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


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