PRESS KIT FOR
IMMORTAL
Title: Immortal: How the Fear of Death Drives Us and What We Can Do About It
About It Author: Clay Jones
Date of publication: April 28, 2020
Available at: ChristianBook.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble; discounted cases of 48 available from me
ISBN: 978-0-7369-7827-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-7369-7828-6 (eBook)
Retail: $17.99 Pages: 272
Categories: Christian Apologetics (Books); Religion & Philosophy (Books); Christian Living (Books)
INTERVIEW RESOURCES
For eight years ending in 2002 I hosted a syndicated call-in talk-radio program and I know how difficult it is to know how many questions can be covered in a program. Therefore, I’m suggesting some questions below and putting in bold font those I think are most important. Of course, you as host can ask anything you wish.
60-minute interview
(for a non-call-in program or podcast)
- What led you to write this book?
- How much do people fear their deaths?
- You write that the fear of death drives people, what do you mean by that?
- What do you mean by literal immortality projects?
- How successful are literal immortality projects?
- Many movies and TV shows talk about computers becoming conscious and we hear a lot about things like brain uploading and the singularity. What’s that about?
- Is it realistic that one day we’ll be able to upload our brains?
- An increasing number of people say they intend to be frozen, is that going to work?
- What are symbolic immortality projects?
- What’s wrong with symbolic immortality projects?
- How do atheists handle their fear of death?
- Many in our society have rejected belief in an afterlife, what is that doing to them?
- You mention in your book that a lot of Christians fear death, why is that?
- What is the Christian’s answer to the fear of death?
30-minute interview
(or 60-minute call-in program with commercial breaks)
- What led you to write this book?
- How do people cope with the fact that they are going to die?
- Some people are really striving to live forever or at least for a long time, how is that going to work out for them?
- What do you mean by people try to transcend their deaths by symbolic immortality projects?
- How successful are literal and symbolic immortality projects?
- How do atheists handle their fear of death?
- Many in our society have rejected belief in an afterlife, how is that hurting them?
- You mention in your book that a lot of Christians fear death; why do they do that?
- What is the Christian’s answer to the fear of death?
More than 60-minute
(or multi-session) interviews
- Why did you want to write this book?
- How much do people fear their deaths?
- You write that the fear of death drives people, what do you mean by that?
- What do you mean by literal immortality projects?
- What if science cured every type of cancer?
- How successful are literal immortality projects?
- Many movies and TV shows talk about computers becoming conscious, can humans transfer their consciousnesses into a computer?
- Is it realistic that one day we’ll be able to upload our brains?
- A lot of people are hoping and even fearing what’s called the Singularity. What’s that about?
- An increasing number of people say they intend to be frozen, is that going to work?
- You also mentioned symbolic immortality projects, what are symbolic immortality projects?
- What are some of the most common symbolic immortality projects?
- How well do symbolic immortality projects work?
- How do atheists handle their fear of death?
- Many in our society have rejected belief in an afterlife, how is that hurting them?
- You mention in your book that a lot of Christians fear death, why is that?
- What is the Christian’s answer to the fear of death?
- What is it that Christians have to look forward to in eternity?
Two sixty-minute interviews
INTERVIEW 1
1.What prompted you to write this book?
2. Many people will say they don’t fear death but you disagree. Why do people say this and how much do people fear their deaths?
3. Your book’s subtitle is “how the fear of death drives us,” how does death drive us?
4. Many people pursue what you call literal immortality projects, what do you mean by that?
5. At the turn of the 20th century, life expectancy was about 45 years. Now life expectancy is about 78.5 years. Why shouldn’t people be optimistic about science giving them a very long-life and maybe, on eay, immortality?
6. In your book Immortal, you relate a lot of examples of people who hoped diet and exercise would enable them to live a long time, but that didn’t work out so well, did it?
7. Science fiction movies about transhumans like Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America, and so on, are all the rage. Many futurists say it’s possible that transhumanism could make us live forever. Why don’t you think it’s possible?
8. Amazon has come out with a series called Upload where a man dies but his consciousness is uploaded into a computer. What’s wrong with that?
9. Larry King, Simon Cowell, and Seth MacFarlane say they intend to be cryonically preserved until science figures out how to revive them, What’s the problem with that?
10. You also mentioned symbolic immortality projects, what are symbolic immortality projects?
11. You mentioned that many people hope to live on through your children, how well is that going to work?
12. You write that some will resort to really bizarre things to somehow transcend their deaths. Give us some examples.
13. You write that mass-shooters often do it as a symbolic immortality project? How does that work?
14. What is the ultimate failure of all literal and symbolic immortality projects and what’s the Christians answer?
Two sixty-minute interviews
INTERVIEW 2
1. You write that even atheists rely on symbolic immortality projects, can you give us some examples of atheists who say this?
2. How do atheists employ what you call “mortality mitigation projects?”
3. You write that the most common mortality mitigation project is to claim that eternity would be necessarily boring, what’s your answer to that?
4. Many atheists are resorting to Epicurus’s claim that we don’t need to fear death because death is the cessation of consciousness. Atheist Sam Harris said, “the gospel of atheism is nothing. That nothing happens to you after you die. If there is no God, then are atheists right that there’s no need to fear death?
5. Atheists often charge that Christians are involved in wish-fulfillment. That we have invented heaven to help us deal with our death fears. But atheists employ some bizarre ways to help them deal with their own death fears.
6. A lot of atheists actually argue that using drugs is the answer to death fears. What’s that about?
7. Many in our society have rejected belief in an afterlife, how is that hurting them?
8. There has been a lot of anarchy, lately. How does the fear of death foster anarchy?
9. You also write something that will seem counterintuitive to many, how does the fear of death lead to suicide.
10. You mention that a lot of Christians fear death, why is that?
11. What is the Christian’s answer to the fear of death?
12. You write that many Christians are afraid of Heaven, why is that?
13. If there’s a Christian listening today that fears death, what would you say to them?
