Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 14, 1993 TAG: 9303140036
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
THE FIRST-PLACE WINNER GETS 200 YEARS IN THE FREEZER
Winners of national contests often are sent some place warm.But the winner of a national "Immortality Contest" will be sent where the temperature is a constant minus 320 degrees F.
Upon death, the winner's body will be placed in a tank of liquid nitrogen, where it will remain frozen until scientists discover how to revive it.
The contest is co-sponsored by Omni magazine and the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a Riverside, Calif.-based organization that promotes cryopreservation as a way to defeat death.
"Contests are used to market other things, so why not cryonics?" says contest organizer Charles Platt, a New York-based science-fiction writer.
The contest will run through June 1. Entrants must submit a signed copy or photocopy of the entry form that appeared in the January issue of Omni and an essay of 250 words or less about why they deserve to be put on ice.
Platt, an Omni staff member and an Alcor representative, will judge the contest. The winner will be announced this fall.
Several hundred entries have been received, and about 200 more are expected.
"The fact we've gotten so many tells you a lot," says Omni publicist Catherine Jarrat-Koatz. "They're very serious about cryonics and very serious about wanting to win."
Although the contest has drawn its share of off-the-wall entries, including one from a man who tried to pass himself off as a Nobel Prize winner, most are from everyday folks.
"They're people who got excited by technology when they were kids, and they feel they were born a little too soon," Platt says. "They're people with a sincere belief that tomorrow will be better than today."
Sincerity is the key to winning the contest, says Platt: "It has to be someone who really wants this, rather than someone who's just idly curious."
Platt ought to recognize enthusiasm when he sees it. At 47, he's convinced that scientists will develop life-extension drugs in about 50 years, too late for him to benefit.
Believing that cryopreservation is his only realistic shot at immortality, he has taken out a $50,000 life insurance policy and made Alcor the beneficiary. In return, Alcor is obligated to freeze him as soon as possible after he dies.
"You really want them to be right there when a physician pronounces death, so they can preserve everything," he says.
The winner will sign a contract that spells out every detail, including what to do if the body is badly damaged (the winner can opt in advance to forgo cryopreservation.)
If the procedure comes off without a hitch, the winner can expect to spend up to 200 years in deep freeze, Platt says.
Scientists have yet to revive an entire complex organism. Nor have they found a way to repair the inevitable damage caused by freezing.
Cryonics enthusiasts are pinning their hopes on the development of nanotechnology, self-replicating, molecule-sized machines that would travel through the bloodstream, fixing cells.
"This is a speculative venture," Platt says.
Essays and signed entry forms should be sent to Omni Immortality Contest, 324 W. Wendover Ave., Greensboro, N.C. 27408.