X-Message-Number: 4938 Date: 02 Oct 95 02:57:27 EDT From: "Kent, Saul" <> Subject: Reply to Joseph Strout I've been out-of-town and have not had access to e-mail. Since I posted my comments about Brook Norton's posting about straight freezing, several people have commented on my response to Mr. Norton, including Brian Wowk, Steve Bridge, Mike Darwin, and Joseph Strout. This posting is a reply to Mr. Strout, who criticized me for "repeatedly" stating that "straight freezing" is a "bad idea BECAUSE no cryonics group" offers it. Actually, I never said that straight freezing is a "bad idea". What I said is that: "It's certainly better to be straight frozen than to be buried or cremated..." I don't believe that straight freezing *is* a "bad" idea, but that there are better ideas, such as being frozen with cryoprotection, and that these better ideas are currently being offered by existing cryonics companies. In stating that no cryonics company currently offers straight freezing, that (to my knowledge) no cryonics company *intends* to offer straight freezing in the foreseeable future, and that Mr. Norton says he's not interested in starting a new company that *does* offer straight freezing, I simply meant the obvious...that you *cannot* choose an option that doesn't exist! My purpose is stating this was to point out that--when it comes to cryonics--I believe it is more important to take advantage of an existing option than to wait for some company to offer some other option in the future. I mentioned the fact that term life insurance is an inexpensive way of funding cryonics for young, healthy people because I thought that the use of term insurance might enable Mr. Norton (and others) who are concerned about "cost" to be able to afford one of the options *currently* being offered by cryonics companies. Mr. Strout goes on to state that I have suggested "that all the good ideas have been thought of, and that no one outside the group of cryonics policy-setters should dare to suggest improvements..." That isn't what I said *or* what I meant. The truth is that I welcome ideas...both new and old. In fact, in suggesting that Mr. Norton consider starting a new company to further his straight freezing idea, I was encouraging him to take action to make his idea a reality. But since Mr. Norton says he is *not* interested in starting a new company, and since no existing company appears to be interested in offering straight freezing, I believe the most reasonable course of action for Mr. Norton to take would be to sign up for cryonics with one of the existing companies, provided he can afford to do so. ---Saul Kent Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4938