X-Message-Number: 21941
From: "Ben Best" <>
Subject: Alternative Preservation Methods
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 02:35:53 -0700

   When I first became active in cryonics over a 
decade-and-a-half ago I was doubtful of the 
ability of cryonics organizations to survive. Cryonics
cases so often involve hostile relatives that it 
seemed almost inevitable to me that lawsuits
for outrageous sums and hostile judges would destroy
the organizations. My other concern was the high
cost of cryoncs -- which made cryonics seem like 
a priviledge of the rich. I was concerned about the 
number of people who would be unable to afford it
both from the point of view of their deprivation and 
from the point of view of their resulting 
destructive bitterness. 

     I am amazed that cryonics has not been plagued
by lawsuits. I was also somewhat surprised by the 
rarity of bitterness over the costs, but given that so
few people take any serious interest in cryonics I should 
not have been surprised. I have become almost 
complacent about my previous worries -- but who 
knows what the future will hold? 

    My original solution to my worries was the idea of 
chemical preservation combined with dehydration 
and permafrost burial. So I did extensive research 
into these subjects and wrote about them. My interest
diminished partly because my first worries seemed
unfounded, partly because I became so busy with 
"cryonics proper" and partly because I saw no prospect 
of chemical preservation methods being applied in a
timely manner comparable to what a cryonics Transport 
Team or local response group can deliver. Although I
have paid little attention to alternate preservation
methods in the last decade, I retain my writings on these subjects
on the web:

  The Permafrost Papers 
         http://www.cryocdn.org/perma.html

  Egyptology, Rosicrucianism and the Quest for Immortality 
         http://www.benbest.com/history/egypt.html

  St. Bee's Man 
         http://www.benbest.com/misc/stbees.html

    This coming Sunday (June 15, 2003) The Learning 
Channel (TLC) will be featuring a number of subjects of 
my earlier interests in a program entitled "The Ultimate
10 Mummies", including Bog Mummies, The Iceman of
the Alps, Lenin, Ramses II, The Franklin Expedition and
St. Bee's Man, among others:

 http://tlc.discovery.com/tuneins/mummies.html

    My discussion of the Franklin Expedition is contained 
in The Permafrost Papers:
         http://www.cryocdn.org/perma.html#mammal

   I have not really lost interest in these subjects. The cost
of cryonics still concerns me. I have thought that I might eventually
return to the subject of chemical preservation when time and
resources seem favorable 
-- and that may yet happen. 

                      -- Ben Best

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