X-Message-Number: 618
Date: 27 Jan 92 11:16:55 EST
From: "Russell E. Whitaker" <>
Subject: Prospect privacy and the "big fix" mentality

27 Jan 372 pno

    Message: #616 - Muhammed Ali To Sign Up With ACS
    Date: 24 Jan 92 23:27:21 EST
    From: Hank Lederer <>
    Message-Subject: Re: cryonics: #594 - #595

    On another subject:  A friend sent a clipping from the Sunday, Jan.  
    12, '92 issue of the Seattle Times entitled "Close-up  Frozen for the
    Future" Subheading: Scientist works to make cryonics a believable    
    idea.  It states that Muhammad Ali is going to sign up with ACS.."  
    'It's only a matter of time before Ali, who is fascinated by this    
    emerging science of cryonics, will sign up 
    himself for the procedure,' said (Avi) Ben-Abraham of Los Altos Hills,
    Calif."
    It's not a bad article and takes up half of page 3 in the "A" section. 
    It also features a photo of Eileen Segall playing with Miles, the    
    beagle and photos of Ali and Walt Disney.
                          Thanks for all your good work!   Hank Lederer

This is offensive.  *If* this were true, why would any cryonics
organization which respected its members - or potential members -
_ever_ make such a statement?  I would never have involved myself
in cryonics, had an _Alcor_ officer made such a statement.  Did
Ben-Abraham have Ali's permission to make this assertion?

And even if this were true, and Ali had given his permission, so
what?  Where are the accounts of ACS research?  Emergency response
capability?  

I have news for those who don't know this: ACS/Trans Time have
_no_ emergency response capability, as a matter of policy.  Ask
them about that, sometime.

I signed on with Alcor, knowing well the nascent state of the
art, and accepting that things aren't ideal with the organization.
The practice is barely out of its infancy, and I accept this.  Alcor
people have _earned_ my loyalty repeatedly, by admitting both
strengths _and_ weaknesses.  Any other policy is disaster, in the
long run.

Emphasis should be on advancing the state of the art, and
providing services to the membership.

I agree with Michael Clive Price, who commented to me that
ACS/Trans Time are publicity-driven, while Alcor is
technology-driven.

Russell E. Whitaker                  
Director, Research and Training, Alcor UK
          -- and --
Communications Editor
EXTROPY: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought  

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