12 replies to this topic

[brokenportal]

Have you guys seen this? http://www.healthyyears.org/index2.php I havent heard anything about it until I found a newsletter from it in my email yesterday. It appears to be Methuselah Foundations work to Meme in the cause with softer terminology.

The founder is Charlie Warren. Does anybody here know who that is? That name is unfamiliar to me. It looks like an excellent site for coordinating local volunteer efforts. Im probably going to merge my "Longevity Communities Network" (Imminst, MFoundation, Coalition to Extend Life and Longevity Meme) efforts with that and plug into their frame work to promote it. Im thinking that our imminst projects and volunteer effort might do well to work hand in hand with this site. For example, possibly join the healthy years site up with the imminst wiki, and or google doc.

Ive written them a letter about all this stuff. Ill update here with the response when it comes in.

[Mind]

I don't think it is affiliated with MF officialy, anyway it doesn't mention MF or SENS directly, however it does list Aubrey's "seven deadly things". Looks like another nice effort to get the word out.

[eternaltraveler]

my spider sense is tingling on this one.

[bacopa]

I just joined that site and opened up a field office at my address! I'm getting people to donate and go canvassing too. Looks to be pretty cool!

[brokenportal]

He wrote back and indicates that it is indeed set up in order to convey the cause with a less caustic terminology.

I hope this effort doesnt drain imminst of all of its volunteer minded people. It would be a shame if imminst emptied out because the consensus worked to grind the name change to a halt.

Direct collaboration just may become imperative to imminsts survival. I may be wrong, Im just saying. I think we should try to get Charlie Warren into some discussions and maybe onto the sunday evening update as soon as possible.

Ive already invited him to the meetings, so anybody interested, tune in to tomorrows wednesday brainstorm meeting as he may show up there and we can jump right on this. Schedule here: imminst.org/meetings

[eternaltraveler]

I think it is a bit hasty to begin jumping on board this just because it has a website. We don't know anything about it at all (other than going into some detail of lots of aubrey's ideas without mentioning his existence).

What specifically does donating to this "group" even go toward?

Edited by elrond, 26 November 2008 - 02:24 AM.

[niner]

I think it is a bit hasty to begin jumping on board this just because it has a website. We don't know anything about it at all (other than going into some detail of lots of aubrey's ideas without mentioning his existence).

What specifically does donating to this "group" even go toward?

Yeah. It's a slick site, which is fine, but it has a "store" selling "C.A.R. branded merchandise". This may all be well and good, or it might be someone trying to jump on the bandwagon to make a buck. Hard to say at this point. The non-acknowledgement of Aubrey- is that because they are trying to sanitize the message or is it because they are trying to appear to be more substantial than they really are? Hard to say at this point. I think that we are going to see more and more of this, which is good in a way, because it means the meme is getting out there. It's not going to be under our control. The other day I saw a car on the street with a vanity plate that read: IMORTL1. I wondered if it was one of us. It does say something about the meme, though I'm not sure what. Aubrey fan, or vampire fan? Hard to say...

[AgeVivo]

Come on! Imminst has spent many [unhealthy] years trying to find a more mainstream name...without success!!
I think Charlie Warren is right, either to start THE mainstream anti-aging website, or to tease us so that we do it.
That's the best way to boost what we are looking for.

You shouldn't be suprised, you've had many warnings already:
Here : one could make a super forum to group imminst, MF and other under a better name (longevillage or man.org)
Here : the agreement of imminst/MF wouldn't even be needed, as people would naturally move to the new site
Here : brokenportal started making that new site for longevity communities. not fast enough (not possible to help)
Here the choice of a new name is convoluted; aorist, aohelix... still not mainstream and nothing as simple as healthyyears or longevillage

What you can do IMO:
=> either Charlie Warren is like me (interested in making healthy years happen, not about stealing a business/community); then imho you should collaborate with him and AdG: transfert forums, either on healthyyears or another website (with a mainstream name)
=> or you should stop being stuck with infinity/indefinity/etc meanings and go straight to a new website NOW
As someone was saying:

don't wait for the singularity or SENS to save your ass; move your ass

Remember: posted in "Sunday Evening Update » Imminst Round-table Brainstorming":

a more mainstream name than "immortality institute" - NOW - by force if needed...

Why doing that
Many are getting really desperate. Ok, you may want to keep a place that is specific for "immortalists", but sorry, "immortality institute" lovers, that place shouldn't attrack others (eg "lifextensions") because its current name reduces the chances (your chances!) of overall living longer (/forever) due to bad communication and reduced community. It's a matter of survival (did i convince you? )

You choose how...otherwise We choose
there are several ways... some against which you won't be able to do anything:

- change names and create a place aside for immortalists
e.g. imminst.org and immortalityinstitute.org can be reoriented for some time towards a new website where all the existing threads are copied, but that is not named "Immortality Institute". Here is an unfinished example:
http://www.lifespans...y.org/index.php (check it out if you've never seen it before!)


