The Russians are Coming!

By Mike Darwin

In 2008 I had the privilege of visiting the Russian Federation and meeting with Russian cryonicists in Moscow and Veronezh. Moscow was an alien and bizarre experience for me – one which I have likened to being recovered from cryopreservation – familiar, and yet utterly transformed – expected, and yet deeply dissonant. One of my central messages to the Russian cryonicists was to go and see other cryonics organizations everywhere in the world, and in particular, to see those in the US. There was nothing America-centric in this recommendation. It was made as emphatically as it was because this where cryonics was born, where it has struggled the longest, and without doubt, where most of the lessons have been learned to date.

And this isn’t model airplane building, or stamp collecting, we’re talking about here. Mistakes in cryonics can cost lives and break hearts. What’s more, because the world is now “flat” a serious failure of cryonics 6,000 miles away might as well be next door. Today, everybody has a stake in the action. Indeed, one of the reasons I like living in the middle of nowhere (sometimes) is that the best neighbors are no neighbors.

Travel from Russia to the US, or vice versa, is not easy, and in fact under some circumstances it may have become more difficult than it was during the Introurist days, under the former Soviet Union. It has taken some time, but the Russian cryonicists have prevailed, and they will be coming to US and will be in the West Coast area from 22-25 March – just a few days from now!

The visitors are:

Danila Medvedev, President of the Russian Transhumanist Association and a principal in the Russian cryonics company, KrioRus.

Valerija Pride, President of KrioRus

Dimitry Chikunov, the head of the Rostock Group, which is a biotech company with ~ $175 million US in assets focused on gerontology and chronic pain research: http://grostok.ru/en/

Sergey  Filonov http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sergey-filonov/12/21/569  who is the International Marketing and Sales Manager at Skyeton Aircraft Industrial Company in Ukraine http://www.skyeton.com/  Skyeton is the principal manufacturer of small aircraft for the Russian consumer market; basically the Russian equivalent of Cessna.

I will be hosting them during the West Coast part of their journey, and I am doing what I can to facilitate visits to cryobiological and cryonics points of interest in these environs.  I know they would very much like to meet with US cryonicists other than myself, and so I thought it a good idea to let others know of their imminent arrival, and see if there was interest in a get-together somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area.  Hopefully, they will be going to Scottsdale to visit the Alcor facility, and I said I would make public inquiries to find out if the local cryonicists there were interested in meeting with them. My home in Ash Fork, AZ, 3 hours north of Phoenix is also available, including fire pit for barbecuing and its considerable collection of cryomebilia. I should also add they will be staying  with me in Yucca Valley, CA, which is not the most convenient spot in Southern California, as it is located 30 minutes east of  Palm Springs (~ 2 hour drive from LA).

If there is interest in a get-together either here in Yucca Valley, or at some location closer to the heart of the action in Los Angeles, please let me know, and I’ll try to make it happen.  As the schedule fleshes out in the next few days, I should be able to be more definite about specific times and dates. As it is, they just received their visas a few days ago, and the trip was confirmed only on Monday last!

Finally, I would like to note, and to offer thanks for the truly great hospitality the Russian cryonicists have shown me, and a number of other British and American cryonicists, journalists, and photographers. I only hope I can in some small way repay their hospitality during their visit here.