Brave New World (death topic)

[Guest guest]

Hey all,

This whole thread is oddly close to a side interest of mine: the Terror Management paradigm in cultural psychology. If anyone is interested, I have a paper on it in an online journal (you might want to skip the theory section and go straight to the film analysis):

http://www.wickedness.net/ejv1n3/gifford.pdf

If you've ever read Ernest Becker, it's more or less an empiric working out of his musings on the role that the fear of death might play in various activities. Over the past 10-15 years, a number of Terror Management studies (TMT) have followed a pattern of giving a mortality salience induction (a detailed reminder of one's person death), as opposed to controls or those who are given similarly anxiety-provoking reminders such as images/descriptions of severe dental pain... After subjects are distracted (death is no longer in current focal/conscious attention), they are tested in a number of ways. The results: reminders of death seem to provoke increased attachment to one's belief system, a need for self-esteem as an important member of a group, increased liking for sameness, increased derogation of perceived difference (racial or religious), increased stereotypic thinking, avoidance of self-reflection, increased attachment to one's partner, etc...

Interestingly, a few of these studies have even demonstrated an increased willingness to participate in dangerous activities, so long as they support one's self-esteem and sense of being an important member of one's group (a symbolic immortality project, as Becker would call it).

I think this kind of thinking lies very close to the surface of CR practitioners, and I've often wondered about doing an analysis of the 'flames' on the other CR listserv. To what extent does our attachment to our CR regime (or other regimes) reflect the not fully conscious awareness that we're doing this so that we won't die as soon? We all (humans) think about death continually, but that awareness can't be fully conscious, otherwise we'd be paralysed by a crippling amount of anxiety.

If this is sufficiently interesting to anyone, I'd recommend the recent In The Wake of 9/11 by , et al., or Ernest Becker's Pulitzer Prize winning The Denial of Death.

Keep the awareness of death near to you, not because it makes life sweeter, but because it prevents you from engaging in all of the silly things we do to avoid knowing we're alive...

My two bits...

________________________ Gifford3-5 Humanities CentreDepartment of EnglishUniversity of Albertawww.ualberta.ca/~gifford

[Guest guest]

Hi Francesca,

> people who commit suicide - or suicide

> bombers. So if the stakes are high

> enough, death is not the worst case

> scenerio.

Exactly my point. As I mentioned, one bizarre finding is that death

reminders can actually prompt an increase in risky behaviour, so long as it

promotes self-esteem (an ego boost). When faced with the inevitable, what

role can renewing one's sense of agency play? At any rate, I hope we're all

here because we'd like to stick around as well and as long as possible.

Walford was actually interviewed for a documentary based on this topic,

though I'm not sure if he made it to the final cut. If you're interested,

you can find more out about the film here:

http://www.flightfromdeath.com

I arranged a screening of the 'work in progress' during a conference here

earlier in the summer, and it is a visually stunning and intellectually

provoking film. I'm not sure if it has been officially released yet, but it

has been doing very well with awards.

Cheers,

________________________

Gifford

3-5 Humanities Centre

Department of English

University of Alberta

www.ualberta.ca/~gifford

[Guest guest]

Hello and CR ALL:

Thanks for pointing out this film documentary project

" Flight From Death " , where you mention that Dr. Roy Walford,

Father of Modern Scientific Human CR, was filmed to appear

in the documentary.

Recently the " Flight From Death " website was updated.

The following changes were made to the website " links " page:

1) The link to Dr. Roy Walford no longer appears.

2) The link to the Alcor Foundation (cryonics lab) no longer appears.

3) A new link to Evil Genius Interview with Greg Bennick was added.

4) A new link to Elijah Sheppard (music composer) was added.

The old original webpage that previously listed Dr. Walford

is now an old archived webpage (cached via Google):

http://tinyurl.com/rmmw

The same old original archived webpage, long URL:

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:KsLuzC_9Co4J:www.

flightfromdeath.com/links.htm+ & hl=en & lr=lang_en & ie=UTF-8

The current updated webpage (that no longer refers to

Dr. Walford):

http://www.flightfromdeath.com/links.htm

Does this mean that Dr. Walford no longer appears in the

award-winning " Flight From Death " documentary? I don't know.

-- Warren

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Gifford [mailto:gifford@...]

> Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 7:10 AM

>

> Subject: [ ] Brave New World (death topic)

>

>

> Hi Francesca,

>

> > people who commit suicide - or suicide

> > bombers. So if the stakes are high

> > enough, death is not the worst case

> > scenerio.

>

> Exactly my point. As I mentioned, one bizarre finding is

> that death reminders can actually prompt an increase in

> risky behaviour, so long as it promotes self-esteem

> (an ego boost). When faced with the inevitable, what

> role can renewing one's sense of agency play? At any rate,

> I hope we're all here, because we'd like to stick around

> as well and as long as possible.

>

> Walford was actually interviewed for a documentary based

> on this topic, though I'm not sure if he made it to the

> final cut. If you're interested, you can find more out

> about the film here:

>

> http://www.flightfromdeath.com

>

> I arranged a screening of the 'work in progress' during

> a conference here earlier in the summer, and it is a

> visually stunning and intellectually provoking film.

> I'm not sure if it has been officially released yet,

> but it has been doing very well with awards.

>

> Cheers,

>

> ________________________

> Gifford

> 3-5 Humanities Centre

> Department of English

> University of Alberta

> www.ualberta.ca/~gifford

[Guest guest]

Hi Warren,

Yes, Walford does seem to be removed from the site. I did talk to Greg &

about their footage on him, but Walford wasn't in the version of the

film I saw, although it was not the final cut.

They do still maintain a link with the LEF on the site, but obviously the

focus of their work is on symbolic means to avoiding death that result in

violence.

I would recommend the film to anyone practicing CR, mainly because it makes

obvious many of the things that we are doing, but don't consciously

consider. It's also just a visually striking piece with some great footage.

Best,

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Warren [mailto:warren.taylor@...]

> Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 1:33 PM

>

> Cc: crsociety@...

> Subject: RE: [ ] Brave New World (Death Topic)

>

>

> Hello and CR ALL:

>

> Thanks for pointing out this film documentary project

> " Flight From Death " , where you mention that Dr. Roy Walford,

> Father of Modern Scientific Human CR, was filmed to appear

> in the documentary.

>

> Recently the " Flight From Death " website was updated.

> The following changes were made to the website " links " page:

>

> 1) The link to Dr. Roy Walford no longer appears.

> 2) The link to the Alcor Foundation (cryonics lab) no longer appears.

> 3) A new link to Evil Genius Interview with Greg Bennick was added.

> 4) A new link to Elijah Sheppard (music composer) was added.

>

> The old original webpage that previously listed Dr. Walford

> is now an old archived webpage (cached via Google):

>

> http://tinyurl.com/rmmw

>

> The same old original archived webpage, long URL:

>

> http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:KsLuzC_9Co4J:www.

> flightfromdeath.com/links.htm+ & hl=en & lr=lang_en & ie=UTF-8

>

> The current updated webpage (that no longer refers to

> Dr. Walford):

>

> http://www.flightfromdeath.com/links.htm

>

> Does this mean that Dr. Walford no longer appears in the

> award-winning " Flight From Death " documentary? I don't know.

>

> -- Warren

>

> > -----Original Message-----

> > From: Gifford [mailto:gifford@...]

> > Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 7:10 AM

> >

> > Subject: [ ] Brave New World (death topic)

> >

> >

> > Hi Francesca,

> >

> > > people who commit suicide - or suicide

> > > bombers. So if the stakes are high

> > > enough, death is not the worst case

> > > scenerio.

> >

> > Exactly my point. As I mentioned, one bizarre finding is

> > that death reminders can actually prompt an increase in

> > risky behaviour, so long as it promotes self-esteem

> > (an ego boost). When faced with the inevitable, what

> > role can renewing one's sense of agency play? At any rate,

> > I hope we're all here, because we'd like to stick around

> > as well and as long as possible.

> >

> > Walford was actually interviewed for a documentary based

> > on this topic, though I'm not sure if he made it to the

> > final cut. If you're interested, you can find more out

> > about the film here:

> >

> > http://www.flightfromdeath.com

> >

> > I arranged a screening of the 'work in progress' during

> > a conference here earlier in the summer, and it is a

> > visually stunning and intellectually provoking film.

> > I'm not sure if it has been officially released yet,

> > but it has been doing very well with awards.

> >

> > Cheers,

> >

> > ________________________

> > Gifford

> > 3-5 Humanities Centre

> > Department of English

> > University of Alberta

> > www.ualberta.ca/~gifford

>

>

>

>