- move non-immortalist threads to a new website
If you don't do it we have a way to do it in an insidious way: create a new website that is able to manage such threads, but not only from imminst: from mfoundation and other places as well. users will naturally want to go there, to be aware in a single click of what is going on in the various websites

- many other ways. Eg a live 'mainstream' copy of imminst, like the unfinished example above. But that solution isn't right because it doesn't really change anything: we can not hide that it is imminst.org (people will know it or discover it, which is bad for the communication)

Choose a name...otherwise We'll do it
Many good names have been proposed so far and many would have been accepted if everyone (including pure immortalists) wnated to change names. Now that you don't really have the choice: humanlifeextension and longevillage are among the best so far (not aorist/helix/aohhish) and they are available (humanlifeextension at a cost that may be asked; i give you longevillage for free, in particular if it helps changing names). There is really no need to waste time in looking at other names

Time counts
We all have One life. Rather than wait for another 5 years to change names, this intervention accelerates things a little (you'll agree that there has been much time to think already).

Edited by AgeVivo, 26 November 2008 - 09:57 AM.

[Mind]

The name change issue has come up every year since Imminst's inception. It has been voted down every time or not even reached a vote (most years). I am agnostic on the issue and I can see both sides of the argument. However, the idea of extreme life extension is getting more widespread, and each year it makes less sense to change in order to appeal to the mainstream. The Imminst name becomes less of an obstacle each year. When there are already thousands of websites dedicated to health and longevity, a name change would just ensure that we get lost in the mix. What really matters is what the organization does. Anyone who spends a little time in the forums immediately finds out that Imminst is serious about extreme life extension and is actively engaged in making it happen. The more effort that goes into quality information and new projects, the less the name will be an issue. I am unsure what would motivate someone to volunteer for a newly minted unknown website and not for Imminst. Anyone with motivation could do some or all of the volunteer and publicity efforts put forth by healthyyears.org. There are no barriers to volunteer efforts at Imminst. (Thor would disagree, however, proposed changes to software and functioning of the website need to be considered more carefully and voted upon).

Post your ideas in the forums and see if you can get a team together. Everyone seems to post ideas and then expect other people to do the actual work. There is even money available for member projects in the form of Director Treasure Chests. All you have to do is make a request to a Director. Need $50 for flyers? Ask. Need $400 for a calendar project. Ask. If you have a project idea and a handful of members ready to get to work, it is highly unlikely you would be turned down. After all, you can ask 6 different Directors.

If we had just 10 people (out of nearly 8,000) as active as Eric, Imminst would be a household name already. 2008 has been a good year for Imminst with new projects and associations with other leading orgs. 2009 should be even better, as long as people contribute. Jumping ship would mean starting over and losing all that has been accomplished thus far.

Check out Eric's bullet list of ideas and see if anything intrigues you.

Get your name on the volunteer list. Even if you can only commit 30 minutes a week, it would make a big difference.

Use the Lifespan Twine (or other twines) to promote Imminst. It is as easy as posting one bookmark a week. The tools to make an impact with little effort are in place - you just have to use them.

[AgeVivo]

For non members, here is a free-access link to Eric's bullet list: http://docs.google.c...evision=_latest

I've started working on an implementation of aoHeLix (bullet 2, mostly) that can group different longevity tools of various communities (forums, chat, videos, projects, experiments) within one website: http://www.longecity.com


Of course it is only a proposal. So far I've started incorporating Eric's content of aoHeLix; as discussed with him 'on Air' I need to see which html/javascript to include to get the chat and video and make a space & buton for each community
Any help/sharing work on this is feasible and welcome: any new page.php includes "top.php" and "bottom.php" and does what it should in between, that's it.

In MF's forum Epicureanideal is incorporporating a tool for experimental data (in particular mouse lifespan tests), that will in particular allow everyone to be aware of lifespan extensions so far and to concretely contribute to new ones (Mprize...@home!). I'd say it is as important as a forum+chat or MFURI or MPrize, in order to boost longevity.

I'm myself preparing a forum that dynamically merges existing forums (similar technique as http://www.lifespans...y.org/index.php).


PS: I'm not able to add my name on volunteers in the wiki; if someone can, please do it. thanks

Edited by AgeVivo, 26 November 2008 - 10:53 PM.

[Mind]

AgeVivo, I put your name on the volunteer list.

[AgeVivo]

I'm preparing a forum that dynamically merges existing forums (similar technique as http://www.lifespans....org/index.php).

Beginnings: anyone can now add imminst and MF threads. Try it!

[HealthyYearsorg]

Thanks for this post Eric, and yes we are working towards the same goal. We provide people wanting to take action with the opportunity to do it. Join us at http://www.healthyyears.org and volunteer!