[www.network54.com]
[cryomedical.blogspot.com]
On Cold Filter, and the Melody Maxim site, they seem to be a bit surprised at the hardball tactics being used to try and silence criticism around cryonics.

But in fact, for those who study cultish groups, movements and sects, its standard behavior. That is the first thing they do, actually the second.
The first thing they do in these groups/sects, its to try and used extreme internal pressure to silence people who speak up with any criticism.
Next, they will attack them with personal SMEARS, using dirty smear tactics.

Then, they will threaten them with frivolous SLAPP's [en.wikipedia.org] which are just designed to make people shut-up, and then sign a gag-order to avoid the hassle. They will spend MILLIONS of their sects members money to MAKE AN EXAMPLE out of those who speak up. They don't care, its not their money they are spending, its money from the groups members, and a tax write-off.

If that doesn't work, then what? In serious groups and sects, they move to many kinds of "threats" against people. Obviously those are done in ways to avoid trouble for those calling the shots.
The worse case scenario goes beyond that.

So for those in cryonics, it may seem somewhat outrageous and confusing. But for anyone who watches any type of cultish groups, its standard behavior, to the letter.

In cryonics, there is no actual science at all, right now its just advanced deceptive salesmanship, within a cultish presentation, deliberately designed to prey on the FEAR OF DEATH human's have. That is not made up. The cryonics/Venturists have admitted that online. They want to tap into those religious emotions around death, and connect it to cryonics dreams of Immortality, just like many New Religions.
Then they add the deceptive contracts involving large sums of money.
Even worse, unlike most sects, cryonics wants more than just your money and mind, they want your corpse, and your Estate too.

So the process of escalating attacks against anyone who speaks out against the cryonics company practices, is how every "sect" works.
And if you are a former insider, who knows the FACTS, and are speaking out, they will try to shut you up, and shut you down, using any tactic they can.

Same process as Scientology, SGI and hundreds of other sects and cultish groups.
To those who are only interested in cryonics, it may seem very surprising, but its all standard operating procudure in basically every group that operates in this way.

When all else fails, then the cultish group actively seeks to distort all criticism of them by pre-framing the issues in their marketing material.

Robert Ettinger is talking about "recruitment" to cryonics in China, as they don't have the "ideological baggage". [www.network54.com]


Like the ideological baggage of demanding scientific evidence?
Recruitment is a word used to describe what every sect does, they always need to "recruit fresh meat". They even use the term fresh meat.

Here's an independent website with some information.


--------------------------
[people.howstuffworks.com]
Cult Recruitment
"The main methods of cult recruitment revolve around deception and manipulation. Potential recruits are not told the true nature or intentions of the group. Instead, recruiters portray it as something mainstream, low-pressure and benign...
...Recruiters identity the specific needs or desires of their targets and play to them. They learn to pick up on a person's fears and vulnerabilities..."

To be clear, not saying that cryonics is a "cult" in the way that cryonics organizers try to distort the criticism of the cryonics companies. They deliberately exaggerate and distort, to try and smear the legit criticism of cryonics companies.

The evidence shows that the main cryonics companies, and their main players, are using all sorts of manipulative and dishonest TECHNIQUES on people to mislead and trick them into these tricky cryonics contracts, that they can't get out of.

Also, the Venturists and others in cryonics have admitted they want to use the religious feeling of the desire for Immortality, and connect that with the selling of cryonics.
As well as setting up Venturism as a cryonics religion, to try and use that as a mechanism to hide behind with freedom of religion.
So its not even that cryonics is a "cult", but that those who are selling cryonics for large amounts of money, are using many of the exact same techniques used in large, organized sects/groups these days, to make millions of dollars.

Just replace "cryonics" with some other concept, and the persuasion systems being used are basically identical. The difference in cryonics is they are not selling Enlightenment with seminars, but they are selling the idea of Immortality, if you give them your money.
And the more money you give Cryonics Inc, they tell you the better chance you have.
That one has been used for thousands of years in countless religions, with the High Priests giving Immortality in exchange for large amounts of wealth being handed over to them.


The cryonics person then is encouraged to start imaging their future life, and giving the cryonics company more money to "invest for them", so they will be superrich in 2400.
Frankly, the cryonics business is more of an outright scam and swindle, than anything else, for those who are selling it for profit.

