I`m thinking to find German politicians to write to since I know far more about them. What do you think? Are we ready to go international with the letters?
Yes, for sure, we always have been international. We pick people from all over the world. My pick for this month is in Israel for example. As for politicians, yes, go for it. We also had a budding political outreach team looking to start collecting local coordinators for political outreach through the Coalition to Extend Life, but the organizer there, Tom Mooney, has dropped off the face of the planet. He's writing a book about the politics of indefinite life extension and I think he has become disenchanted by the slow rate of growth that the movement is in this decade. What I suggest is, write politicians through the VIP Outreach team for now, and if you want, later we can look in to firing up a Political Outreach team. We'll want to give it some more thought though. Perhaps fire Coalition to Extend Life back up, perhaps put it under a general outreach banner (theres a media outreach needing to set up down the line too), or other.
My draft letter is somewhat more conservative and does not refer to imminst etc. actively. I thought a lot about this and believe it is better to start weaning people into the idea of lifespan extension slowly. "Immortality institute" is counter-productive in this sense - I`m sorry, its just true. People automatically shut down when I talk to them about this, at least the conservative people with money I am trying to convince.
Yes, for sure, we are right there with you. Most of the time we dont refer to Immortality Institute. I usually say something like Longevity Communities Network, and sometimes use the generic "Imminst". If you want to target a conservative crowd then that is great and there are other tools we can get you in help with that. You can consider spreading the Longevity Dividend paper for example, or our open letters like this one:
http://www.imminst.org/cureaging/ Also with open letters, I wonder if we might want to update that one, and then also, would it make sense to design an open letter specifically for politicians to consider endorsing too? Maybe you could consider writing one up for proposal.
I`m also not asking to pour money into specific companies as I was advised that might be a legal problem, at least in the US. Do any of you know any about this?
I wouldnt ask them about money anyways at this point, but rather focus on opening up a dialogue, getting them information like books, pamphlets and links, and trying to get their support. If the opportunity to talk about money presents itself I would then arrange a meeting to go over it.
Here`s my draft
Honored (xxx),
Please allow me to address you with a question today that is very dear to our and thousands of people`s hearts: The research of regenerative medicine and the scientific intervention in the process of aging.
"Anti-aging" has become popular throughout the world. It is time to take it seriously.
We need you to give more support to the scientific community which researches regenerative therapies and aging intervention!
Who wants to age and degenerate? Not you, not me and not the majority of the people.
To defeat the diseases affecting humanity and to, ultimately, delay and halt the process of aging so we can live longer, more productive lives, should be the main interest of the science of our time. They need funding and support by politics to achieve this goal. The theme of “aging intervention” has come up all over the world, but many companies are working only towards parts of this goal (for example: Alzheimer immunisation, affiris et alia, cancer nanotechnology (especially iron), discovery of viral RNA replication, Rutgers University Newark, Retinas from embryonic stem cells, UC Irvine and so on). This approach, while commendable, will not be successful ultimately because it only addresses some aspects of the whole.
But the pursuit of individual diseases is like trying to hold up an avalanche by throwing back individual snowballs. As we get older, the degenerative processes in our cells – right to our very core of being, the brain – proceeds until there is a total system failure. This degenerative process is what needs to be addressed, not only the individual diseases.
How can true aging intervention benefit us all? Firstly, it will save the national health system many billions if the underlying cause for many expensive diseases – cell degeneration and cell death – is found and subsequently conquered. We would stay active, healthy consumers for a very long time, able to take part in the working process with growing experience and wisdom – and without the hinderances that cell degeneration impose on us. We would not need national funding for life because no one would become too frail to work. We would not need pensions etc. anymore – indeed that system could be abolished entirely. A long-lived society would also – out of self-interest – take better care of this planet and likely be more peaceful.
Every step we take takes us closer to an Age where people do not have to succumb to the indignities and painful recline of old age. The first goal is to delay the onset of aging considerably. This is reachable within our lifetime, some breakthroughs have already been achieved. Stopping aging will be mastered one day – lets speed up the process so we do not miss true anti-aging by one or two generations!
Help us take these steps. Please endorse the concept of Aging Intervention and the companies and research groups that pursue this goal. It is not just a dream. It is a scientific chance – let it happen in our lifetime.
Yours sincerely,
This works. I think it does the job, and that youll figure out how to adjust the wording to be more poignant if you do more of these. Not that its not poignant now, but I sense room for more impact, as with most of our letters. This sentence seems like it could be reworded:
To defeat the diseases affecting humanity and to, ultimately, delay and halt the process of aging so we can live longer, more productive lives, should be the main interest of the science of our time.
As for your examples, those will work, but you could talk to Sven or Eternal Traveler or John Schloendorn or any of a variety of others around here to get some even more direct examples. I would consider giving them some more concrete ways to "endorse the concept of Aging Intervention and the companies and research groups that pursue this goal." But remember as always, dont fret too much, there is always the next month to work on getting better at it. In the mean time, decent contact is better than the overwhelming, murderous silence that currently emenates from the movement for indefinite life extension.
