10 replies to this topic

[The Immortalist]

Lol the title says it all.

Any thoughts on this? Mabey we could make it into a comic or something and publish it in a science magazine, or make it into a childrens picture book.

If you haven't read it go here, http://www.nickbostr...ble/dragon.html

[Shannon Vyff]

I read it to my children, caused my eldest (now 13 then 8) to want to go raise money for anti-aging, she went door to door at age 9 and collected three thousand dollars for Methuselah Foundation.

I think it would be great to shorten the story, make it more kid friendly and have a children's book be illustrated and I'd be willing to help with the editing/conversion if there was someone who wanted to do the illustrations.

[JediMasterLucia]

I read it to my children, caused my eldest (now 13 then 8) to want to go raise money for anti-aging, she went door to door at age 9 and collected three thousand dollars for Methuselah Foundation.

I think it would be great to shorten the story, make it more kid friendly and have a children's book be illustrated and I'd be willing to help with the editing/conversion if there was someone who wanted to do the illustrations.

I have read the story a few months ago. It is a nice story.
maybe I could help you with the illustrations if you want.

[The Immortalist]

I read it to my children, caused my eldest (now 13 then 8) to want to go raise money for anti-aging, she went door to door at age 9 and collected three thousand dollars for Methuselah Foundation.

I think it would be great to shorten the story, make it more kid friendly and have a children's book be illustrated and I'd be willing to help with the editing/conversion if there was someone who wanted to do the illustrations.

Even though I'm the one who suggested this idea, I have no experience with publishing and writing books, but I know you do Shannon because you have wrote and published your own book "Twenty first century kids". Could this be your next book you work on? Is there anything I can do to help?

How long did it take your daughter to raise $3000 dollars? How many houses did she go to? What was the average amount donated? Did she have more success because she was a young girl?
What's your daughters facebook?

[reason]

The fable was originally published in the Journal of Medical Ethics. You will need to check with Nick Bostrom as to whether that allows him to authorize derivative works, such as a comic adaptation.

Personally, I think that turning it into a comic is an excellent idea. As is, no dumbing down. Aimed at the fantasy-webcomics-reading crowd. This is the era for it - good comic artists are plentiful, have a highly networked community, and are thus cheap. The story is not long, and thus a reasonable project for a single artist to work through. The cost would be well within the fundraising ability of the Institute.

[The Immortalist]

The fable was originally published in the Journal of Medical Ethics. You will need to check with Nick Bostrom as to whether that allows him to authorize derivative works, such as a comic adaptation.

Personally, I think that turning it into a comic is an excellent idea. As is, no dumbing down. Aimed at the fantasy-webcomics-reading crowd. This is the era for it - good comic artists are plentiful, have a highly networked community, and are thus cheap. The story is not long, and thus a reasonable project for a single artist to work through. The cost would be well within the fundraising ability of the Institute.

I Just sent an email now asking him about it.

Do you know how we can contact a good comic artist?

[The Immortalist]

Nick Bostroms email is nick[at]nickbostrom[dot]com
I don't know if it's that or nick@nickbostrom.com

[AgeVivo]

second answer I guess. Please report your email and mine: "at" and "dot" are a way to limit the risk of internet scripts finding his email and spaming him.

[AgeVivo]

a comic that one would find in bookstores is a good thing to do - perhaps hard to do indeed

a simpler thing to do is one of those funny emails that are sent to friends or at work (without reference to specific research strands nor institutes, and without giving the impression that we are particularly concerned about life/aging/death)

[The Immortalist]

I got a response from Nick Bostrom.

This is what I sent him:
Hello Nick Bostrom, I have read your Fable titled the Fable of the Dragon Tyrant and I think it is a very good story to be used to persuade people to The Life extension cause. I have been discussing with other members of the Immortality institute about making a children's picture book, or a web comic adaptation of the story. The fable was originally published in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Are you allowed to authorize derivative works, such as a comic adaptation or a children's picture book?


This is his reply:
Thanks. There shouldn't be any problem with copyright. If necessary, I'm sure that J Med Ethics would be happy to grant permission. (Nancy, could you check w JME if the contract preserves for me this kind of right or if not what paperwork we have to file to obtain it?) I would be happy to authorize a comic strip adaptation and would be especially delighted to see it made into a children's picture book, provided only that the adaptation is of a good quality. A few years ago there was some guy in South America (his name escapes me; I think he was fairly young and maybe at that time still an amateur) who wanted to make an animation of the fable, but to my knowledge nothing came of it. If you happen to know whom I'm referring to, it might be worth checking with him if he ever did anything with it. With all best wishes,Nick Nick BostromDirector, Future of Humanity InstituteProfessor, Faculty of Philosophy & James Martin 21st Century SchoolUniversity of Oxford, cell: +44 (0)7789 744242 +44 (0)7789 744242 office: +44 (0)1865 286889 +44 (0)1865 286889homepage: www.nickbostrom.com FHI: www.fhi.ox.ac.uk For scheduling etc., pls. contact Nancy Patel at fhi@philosophy.ox.ac.uk

Edited by The Immortalist, 17 January 2010 - 08:45 PM.

[The Immortalist]

could somebody else try to contact Nick or the Journal of Medical ethics? He replied to me as I said in an earlier post, but he didn't follow up.