X-Message-Number: 6514 Date: 13 Jul 96 12:41:41 EDT From: "Kent, Saul" <> Subject: The Support Of The Cryonics Organizations Date: 13-Jul-96 at 09:47 From: Kent, Saul, 71043,1120 To: Cryonet,Internet: I welcome Dave Pizer's comments on The Prometheus Project, which, I believe, are interesting and useful. I agree with Dave that we need the support of all the cryonics organizations if we are to succeed with The Project. Before I comment further on this issue, I'd like to point out what I see as the unique benefits of one of the unique features of The Project. The prospect of making money from the research results of The Prometheus Project will come, I believe, primarily from the increased credibility and consequent growth of cryonics. Since the cryonics organizations currently use unperfected methods on their patients, any documented advances in these methods, if properly exploited, will bring more members and more patients into the movement. This upsurge in busi- ness will, I believe, build rapidly as we get closer and closer to perfected brain cryopreservation. Dave suggests "royalty-free use of the technology on a graduating scale to all suspension organizations who enter in the first year and then graduate up their investments each year" to a peak investment of $100,000 a year for the second five years of The Project. He then suggests that, "if the organizations fails to make any of its graduated pledges, it is out." I salute Dave for coming up with a creative idea to secure the support of the cryonics organizations, which should be able to invest increasingly large amounts of money in The Project, in my opinion, as they derive increasing benefits from its research advances during its early years of operation. I think Dave's idea should be considered very seriously. I would now like to comment on remarks that have been made suggesting that to give the cryonics organizations royalty-free use of the technology in return for their investment and support of The Project might be detrimental to the other investors in The Project. I disagree with this proposition, provided the royalty-free use of the technology is restricted to a limited period of time. Here are my reasons: 1) As I (and others) have stated before, I do not think it will be possible for us to reach our goals *without* the support of the cryonics organizations. I, therefore, think it is in all our interests to offer the organizations incentives to cooperate with The Project. 2) I believe we will have to rely overwhelmingly on the cryonics organizations and their members to finance The Project until we succeed (or are very close to success) in perfecting brain cryopreservation. I believe this will be true because, in my opinion, only cryonicists really understand the benefits of treating patients with unperfected methods, and only cryonicists are largely unconcerned with the criticism leveled at those who use unperfected methods for commercial purposes. I, therefore, believe that The Project will depend almost entirely on a growing body of cryonicists *until* brain cryopreservation is perfected. These investors will perceive the fact that their cryonics organization is getting royalty-free use of the technology as a benefit to them. Cryonics organizations, on the other hand, will be strongly motivated to invest enough money to obtain royalty-free use of the technology because they may find it difficult to recruit new members without it. Once brain cryopreservation is perfected, however, and the results published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, I believe there will be an explosion of interest on the part of outside investors, which will lead, I believe, to the launching of new cryonics companies and the offering of cryonics services through traditional outlets such as hospitals and medical clinics. At this point, I believe, the investors in The Project, including the cryonics organizations will be in a position to benefit tremendously from this outside interest which, will include, I believe, the possibility of taking the company owning the technology public, and forging highly profitable alliances with hospitals, medical centers, clinics, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies. I, therefore, prospose the following based upon the above line of reasoning. That the cryonics organizations be given royalty-free use of the technology in return for a substantial year-to-year invest- ment (the details of which need to be worked out). That this royalty- free period continue until brain cryopreservation is perfected. And that afterwards, the cryonics organizations either lose their royalty- free use of the technology entirely or have access to it at a discounted rate. ---Saul Kent Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6514