ImmInst.Org
٭ Newsletter
February
2010
Message from the Executive
Director:
'Tis the season of political change at the Immortality Institute.
The annual Board of Director elections are held from the beginning of the year through February 8th.
The constitutional provision of Board elections every year was chosen to produce a measure of
accountability as well as bring in fresh faces and ideas. The ideas of incumbents and new candidates
are discussed thoroughly during the course of voting. Every year many an ambitious plan is hatched
but few ever become reality. During the course of daily operations it seems the bigger plans are
often forgotten after the election. In order to prevent this from happening in 2010, it is incumbent
upon the members and registered users of Imminst to work with the Board and management team to make
sure the best ideas are evaluated and put to action. Most initiatives are filtered through the
Action Forum so be sure to take a look during your
daily browsing of the Forum. Help the new Board (see below) make 2010 a banner year for Imminst!
Justin 'Mind' Loew
DIRECTOR ELECTION RESULTS
View the candidate threads here and results of the Director Election here. New Board Members for 2010
Re-elected: Continuing Terms: Many thanks to all of the candidates who stepped-up and offered their expertise to guide the Institute. They also helped produce a competitive and informative election. Please send a note of thanks to the two outgoing Directors Ken Sills (Lazarus Long) and Graeme Smith (Zoolander), as well as FunkOdyssey for serving as the election watchperson during this election cycle.ACTIVITIES
Cryonics Fund
During 2009 the Immortality Institute and its members successfully raised enough money to have terminal cancer patient and lifetime member William O’Rights cryopreserved. This was accomplished in part with the help of money originally collected by the Society of Venturism to support the cryopreservation of a different well-known cryonics supporter who had fallen ill. Thus the idea of a “charity cryonics fund” originated and was successfully executed. Imminst members and leadership have kept this idea alive in 2010 and are discussing a permanent fund. Please contribute your thoughts and vote in the poll here (poll closes February 12th). Due to the generous donations of several Imminst members, the fund already has seed money of nearly $1,000.
Creative Writing ContestWhile the cryonics charity fund is a relatively new idea, advocacy through media and art is well developed within the Immortality Institute. The book The Scientific Conquest of Death and the film Exploring Life Extension are but two great examples. In the past, the Institute has also sponsored writing contests that have brought forth excellent examples of immortalist thinking. Recently a new fiction writing contest was launched and it is open for submissions. Read a complete description and rules here. The submission deadline is March 27th.
VOLUNTEERS/APPOINTMENTS
The January volunteer prize winner is a familiar face – Devon Fowler (dfowler). Devon leads the VIP outreach team and has produced good results thus far. Devon intends to use his prize to purchase books used in the outreach efforts of the VIP team. See here for all past volunteer prize winners and here for the most recent activities of the VIP outreach team.
More BrainstormingYet another way to get involved is to stop by the recently revived Wednesday brainstorming chat. This was a popular weekly meeting during a portion of 2009 but was dropped during the testing of new chat software. The meetings will once again held on Wednesday afternoons at 4pm EST (2100 GMT) at the IRC chat embedded with the Sunday Evening Update channel. Stop by the channel this Wednesday (February 10th) and bring your thinking cap.
See all the latest team and volunteer efforts in the Action Forum.