, and the invitation is open for any time that you would accept it.

Mr. Shatner, thank you for your time and consideration. Above all at The Immortality Institute, we desire to bring life extensionists together so that they may support each other in their endeavors. If there is anything that The Immortality Institute may do for you; whether it be connecting you with a cryonics program such as Alcor, providing you with information or news on life extension research and development, or networking you with other life extensionists, it would be our pleasure.

If you would like to contact The Immortality Institute you are more than welcome to respond to this letter, or to contact me directly via e-mail, which I have enclosed.

Once again, thank you for your time and peace be with you.

Sincerely,

Daniel Penso
danpenso@gmail.com
VIP Outreach
The Immortality Institute
www.imminst.org

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Edited by Vgamer1, 24 October 2009 - 02:03 AM.

[bacopa]

I think this letter is fine, you don't have to wait for Mind to send it out. Let's get these sent out so we can start getting some feedback.

[Ben Simon]

I would simply like to restate my earlier reservations.

While much of the content of the letter is good, I think it's presently too long and could be made to be much more succinct. I'm also unsure why you repeatedly reference, by name, people from within the wider life extension community, as though Shatner should be impressed or even know who any of them are.

I know he has some relationship with Kurzweill, but Michael Anisimov??? That's pretty obscure. Even if it weren't, the guy's work is only nominally related to life extension advocacy anyway, which it is the intended purpose of the letter to highlight, right? Conflating the singularity-sphere and life extension is, in my opinion, unhelpful. in this instance. Life extension is about better health care - plain and simple, and that's how it should be pitched.

It's easy to forget that people outside our little echo chamber don't know all that much about this stuff. Shatner's association with Kurzweil withstanding, I think it's a mistake to refer to extraneous concepts and personalities. The point is to talk about life extension and Imminst - so talk about life extension and Imminst.

My two cents...

[Vgamer1]

I would simply like to restate my earlier reservations.

While much of the content of the letter is good, I think it's presently too long and could be made to be much more succinct. I'm also unsure why you repeatedly reference, by name, people from within the wider life extension community, as though Shatner should be impressed or even know who any of them are.

I know he has some relationship with Kurzweill, but Michael Anisimov??? That's pretty obscure. Even if it weren't, the guy's work is only nominally related to life extension advocacy anyway, which it is the intended purpose of the letter to highlight, right? Conflating the singularity-sphere and life extension is, in my opinion, unhelpful. in this instance. Life extension is about better health care - plain and simple, and that's how it should be pitched.

It's easy to forget that people outside our little echo chamber don't know all that much about this stuff. Shatner's association with Kurzweil withstanding, I think it's a mistake to refer to extraneous concepts and personalities. The point is to talk about life extension and Imminst - so talk about life extension and Imminst.

My two cents...

I did take your original suggestions into consideration. Did you notice that I cut out more than 2 paragraphs? You still think it's too long? How would you suggest making it more succinct?

I can remove the name Michael Anisimov if that would make you happy. The point of mentioning the names wasn't exactly to impress him with famous people, it was just to show that we are heavily networked. Also, I'm not expecting him to know all the names. Actually, I was hoping that he might not, and that would spark some curiosity.

[Ben Simon]

I would simply like to restate my earlier reservations.

While much of the content of the letter is good, I think it's presently too long and could be made to be much more succinct. I'm also unsure why you repeatedly reference, by name, people from within the wider life extension community, as though Shatner should be impressed or even know who any of them are.

I know he has some relationship with Kurzweill, but Michael Anisimov??? That's pretty obscure. Even if it weren't, the guy's work is only nominally related to life extension advocacy anyway, which it is the intended purpose of the letter to highlight, right? Conflating the singularity-sphere and life extension is, in my opinion, unhelpful. in this instance. Life extension is about better health care - plain and simple, and that's how it should be pitched.

It's easy to forget that people outside our little echo chamber don't know all that much about this stuff. Shatner's association with Kurzweil withstanding, I think it's a mistake to refer to extraneous concepts and personalities. The point is to talk about life extension and Imminst - so talk about life extension and Imminst.

My two cents...

I did take your original suggestions into consideration. Did you notice that I cut out more than 2 paragraphs? You still think it's too long? How would you suggest making it more succinct?

I can remove the name Michael Anisimov if that would make you happy. The point of mentioning the names wasn't exactly to impress him with famous people, it was just to show that we are heavily networked. Also, I'm not expecting him to know all the names. Actually, I was hoping that he might not, and that would spark some curiosity.

Ah, if that's the case then I would say be direct about it. You might suggest blogs he could look at, for example. At the moment I think you run the risk of puzzling him.

As for the length, yes, it's much shorter, but I would suggest finding ways to say the same things more succinctly still. Keep in mind that this is a cold approach. The less you are obtruding upon someone's day the better.

[brokenportal]

Vgamer, this one will work for now. Please do send it out right away.

Ben, can you help us write some templates, can you try your hand at one? We are collecting them here: http://www.imminst.o...ion-t33662.html

[Mind]

Dear Mr. Shatner,

My name is Daniel Penso, and I support The Immortality Institute. Our mission is the advocacy and research of the potential for indefinite life extension. Maybe you have heard of us. We have relations with Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey de Grey, Nason Schooler, Terry Grossman, and other advocates of radical life extension. The Immortality Institute's main front is an online community where thousands of life extensionists have gathered to share information and lend their active support to the cause of radical life extension.

As a part of our advocacy, we support cryonics - a procedure that can potentially give people a second chance at life. I see cryonics as a backup plan for those who have no other choice. Earlier this year The Immortality Institute funded a cryonics procedure for one of its lifetime members who was stricken with terminal cancer and did not survive. He could not afford the procedure, but thanks to imminst, he has the chance to live again.

