Now that you mention it, if not for the Alzheimer’s, I’d pay to cryopreserve him. The great scientists and mathematicians of the past wouldn’t be of much use in the present, but how much would people today pay to resurrect Shakespeare or Mozart?
The money is hardly the object: it’s persuading him that it’s worthwhile that’s the difficulty.
From what he’s been saying recently about assisted suicide, he may not be planning on living long enough for the worst of the damage to take place. This makes him a particularly good candidate for cryopreservation, except that celebrity + assisted suicide + cryonics = absolutely massive shitstorm.
Judging by the number of people I’ve met who fall into this category, Terry Pratchett has at least 10,000 close personal friends; I’d probably be better off persuading one of them to do it.
However, I will bend Charlie Stross’s ear on this subject if I get the opportunity.
EDIT: to be clear, the possible damage is that if my email doesn’t succeed, it raises the bar the second such email has to reach to be persuasive.
Now that you mention it, if not for the Alzheimer’s, I’d pay to cryopreserve him. The great scientists and mathematicians of the past wouldn’t be of much use in the present, but how much would people today pay to resurrect Shakespeare or Mozart?
The money is hardly the object: it’s persuading him that it’s worthwhile that’s the difficulty.
From what he’s been saying recently about assisted suicide, he may not be planning on living long enough for the worst of the damage to take place. This makes him a particularly good candidate for cryopreservation, except that celebrity + assisted suicide + cryonics = absolutely massive shitstorm.
Have you considered emailing him or otherwise trying to get through? I don’t see that you’d do any damage, and it would take long.
Judging by the number of people I’ve met who fall into this category, Terry Pratchett has at least 10,000 close personal friends; I’d probably be better off persuading one of them to do it.
However, I will bend Charlie Stross’s ear on this subject if I get the opportunity.
EDIT: to be clear, the possible damage is that if my email doesn’t succeed, it raises the bar the second such email has to reach to be persuasive.
I doubt Stross would listen. He’s too self-righteous. But cool that you know him.