X-Message-Number: 26750
From: "marta sandberg" <>
Subject: Steady state?
Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2005 09:37:14 +0800

There have been comments lately about the growth rates and size of cryonic 
organizations.  Implicit in these discussions has been the idea that bigger 
is better and growth means success.

Let me play the devils advocate by arguing for the opposite.

The most important feature of a cryonics organization is stability.  The 
hard part is not suspending people today; it is developing a structure that 
can keep us frozen for a century or more.  Maybe we won't need that much 
time. . . and maybe we will.

Anything that grows is inherently unstable.  The organization will sooner or 
later grow out of the old and time-proven way of doing things and have to 
try out a new way of managing.  Every change means there is a possibility of 
failure.

Being bigger also means an organization is more likely to draw attention to 
itself.  Unfriendly attention.

A few years ago somebody - possibly Thomas Donaldson - said that a cryonic 
organization only needed to keep its numbers steady to be viable.

The reality is that cryonics is growing and of course I rejoice for every 
human being we sign up.  If cryonics works that means one more life saved.  
But it is a two-edged sword and there is a lot to be said for slow and 
steady too.

Long life,

Marta

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