The Immortality Institute has a great wealth of information on life extension and many connections to other advocates and researchers. We are a registered nonprofit organization with paid staff and a full executive board along with hundreds of volunteers who give their time, energy, and money for this cause. We often have celebrity guests appear on our weekly show known as The Sunday Evening Update. Former guests include Aubrey de Grey, Terry Grossman, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and Michael Annisimov.

What we are asking of you, Mr. Shatner, is your support. And what we are offering you in return is a connection with the largest radical life extension community on the planet. As a member of The Immortality Institute, and as a fan of yours, I extend the invitation for you to become a member of our online community and forum. In addition, it would be my great pleasure to invite you to be interviewed on our Sunday show by our Executive Director, Justin Loew, to speak about your opinions on life extension, your career, your relationship with Ray Kurzweil, and your experience at Transvision 2007. I have personally searched the web for footage of your speech at the conference, but sadly have not been successful. The interview would also include an open text-based chat that imminst members would be able to use to ask you questions of their choosing. Personally, to be able to communicate with you directly would bring me back to my childhood of watching Star Trek episodes with my dad. I would be ecstatic. It would be a great honor to have you, and the invitation is open for any time that you would accept it.

Mr. Shatner, thank you for your time and consideration. Above all at The Immortality Institute, we desire to bring life extensionists together so that they may support each other in their endeavors. If there is anything that The Immortality Institute may do for you; whether it be connecting you with a cryonics program such as Alcor, providing you with information or news on life extension research and development, or networking you with other life extensionists, it would be our pleasure.

If you would like to contact The Immortality Institute you are more than welcome to respond to this letter, or to contact me directly via e-mail, which I have enclosed.

Once again, thank you for your time and peace be with you.

Sincerely,

Daniel Penso
danpenso@gmail.com
VIP Outreach
The Immortality Institute
www.imminst.org

*****very short version*********

Dear Mr. Shatner

Hi, my name is Daniel Penso. I am a member of the Immortality Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to advocacy and research for unlimited lifespans. I am also a big fan of yours. As such, I know you are familiar with Ray Kurzweil, the pursuit of healthy life extension, and human enhancement. The Immortality Institute is also engaged in these pursuits and I invite you to check out our growing international community and portfolio of initiatives at http://www.imminst.org

Sincerely,

Daniel Penso
danpenso@gmail.com
VIP Outreach
The Immortality Institute
www.imminst.org


****************

I know this is very short, but William Shatner does not really have time to read long letters. He probably has a secretary or assistant that reads hundreds of letters a day and picks out 1 or 2 a week for Shatner to read and/or respond to. I know you have put a lot of work into the longer version, and you don't have to send this exact short version, just consider it. Better to make the letter short, don't ask for ANYTHING except to visit the website, and focus on getting his (or his letter opener's) attention. Put the letter in an envelope that looks official/important/executive (but not official Imminst letterhead at this point). Put some shiny stickers on the envelope or letter. If you are artistic, draw something abstract on the outside of the envelope (but not a star trek theme).

If he sees the letter and reads the name (Immortality Institute), that would be a huge success. At least there is a chance that during his free time he might surf over here and read some stuff. It would be a start. He would see the Laser Ablation Research right away on the front page and that would be a great first impression. Put it this way, there is a 1 in a zillion chance he will read the letter and decide to support the Institute financially and/or with his star power. There is a one in a billion chance he would agree to appear on the Sunday Evening Update for free. There is a one in 100,000 chance he will read the letter and browse our website. That is the chance we need to take with a letter and as such we might as well keep it simple and to the point.

[brokenportal]

I would have written a long letter in the past too, but I have come to realize that like people are saying, that no matter how important it may be to them, people are unlikely to read longer letters. I didnt want to take the chance of discouraging any body though because a longer letter could work. So I said just send the longer version for now, give it a try. However in the future we will have short templates worked out. If you want to, I would say, try out that longer letter, but also if you want to, go with Minds version there, and then I would suggest writing "(pamphlet enclosed)" some place on that letter and then printing up a couple of copies of the pamphlet we have been working on, on glossy, colored, pamphlety looking paper and sending that along with.

And as for those odds, those might be about what they are, but, I think our hope is in that although the odds may be that much of a long shot for most vip's, I think that we will find that our odds with some of them, who we cant really determine, are much better, like 1 in 5. Then also, like Mind was kind of getting at, this helps even with the long shots, because even if an agent or a letter opener just sees the name on the front and throws this away, that name might catch their attention the next time they may happen upon it on the internet, or that New York Times article, others like it, or whatever.

[Minhaj]

Hi Mind, That was was great editing. I have used your draft to add my own edits:

Mind's Draft Edited by MINHAJ
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Dear Mr. Shatner

I am a member of the Immortality Institute. We are a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving unlimited life spans as well as perfect physical health for all humans. We believe that a human should have the vigor, strength and robust health of a world class athlete regardless of how old they are. We believe in a world where age brings wisdom but none of the diseases that are presently associated with aging. I know you are familiar with Ray Kurzweil, the pursuit of healthy life extension, and human enhancement. The Immortality Institute is engaged in these pursuits and your involvement will boost morale and help us get closer to our goal. I invite you to check out our growing international community and portfolio of initiatives at http://www.imminst.org

Sincerely,

Daniel Penso
danpenso@gmail.com
VIP Outreach
The Immortality Institute
www.imminst.org

[Minhaj]

Dear VGamer, I forgot to thank you for your effort! You started this amazing letter and now we have a rough draft to send out to celebritites. Great job buddy!