As well as buying a copy of the book...

You can print off the book details from Amazon, and some of the Editorial reviews.
Then take it down to your local librarian, as them to order some copies of the book, for educational purposes for the public.
Often a library system will order 10-50 copies, and they will stay in the library system for decades.


[www.amazon.com]
Frozen: My Journey into the World of Cryonics, Deception, and Death [Hardcover]
Larry Johnson (Author)

Obviously it goes without saying, that a person engaging in self-mutilation and homemade self-castration has some very serious issues.
As pointed out, the suicide cult Heaven's Gate run by Applewhite, also engaged in voluntary castration, then later suicide.

When cryonics "Immortality" sects cross the line into self-mutilation and self-castration, what's next?

Self-euthanasia? Suicide.

To try to make sure they good a good cryonics preservation in controlled conditions?
If that is done by their own hand, that is called suicide.
And those who assist, that is assisted-suicide.
And if its done to another, that is called homicide and 1st degree murder.



QUOTE Ben BEst "Some cryonicists have participated in the political struggles to legalize euthanasia. Although cryonicists do not believe that cryopreservation is suicide, most support the "right to die" in the legal sense...Other cryonicists would also prefer to be cryopreserved at a time of their choosing -- to reduce suffering, to gain control of the moment of death and to eliminate the deterioration which often accompanies a slow death." (Ben Best) [www.benbest.com]

"shudders"

I remember the heavens gate thing - Louis Theroux covered it well in his book and with his weird weekends TV show. Theres more info here: [www.crystalinks.com]

Ben Best's comment on Euthanasia are also pretty irresponsible - Read between the lines of what he is actually here: If you are dying a slow painful death euthanasia and the untested unproven methods of cryopreservation are not a unreasonable choice for you. Because they believe that it is not Suicide as they really believe that they will be brought back to life in the future! It is rumoured that the Ventureville thing is no "dude ranch" and they plan to assist suicides and start freezing people right there in the "compound" - Elder Abuse in the extreme!

"I will be in a sense the first person saved by Ventureville. Though
I am a cryonicist in spirit, I have not actually signed up yet with
Alcor. And as a I realize, a real cryonicist is someone who IS
signed up. Financial concerns to a limited extent impeded me, but
external social/religious pressures were really the challenge as I look back.

I am convinced I would have signed up eventually, but still am very
grateful to be in a place where my cryonicist views will be supported,
and even more so as Ventureville takes form. I have already had
the chance to explain about cryonics to several people who knew
about Dave's involvement and were curious.

As seen by Dave, Ventureville will be a haven where a cryonicist
can be among others like him and be protected should his/her health
take a turn for the worse. Should the "vultures" descend to change
the cryonicist's mind about suspension when he is in a very vulnerable
state of mind, we will be there to protect him. And if they push
it too much, Dave just may say in his own special way, "get the
!!#@%!!! out of here, right now!!" : )"



[www.venturist.info]
[www.imminst.org]
[www.cryonet.org]
[www.creeksidepreserve.com]

I've been thinking about the bizarre practice of self-castration, as it has an oblique precedent in traditional taoist thought
[en.wikipedia.org]

...where conservation of the seminal fluid was believed to increase longevity and help in the effort to attain immortality.

[en.wikipedia.org]

'Ancient and medieval practices
Qi (Lifeforce) and Jing (Essence)
The basis of all Taoist thinking is that qi is part of everything that exists. It is related to another energetic substance contained in the human body known as jing (¸), and once all this has been expended, you will die. Jing could be lost from the body in a variety of ways, most notably the bodily fluids. Taoists would use practices to stimulate/increase and conserve their bodily fluids to great extents, and some reportedly recycled and composted their own fecal matter. The fluid that contained the most Jing was male semen. Therefore the Taoists believed that men should decrease the frequency or totally avoid ejaculation in order to conserve their life essence.'

Taoists have never advocated castration but one can see the logical thought fallacy--if a little control and conservation is useful ? (a questionable belief in itself, if immortality is the object) then completely chopping off the offending organ is a guarantee. (using a hammer to crack a nut)

Its the slippery slope fallacy:

[www.xenu.net]

'Slippery slope - a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile'



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2010 10:55PM by Stoic.

There is also a biblical reference (although I am not too hot on biblical references) 'if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out....'
which no sane person would take literally.

Literalism is another thought trap when dealing with language, thought processes, metaphorical stories and other peoples interpretations of said stories.