Its identical to selling recruits on the promises of Eternal Life, used in many religions.



David Styles knows EXACTLY what he is selling. Look at how he signs-off his name...
ETERNALLY...

-------QUOTE----------------
Warm regards,
Eternally,
David Styles (Organiser)
------------

There are many lies being peddled by cryonics promoters, in a deceptive way.

For example, they say that the Society Of Venturism is not "religious" but was created to try to prevent autopsies. Its true, they want to prevent autopsies, which is very very dangerous in a group that believes ultimately in "killing" a healthy person, to get a "good preservation" for cryonics. They have said it, many are claiming its already been done.
Dangerous stuff. Its called murder, by any other name.

But Society Of Venturism was the Church of Venturism, and they want to cover that up, to those who are non-religious.



Mark Plus even has the stones to claim that David Pizer had a "had surgery yesterday to cryoablate a possibly malignant mass on his right kidney"
Either these guys are incredibly clueless, or they are trying to deceive people.
Just because something has the word "cryo" in it, doesn't mean it supports cryonics.
In fact..."Cryoablation" disproves "cryonics" as its just another form of using extreme cold to KILL CELLS and destroy that tissue.
Like if you have a wart, they will freeze it with liquid nitrogen, and that KILLS the skin cells, and they go black and peel off. Its called Cryotherapy, and with liquid nitrogen it kills cells instantly.

So one has to wonder, are they really that clueless, or do they think that just using the word "cryo" means it supports "cryonics". In fact, anyone who knows how the extreme freezing with liquid nitrogen works, knows that it just kills all the cells instantly.

I came across Cryonics UK through a event I (accidently) helped promote through my meetup site London Futurists.
We are a group that met up in a pub and discussed futuristic predictions and Transhumanism from a skeptical/laymans point of view.
I started posting events which were held by the Extrabrittania (UK Transhumanists) as they held good events on AI research and and other worthwhile
events. I got really fed up with dealing with the "cultish mentality" and after some long protracted arguments - i left hoping the site would die as I wasn't paying for it - but of course stupid me left the door open to The Extrabrittannia lot to pay for my website and take over the mailing lists.

When I realised this happenned i rushed back to try and rescue it - but I know i lost the "game" and it was no longer really my website (despite creating it - godamn metup rules should of pressed delete!) but figured that if I am at leats still involved some pragmatism can still be maintained...


Any how i'm getting off the subject a little so..

My assistant organiser (a Devout Transhumansist) posted a event promoting a meeting by this David Styles Character and then Ben Best! - Needless to say the more sensible members and myself attempeted to reason (albiet agressivly) with him see here: [www.meetup.com]

The whole thing made me very angry - Cryonics seems to be now a pre-requisite for a Futurist/Transhumanist movement which is a Load of Bullshit - I come form the school of Sagan, Clarke and Learys brand of futurism not this kurzweil vinge machine worship sect! There is a really unhealthly cultishness about the whole thing, theres a guy called Roko Mijik (AI scientist and mathmetician apparently) who in a meeting about "how to rationally think about the future" wrecked the whole thing by presenting the Lesswrong agenda of longevity escape velocity and cryonics. - see here: [www.meetup.com]

Some of the videos of these "sales-presentations" are available here: [www.youtube.com]
If you can stomach sitting through them I think you may also notice some blatent use of NLP techniques too!

Any how I decided i got nothing to lose by taking matters in my own hands and making the website cryonics factsheet and use some of the marketing tequniques that these snake oil cryonic salesmen are using against themselves.

I take this quote: "Those nipping at cryonics always stop after a while. Either they get tired of it or they die.
Robert Ettinger" - as a Challenge, i got loads of energy im a young guy and i am not gonna stop nipping till im taking chunks.

Cryonics is starting to bemass-marketed over in the UK now and sadly as you can see its got potential to be be enough to make the scameers quite rich indeed. I did contact Watchdog about Cryonics UK but i don;t think they took it seriously as for getting media involved i think this is a good idea but i don't know how to start that.

In the US, the cryonics salesmen are trying to move away from the Transhumanists, as most Transhumanists are like yourself, from the Sagan-Clarke tradition, and they are not going to swallow their cryonics bullshit.
David Pizer in the US, has ranted against Transhumanists, for that reason. They are not stupid enough for him.

