Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 06:57:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Samuel Lubell <samlubell at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Keith Lynch in Washington Post
To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Yes, that was WSFA's own Keith Lynch making an
appearance in the Washington Post article on Frozen
for the Future

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41577-2002Jul21.html

Here's the relevant portions.

A few years ago, they dragged out the ice bath to
conduct a preparedness drill, pretending that a member
had died and they were called into action. The
exercise effectively mapped the gulf remaining between
the society and cryotechnical proficiency.

"As I recall, that drill was something of a fiasco,"
said secretary Keith Lynch. "We forgot the ice."

Here's a composite sketch of the 11 current members of
the society: white man in his forties,
anti-government, devourer of science fiction, fluent
in computers, detests Microsoft, unabashedly
unsentimental, an atheist, familiar with Ayn Rand's
philosophies, regularly consults www.slashdot.org
("News for Nerds"), watches his diet, supports the
Libertarian Party, never heard of Ted Williams before
this month and could perform extraordinarily well on
quizzes concerning, for example, the history of the
vacuum tube as it applies to radio communications.

The generalizations fit Lynch snugly. But he's also an
unvarnished skeptic. Even though he is a charter
member and former president of the society, Lynch
hasn't actually committed himself to a suspension
facility.

"I'm not convinced it will work," he said. "But if it
doesn't, it doesn't. You're dead anyway, so no harm
done. But still, I'm not as optimistic as a lot of
people."

...

"I hear a lot of people saying they don't want to live
forever. Some say they don't even want to live past
70," said Lynch, seated at Grimes's left. "But very
seldom do I hear 69-year-olds saying that."

The expectant gaze that Lynch customarily bestows on
his listeners after offering such a statement
represents a challenge, a dare for someone to argue
against his logic. Few do, but that logic hasn't led
to a swell in the ranks of the society, which has
never attracted more than about 20 members.

...

"Everyone always says it's 10 or 15 years away," Lynch
said at the Hamburger Hamlet. "But 10 or 15 years ago,
it was 10 or 15 years away. So . . . "

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