X-Message-Number: 16202
Date: Sat, 5 May 2001 08:33:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ben Best <>
Subject: RE: HSCP -- Experiments and Accomplishments
>Message #16195
>From: "Mark Plus" <>
>Subject: RE: HSCP -- Experiments and Accomplishments
>Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 18:36:33 -0700
>
>In Cryonet #16179, Ben Best wrote,
>
>>Message #16179
>>Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 05:30:48 -0400 (EDT)
>>From: Ben Best <>
>>Subject: HSCP -- Experiments and Accomplishments
>>
>> The Hippocampal Slice Cryopreservation Project (HSCP) is
>>scheduled to terminate at the end of this June, but we are
>>still several thousand dollars short of necessary funds to keep
>>the project going that long. I need hardly stress the importance
>>of brain cryopreservation research to our survival. The project
>>has gathered a momentum of discovery that make it all the more
>>important to keep it running to the very end. It can take years
>>to get this kind of momentum started again -- and we have seen
>>such tragic interruptions before in the history of kidney
>>cryopreservation research.
>
>I've mailed the INC a check for US$100, and I hope to be able
>to send more money next month. I know it's not much, but I'm
>working on getting my finances into a situation where I can
>support some kind of cryonics-related research on a regular
>basis. After all, in a rational hierarchy of needs, survival
>takes priority over self-indulgent nonsense like "self-esteem"
>and "personal fulfillment."
Thank you VERY MUCH Mark for your contribution. I am
personally touched because I expect that $100 does make a
big difference to you. And I perceive you even more as a person who
is willing to make a commitment of resources rather than just talk.
(CryoNet has a lot of "talkers").
Survival does take priority, but cryonics is a matter of
"collective survival" as well as of individual survival. This
helps create a "public goods problem" -- wherein people rely
on others to commit resources. This strategy is less appropriate
in cryonics where there are so few of us. And the political
complexities of HSCP have made it both the most focused research
on brain cryopreservation and yet it is a research project where we
cannot "count on Saul and Bill" (don't ask me to explain this).
>Is the INC able to accept Visa or MasterCard debit cards where
>it can charge a fixed amount every month?
Again, I appreciate your sentiment, but HSCP is coming to a
close at the end of June. I am desperately scrambling to have
the money for June -- which means I must have money before June.
INC cannot accept credit cards. I am now having to return a
cheque because it was in Canadian funds. Paul Wakfer resigned
very abruptly as President of INC and I have taken-on the
Presidency (much as I took on the Presidency of CryoCare) under
difficult conditions. I do not have signing authority on the
bank account (I would have to go to California to get that) and
the bank officials refuse to give me information. I am holding
INC together with bailing wire & hairpins -- I know very little
about all the legal technicalities of the organization or its
history. My personal finances are currently a mess -- I am not
in a position to make anything like the $16,000 I have contributed
in the past (although I have contemplated borrowing money if
necessary). I am determined to see this project through to the
end -- and we are close to the finish line.
Possibly INC could continue in the future with another research
project, but fund-raising is really not my cup of tea. I would rather
contribute to cryonics in more technical ways.
Others who would like to follow Mark's example are strongly
encouraged to send money (sooner rather than later) to:
The Institute for Neural Cryobiology
238 Davenport Road #240
Toronto, Ontario
M5R 1J6 CANADA
------------------------------------
Ben Best, President
The Institute for Neural Cryobiology
http://www.neurocryo.org/
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