X-Message-Number: 12883
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 18:37:00 -0500
From: Paul Wakfer <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #12872
References: <>

> Message #12872
> Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 06:57:14 -0500 (EST)
> From: Charles Platt <>

To Charles Platt:

> In fact I believe virtually all
> donations for research (e.g. for the hippocampal brain slice project which
> was initiated by Paul Wakfer) come from people who are already signed up
> for cryonics.

As near as I can estimate, $8,300 of the $46,700 donated to the
Hippocampal Slice Cryopreservation Project came from people not signed
up for Cryonics.
This is about the same proportion as the pledge ratios to the Prometheus
Project, and I think it is a significant amount.


> I mean, why should anyone who is NOT signed up, give money for research into 
cryonics?

This is a quite ridiculous statement, which perhaps illustrates why
CryoCare has gone nowhere since Charles became a director and its
President.
As one example, I am no longer signed up (because there is no cryonics
organization which meets my standards - I still plan to be cryopreserved
if necessary), yet I am still promoting, and administratively assisting
with research. In addition, I am giving major aid to the relocation and
rebirth of CryoSpan in hopes that this will assist the rebirth of
CryoCare which I still want to be there for me when/if I need it.

I know many people who are not signed up because they view cryonics as
such a poor "investment" at a time when their chances of death are so
small and they can make much better use of the money. Yet they do and
would support life extension research of many kinds, including fully
reversible human cryopreservation research, precisely in order to make
cryonics more worthwhile for them.

While it is true that the largest donors and supporters come from within
the ranks of the signed up cryonicists, the community of dedicated
"fellow travelers" is large and important enough that it should not
continue to be ignored, even castigated, and its member written off as
some kind of second class citizens who are not "real" cryonicists!
 
> During the period when Alcor was publishing a monthly magazine
> emphasizing grim realities as opposed to upbeat speculation, the
> organization enjoyed faster growth than any other cryonics organization
> in history. None of the many people who share your beliefs has ever been
> able to explain this.

Charles, you have said this many times, however I believe that you have
missed a crucial difference between Mike Darwin's approach in the
Cryonics magazine of the 80s, and your and his current approach.

While it is true that Cryonics of the 80's pulled no punches and said it
like it was, the tone of the magazine and the writing was nevertheless
positive, optimistic, and encouraging. It is too bad that you were not
around in the mid 80s to see/sense that difference.

During the last several years, increasingly since Mike was forced to
leave Alcor at the end of 1991 (and perhaps because he has aged), he has
become more and more cynical, pessimistic, and totally negative about
both mankind and cryonics. At the rate he is changing, I will frankly
not be surprised at all to see him not get cryopreserved when his time
comes.

Having been enamored with, and enchanted by Mike from the very
beginning, you, Charles, seem to be following a very similar course,
even though you have recently had a personal following out with him (as
has almost everyone else).

Paul Wakfer

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12883