X-Message-Number: 5761 Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 13:11:37 -0500 (EST) From: Ben Best <> Subject: Mike Darwin's Achievements Since I was at the Alcor Festival all weekend (and left Toronto *early* Friday morning), I did not see Dave Pizer's CryoNet posting of last Thursday until today -- and no one mentioned it to me while I was at Alcor. It was my intention only to give Mike Darwin due credit -- it was NOT my intention to take credit away from anyone else. The fact that Mike Darwin deserves credit does not mean that credit is not due to Jerry Leaf, Hugh Hixon, Robert Ettinger or anyone else. However, none of these other gentlemen are coming to meet Toronto cryonicists on the coming weekend. Therefore, I wrote of Mike Darwin's achievements and not of theirs. I believe that I kept fairly close to the facts. I believe it is a true statement that Mike has "personally cryopreserved far more people than anyone else." I also said that Mike "was instrumental in formulating policies which helped make Alcor the largest cryonics organization." I can see why Dave would think this "implies that Mike gets most of the credit for advancing cryonics and advancing Alcor during a certain period of time" -- but it didn't SAY that. Even if I THOUGHT that, I wouldn't have SAID it. And I certainly don't want to argue the point. I did not have an opportunity to talk to Dave during the weekend and I regret that others too may have been harboring the thought that I was detracting from the achievements of others in my attempt to write of Mike's achievements. I really do want to get along with as many of my fellow cryonicists as I can, and I make more than my share of mistakes in saying things that rub people the wrong way -- because I say so MANY things! I hope to transcend my mortality, but I am still a "mere mortal". -- Ben Best () Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5761