X-Message-Number: 26874
From: 
Subject: Reply to Tru Numberman2
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 22:42:51 US/Eastern

   Tru Numberman2 wrote:

> Aside from all the discussion concerning anonymity, my
> posts which kicked that round of debate off are valid
> regardless of who posts them-- name or no name. The
> essence of the problem I introduced was that CI's
> expression of the quantity of their "members" led to a
> widely inaccurate understanding of how many people
> were "signed up for cryonics" at CI. The important
> distinction  to be made, from now on, will be that a
> member has "verified funding" or "non-verified
> funding" (the latter of which covers the possibility
> of "no-funding".) Click on the following link where
> you'll find the final definitive statement on the
> matter, with a no-log in response area where you may
> make a final comment.

   Concerning Tru Numberman's anonymity, I was merely 
pointing to a certain hypocrisy between purporting to 
stand for full disclosure while using a false name. The
use of pseudonyms has costs and benefits, but I don't 
think the use of a pseudonym is necessarily unethical.
Names are conventions, not "real objects", and a person
should surely be able to choose or change the name
attached to himself or herself. 

   Tru Numberman2 has softened the accusations of 
intentional deceit he made against the Cryonics Institute
-- and me in particular -- before low ratings may have 
caused him to increment his name & e-mail address so he 
could continue to post on CryoNet. Now he simply refers 
to "CI's expression" which led to "widely inaccurate 
misunderstanding". 

   Robert Ettinger cannot be accused of this purported
deceit because is was not his policy to publish membership
numbers while he was President of CI. As President of CI I 
have steadily been increasing disclosure, partly helped by 
my creation of a database which made numerical determinations
quicker and easier. Insofar as I have been the source of all
published Membership numbers (in my regular membership 
reports in THE IMMORTALIST), it is hard to understand how
I could be accused of deceit. 

   Why would I mention the 201 funded as well as the 520 
total CI Members in my 29-Apr-2005 report (published in
the May-June issue of THE IMMORTALIST) if I really meant to
hide the first number? For that matter, why would I have 
mentioned 181 funded and 283 unfunded CI Members in my
18-Sept-2004 report (which our ace investigative 
journalist Tru Numberman somehow missed)? Tru Numberman's
ignorance and misunderstandings cannot be taken as grounds
for accusing me of deception or cover-up. 

   Totaling and comparing the numbers of the cryonics
organizations is not a simple matter. The American Cryonics
Society has a policy of not disclosing its membership 
numbers. Comparing Alcor Members with funded CI Members
overlooks the fact that CI funding does not automatically
include Standby or Transport. No Alcor category corresponds 
to CI's Option One or Option Two Memberships. The difference 
in price between Alcor and CI underscores a difference in 
product. More often people who realize they are terminal and 
must pay cash to be cryopreserved choose CI, which is part 
of the reason CI has as many patients as Alcor has. 

   Robert Ettinger and the other founders of CI created a
$1,250 Membership fee in 1976 as a means of getting money
& commitment prior to sign-up & funding. David Pascal 
created Option Two Membership in the late 1990s. I have 
accepted these institutions as part of my legacy and see
no reason to change them. The choice of the terms Membership
by both Alcor and CI were made for internal reasons, not 
for purposes of comparison. Alcor's choice is not necessarily
"right" because it is Alcor's choice. But if Alcor is "right",
why does Mr. Numberman insist on the word "cryoneer"? (If there 
is a conspiracy, it is a conspiracy of his perceptual apparatus
& paranoia against himself.) I have much more objection to a 
subscriber to Consumer's Report being a Member of the Consumer's 
Union because it implies that by subscribing to the magazine
that I support their policies. 

     -- Ben Best, President, Cryonics Institute

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