From: JDP (jacques@dtext.com)
Date: Tue Mar 04 2003 - 10:21:41 MST
Hi everyone,
I have an urgent need for some good non-technical articles about
cryonics and/or physical immortality. I need not only the article, but
also the author's agreement for the article to be translated to French
and published to the web.
The reason is, I have been talking on the phone today with a
journalist of the main French TV channel, and he agreed to quote a
certain URL of mine (see below) on a hugely popular show IF I provide
interesting content (in French of course) about cryonics and/or
physical immortality there. That's an occasion I don't want to miss.
The show might well ignite the long awaited public debate about the
Martinot situation (still unsolved, and that will be evoked on the
show). The journalist seems quite sympathetic (he told me for example,
regarding the Martinot situation, that he regretted France didn't have
more respect for individual liberties, etc.).
The show -- whose theme will be "Immortality and cryonics" -- is in
less than a week (March 10th), so unless he can see the website
Thursday or Friday, it won't work. I need to make the web site, paint
it with nice colors, find the texts, get authorizations, translate
them, put them online.
The TV show is for everyone, so the articles must be relatively easy
to read by everyone. And short ! (if a part is self-contained, and the
author agrees to its separate publication, then it might also work)
And I need the agreement of the author, as said above. If you point me
to an article, and I need to ask the agreement, and it comes in two
days, then it won't do for this occasion. So as much as possible
please point me (privately) to articles of which *you* are the author,
or of which you know the author personally and you can get his
agreement.
I am a small publisher in France and the website on which this will go
is a companion to a book series I am in the process of developing.
(Though we rush things for this occasion, the texts mentionned below
will stay beyond that occasion.) Each book of the series (about 80
pages apiece) will tackle one theme linked to the moment we're living,
the possibilities before us, and the future, in a somewhat
transhumanistish perspective. They will be concise, rational, clear,
acessible, interesting (which isn't such an obvious combination
nowadays in France), self-contained and targeted to the educated,
general public.
Among the projected themes are
- transhumanist manifestos
- existential risks
- cryonics
- biology of aging and longevity
- the biotech
The website will publish some (or all, don't know yet) of the printed
texts, along with lighter and shorter texts, all in French of course.
Though I will commission some French-writing authors, I also expect to
select and translate some existing texts published to the web or
elsewhere. There is no urgency in general for all this, and I will
take the time to search the web for adequate articles, and ask people
if they are willing to grant authorization. In fact I didn't intend to
post on the list at all, but confronted today to this unexpected
occasion and urgency, I figured it might be the best thing to do, and
that exposing the project at the same time wouldn't hurt.
I think the project in general might be the best way (available to me
at least) to trigger reflection and debate of good quality here on
those themes.
Suggestions and propositions (probably better in private, but I'll
read the list, too) are of course welcome.
Thanks,
Jacques Du Pasquier
PS: By doing a quick catching up I see that there was much talk about
how the hell France could be such and such, and in what measure it
deserved to be the target of absolutely all jokes, or only all jokes
of a certain kind. Well... I am Swiss anyway.
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