X-Message-Number: 23523 Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 03:11:37 -0700 From: Paul Antonik Wakfer <> Subject: Re: Cooperation Not Confrontation Defines Future of Cryonics in Arizona References: <048e01c3fcd1$be4938e0$> Aschwin de Wolf wrote: > Cooperation Not Confrontation Defines Future of Cryonics in Arizona > > To All Alcor Members; > > I am happy and proud to say that Alcor, its members, and the state of > Arizona have won a great victory today! > > Early Wednesday morning, Barry Aarons, Tanya Jones, and I met with > Representative Stump and several of his advisors for nearly forty-five > minutes to discuss HB 2637. We were very pleasantly surprised at the > openness and flexibility demonstrated by Mr. Stump in our sometimes frank > discussions. During that meeting, we were able to successfully communicate > to him the sincere concerns we had with his bill as originally proposed and > why our membership was so strongly opposed its passage. > > It is our opinion that prior to this meeting, Mr. Stump sincerely did > not understand the unintended negative consequences his bill would have on > Alcor, its members, and on the science of cryopreservation as a whole. > > After patiently listening to our concerns Mr. Stump expressed a > willingness to modify several key provisions of the bill as a show of good > faith to the constituents of this legislation in exchange for a commitment > from us to continue dialogue for appropriate oversight of cryonics as > practiced in the state of Arizona. > > Since representation at the negotiation table is what we've been > requesting from the day Alcor first became engaged in the legislative > process, we were of course elated at the opportunity to sit with > representatives of the legislature and their advisors in a spirit of > cooperation and craft legislation that will provide the level of oversight > legitimately required by the state while simultaneously securing protection > for patient privacy, guaranteeing the constitutional right of > self-determination of our members, and establishment once and for all the > legislative legitimacy of cryonics. > > At the conclusion of that meeting, Representative Stump demonstrated > outstanding leadership and courage by agreeing in principle to consider > amendments to his bill that would eliminate some of the most serious > concerns of Alcor and its membership in a show of good faith. We were most > impressed. This compromise to government threats instead of a principled stand is but the latest of many examples of unacceptable behavior from Alcor leadership. All such appeasement leads ultimately to disaster. My wife and I remain committed cryonicists. We fervently and passionately want to live unbounded lives. However, until Alcor obtains leadership with principle and backbone, we will have nothing to do with them (and CI also, of course) unless and until either of us is at death's door. I am also terminating my membership in the ConsideringCryonics group and CryoNet immediately. --Paul Wakfer MoreLife for the rational - http://morelife.org Reality based tools for more life in quantity and quality The Self-Sovereign Individual Project - http://selfsip.org Rational freedom by self-sovereignty & social contracting Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=23523