X-Message-Number: 17378 Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 11:55:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: TimeShip I'm glad that John Grigg has raised the topic of Timeship. While I hate to interfere with John's characteristic positivism, we might ask ourselves why it is worth spending $millions on a gargantuan boondoggle--the latter-day equivalent of an Egyptian pyramid--when the process of reversible cryopreservation is not yet perfected and there is great need for additional money to achieve that goal. My nightmare scenario is to drive past the huge TimeShip building, knowing that the people in it are imperfectly preserved and have suffered an unknown degree of cellular damage, because money was squandered on a fancy building. The desire to house cryonics in an impressive structure has been, I would say, a sickness in cryonics ever since the early 1970s. It is yet another manifestation of the old theory that wealthy people can be induced to invest in cryonics if we make it look better. This theory does not explain why Don Laughlin (founder of the town Laughlin, in Nevada, and worth maybe $400 million) signed up for cryonics when Alcor was operating out of a small building in Riverside with bare concrete floors and salvaged second-hand furniture. (Incidentally, Mr. Laughlin has made no secret of his commitment to cryonics.) I have always been convinced that the primary factor, inducing smart, practical people to sign up, is functional credibility. In other words, does cryonics work? To spend huge sums of money on a glitzy building, which includes such flourishes as a mirrored promenade where one can achieve an ethereal experience by wandering through clouds of liquid nitrogen vapor, seems misguided, to me, when the same amount of money could take us a long way toward perfecting a procedure that can be proved to save lives. Fair disclosure: For a brief time I was a director and president of Stasis Foundation, which is a company that channels money to the TimeShip project. Also I participated in visits and discussions with architectural consultants. After I realized that TimeShip had a chance of actually going beyond the planning stage, I quit, for various reasons. I am not questioning the sincere motives of Bill Faloon, a prime mover of the project, or of Steven Valentine, the architect. I just disagree with their priorities. ==CP Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17378