X-Message-Number: 17565
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 12:57:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: barking

I read Dr. Lemler's post with interest. But there may be a
misunderstanding here. Different media facilitate different modes of
communication.

CryoNet has always been a forum for very frank exchange of opinions. (It
used to get quite nasty at times; see the archives.) We have people
posting who disagree violently on the very emotional issue of how best to
provide lifesaving treatment to patients who are hoping for future
resuscitation. We even have people who believe that beyond a certain
point, such treatment is unnecessary.

A newsletter sponsored by one cryonics organization is a very different
medium. While it may contain a letters column in which various views are
expressed, they are likely to range over a narrower spectrum than those in
an online discussion group, and the primary function of the newsletter
will be to disseminate news, rather than arguments.

Anyone who has read my various small-circulation cryonics print
publications (such as CryoCare Report) knows that I prefer a very factual,
somewhat dry, concise presentation which usually contains no controversial
material whatsoever. If I am able to rejoin Alcor and publish, with Hugh
Hixon, a monthly newsletter, that's how I would expect it to be,
especially bearing in mind Hugh's preference for "just the facts." A
four-page Q-and-A on cryonics, which I wrote many years ago and which
Alcor still seems to be using in slightly modified form, certainly
followed that model. So did the cryonics articles that I wrote for
magazines ranging from Omni to Science Fiction Eye.

In view of Dr. Lemler's recent post, my only concern now is that my style
may turn out to be too dull for his liking.

--

Re Doug Skrecky's list of pathological writers, I suppose I have to ask if
Doug has any figures on the pathology of lone eccentrics who conduct very
peculiar experiments with fruit flies. I also have to wonder about the
pathology of those who advocate pre-emptive nuclear strikes. Indeed, I
wonder about the pathology of people generally who believe you can defy
death with a shot of heparin and a few liters of glycerol, even when the
patient has been sitting in a room-temperature environment for hours,
without pulse or respiration.

I would guess that few people on CryoNet would fall near the center of any
bell curve.

--CP

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