X-Message-Number: 23649 Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 12:17:30 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: Tryve Bauge References: <> Kennita Watson wrote, "Rather, use it as an opportunity to open a dialogue. If someone says 'What about the dead guy in the Tuff Shed?', point out that while his heart in the right place, we don't think Trygve's procedure stands nearly as much of a chance as the ones that the mainstream cryonics organizations use and why." Usually I admire tolerance as a human trait, but not in this case. The greatest damage to the serious business of trying to cryopreserve the human brain begins with the acts of people who represent themselves as our friends. We are judged by the company we keep. Bauge himself insists that all publicity is good publicity. This of course is very convenient for him, since it excuses and justifies anything he does, no matter how irresponsible it is. According to his theory the Ted Williams publicity must have been good for cryonics, even though it misrepresented procedures and reinforced prejudice among legislators who have prevented SA from operating out of their current facility, have imposed severe restrictions on CI, and would have required Alcor to follow mortuary practice if the organization hadn't spent money and time defending itself with a lobbyist. Clearly we are extremely vulnerable, and the wrong kind of publicity can permanently impair the ability to provide high-level care--not that Trygve Bauge seeme very concerned about this. His own father is "preserved" at a temperature which allowed damage that I would argue was irreparable years ago. I think what he really means is that all publicity is good publicity *for him,* because he just loves publicity. His own CryoNet post revels in it. His history of his "noble fight" to freeze his father is of course self-serving and completely omits the real personal reasons why so many organizations and activists refused to help him. Since I don't want to get into that endless topic, I'll mention just one indicator. CryoNet's limits on the size and number of daily posts were imposed as a desperation measure in response to the persistent and relentless abuse of this list by one person: Trygve Bauge. As for the people of Nederland, I have no quarrel with them. They have embraced Bauge as a kind of lovable crank. Of course, since he was deported, they haven't had to deal with him personally. --Charles Platt Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=23649