The Zig Zag cryonics documentary previously mentioned at the Longevity Meme - and recently shown on British TV - is available at Google Video. Get it while you can.

"The first ever footage of a person being cryonically frozen is to be broadcast in a Channel Five documentary that will follow a woman who is terminally ill with cancer before and after her death. ... We're really very proud of what we have achieved with this programme - the human and emotional journey we captured with one contributor in particular, filming prior to her death and the subsequent process of her preservation, in conjunction with the amazing scientific and ethical questions raised by this subject, makes for one of our most challenging and fascinating productions to date." Filming was earlier this year, according the Alcor newsletter; I'm hoping this turns out to have more of a respectful positioning than the Guardian article suggests. Cryonics is an essential insurance policy; the best and only option available to all too many people who will die before the onset of meaningful healthy life extension technologies.

Take a look and make your own mind up on the tone and positioning. I suspect that the cryonics industry and community is in much the same position as the rest of the healthy life extension community: the core proposition is compelling for many people, but still largely unknown or poorly understood. The largest obstacles lie in educating more of the general public, raising funding, expanding advocacy efforts and growing support; there is no such thing as bad publicity under those circumstances.

Technorati tags: cryonics, video

Posted by Reason at August 7, 2006 9:50 PM | TrackBack (0)