I was looking for a sane interpretation of the biblical quote and came across this article which uses the analogy of a gangrenous limb being amputated in a last ditch attempt to save the living body--- no promises of immortality here, just a plug for the study of classical thought:

[www.lyen.net]

[cryomedical.blogspot.com] Melody Maxim makes some other points about "Mike Darwin" Federowicz

Federowicz recently wrote:
"It is certainly true that some cryopatients unequivocally benefit from aggressive reperfusion with ventilation as evidenced by return of good tissue perfusion and even the return of neocortical electrical activity (and if un-medicated, return of consciousness)."
[www.depressedmetabolism.com]


So what is he saying, and why?
He is saying that some dead people who get his handy-dandy cryonics techniques, have their brain come back to life, and if unmedicated back to CONSCIOUSNESS, that is conscious life!
So "Mike Darwin" Federowicz has figured out how to resurrect the human brain! Wow, he is going to be greater than Einstein/Watson/Crick in global fame, any day now.

What is he really doing?
Sales 101, for cryonics customers.
He is telling credulous cryonics customers what they want to believe, that even though they have died, that his miracle techniques will bring your brain back to conscious life, and then they will cryonically freeze-dry you quickly, to lock in the freshness, so you can be brought back in the future.

Its so obvious, and so flagrant. Of course, his techniques are not going to reanimate the human brain after death, because he says so. Where are the scientific measurements? Although one greatly hesitates to bring that up, as they will start killing more dogs, and then trying to measure brain activity with some home-made EEG machines.
The cryonics nightmare continues...

'(and if un-medicated, return of consciousness).'

Now there's a completely invalid logical leap.

Isn't there a classic science demo where a dead frog's leg can be made to twitch by running an electrical current through it? No return of consciousness and the frog stays dead but the muscle cells still, for a time, respond to the current.

[www.alcor.org]
In-Securing Your Sub-Optimum Cryopreservation?

Is it Grandfathering, or is it cryonics-extortion, like doing a deal with a mafia loan-shark?
You join at one price, and then the price keeps getting jacked-up, sometimes by 33% in one year.
And if you don't pay, then you don't get "emergency" services, which according to their cryonics ideology, means you are a dead bag of flesh, and your eternal life of an immortal is canceled.

If you are a broke-ass cryonics customer who can't pay the piper's inflated prices then...
-----------------
QUOTE: "Such alterations may include, but are not limited to, using fewer personnel, less sophisticated procedures, less expensive cryoprotectants, no cryoprotectants, or limiting the extent of cryoprotection of whole body patients."
"At this time, those who have provided less than $80,000 for a neuropreservation or less than $200,000 for a whole body cryopreservation may not receive a washout. As Alcor raises its rates, members who want to have the best chances of receiving an optimum cryopreservation will need to increase their funding to match Alcor’s new rates."
------------------------

So they are going to let you rot, if you do not pay up.
Its more psychological leverage, to get more money.

They are also setting up their Cryonicsville in Scottsdale Az, and are encouraging terminally ill people to move there. They even say they may pay you $5000 to move there, if you are terminal. (they got every angle covered, they save much more than $5000 if you move there)

Next, the UPSELL. To a private charter jet, another $40,000.

And great news, as of 2012, their price is now $200,000 to get froze-up. (33% increase from this year).


What is this about? Its about Qualifying the Customer, and psychological leverage in sales.
If you are a broke-ass cryonics believer, you are going to rot.
So its about moving to a higher order customer, and also pushing people into more "insurance". (guess who does that insurance deal?). They say right there, they encourage people to change their insurance beneficiary. Contact them, and they will help you set this up!!

Someone could do the math on all the new charges, and upselling. But it looks like the new price for a full-body freezing, is now $300,000 with the additional costs.
And note the article is designed psychologically, to create FEAR of losing your fake Immortality fantasy. If you don't pay, they are NOT going to do a fancy-freezing on you, and just chuck you in the freezer.
That is like a religion saying, if you don't give a proper donation, then you are going to Purgatory, and just might not make it to heaven, so pay up.

These are quite clever people, who have all the angles covered.
Notice how its all coming true, psychological manipulation being used to jack-up the prices, into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for each person. Encouraging vulnerable elderly people to move to Cryonicsville Az.

The Cryonics Cache was allegedly hacked but i have just been informed that it is back up.

Wonder how long it will last this time...... XD

[thecryonicscache.webs.com]