So they are trying to target the anti-agers in the Boomers, who do have money, no scientific training, and are afraid of death. Bingo.


On top of this, some Transhumanists are very naive about things like insurance business contracts, so they would never believe they are being conned, as they are intellectually naive and idealistic.
But at least with some work they can see through the scam and swindle.

So the bogus antiscience being sold in cryonics can be exposed.
But the rip-off sales swindle techniques, also need to be exposed, and those are something completely different.
On top of that, they are using some cultish techniques on people too, to lure them in. Its not really a "cult", but they are using similar techniques.

But the core group of people in the US who control the cryonics business, they do literally see themselves as High Priests of cryonics.


Micheal Shermer has debunked cryonics. [www.michaelshermer.com]

The next step is to get some sane Transhumanists to do the same. But as stated, many of the big names are either in on the cryonics Swindle themselves, or want to Sell Illusions about cryonics to promote their own agendas.
Max More is an example of that. Extropianism [en.wikipedia.org]

It has moved from being based on hard science speculation, into a type of New Agey cultish belief system, now taken over by ENTREPRENEURS wanting to make billions off the fear of death.

The British Are Coming
[www.network54.com]

A good harsh critique of so-called "nanotechnlogy".

Nano-nonsense: 25 years of charlatanry by Scott Locklin [scottlocklin.wordpress.com]

The sellers of cryonics, often use the flim-flam cover of "nanotechnology", as they say that is going to solve all their cryonics problems.
In fact, as stated in that article, nothing has happened.
But those who sell cryonics, just leap into extreme pseudoscience-fiction, and use it as marketing material, to sell sell sell.
Nanotech, uploading brains-scans, and the rest of it.
Its beyond vaporware, its beyond snake-oil.

Its a cryonics financial swindle and bamboozle.


Of course, Feyman started the theory of nanotech with his lecture, There's Plenty Of Room At The Bottom. [en.wikipedia.org]

But a lecture is wildly different from setting up complex schemes to rake-in millions of dollars in profits from technologies that do not exist.
That is a swindle.
In the 1800's, there were countless swindles like this, relating to "technology".

Notice that the entire focus of the cryonics salespeople...money money money. Making those sales, closing those contracts. The financial aspect is a good old fashioned swindle.

Swindle

[en.wikipedia.org]
"A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, swindle or bamboozle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence.
The victim is known as the mark, the trickster is called a confidence man, con man, confidence trickster, or con artist, and any accomplices are known as shills. Confidence men or women exploit human characteristics such as greed and dishonesty, and have victimized individuals from all walks of life.
Shills, also known as accomplices, help manipulate the mark into accepting the con man's plan. In a traditional confidence trick, the mark is led to believe that he will be able to win money or some other prize by doing some task. The accomplices may pretend to be strangers who have benefited from performing the task in the past."

[en.wikipedia.org]
A shill is a person who is paid to help another person or organization to sell goods or services. The shill pretends to have no association with the seller/group and gives onlookers the impression that he or she is an enthusiastic customer. The person or group that hires the shill is using crowd psychology, to encourage other onlookers or audience members (who are unaware of the set-up) to purchase the said goods or services. Shills are often employed by confidence artists. The term plant is also used.

-------------------------
swin·dle
–verb (used with object)
1. to cheat (a person, business, etc.) out of money or other assets.
2. to obtain by fraud or deceit.
–verb (used without object)
3. to put forward plausible schemes or use unscrupulous trickery to defraud others; cheat.
–noun
4. an act of swindling or a fraudulent transaction or scheme.
5. anything deceptive; a fraud: This advertisement is a real swindle.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1775–85; back formation from swindler < G Schwindler irresponsible person, promoter of wildcat schemes, cheat, deriv. of schwindeln to be dizzy (hence dizzy-minded, irresponsible), defraud, equiv. to schwind-
swin·dle·a·ble, adjective
swindler, noun
swin·dling·ly, adverb
outswindle, verb

—Synonyms
1. cozen, dupe, trick, gull.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2010 05:01AM by The Anticult.

:)
i may have been wrong on the transhumanists, Extrabrittannia is not Transhumanist association when you really look at it probably more associated with Extropians jumping on the transhuman meme.

Us brits always get things mixed up