X-Message-Number: 6669 From: (Thomas Donaldson) Subject: Re: CryoNet #6664 - #6666 Date: Sat, 3 Aug 1996 11:46:58 -0700 (PDT) Now Paul! Since you have raised these points in public I will add a bit of my own commentary. The first --- very first --- thing I will say is that refusing to let THE IMMORTALIST publish anything at all about Prometheus is a bad, bad move. After all, they did publish your own email address, and anyone who reads TI will therefore have one means to contact you --- and when they do, you can explain how you were unhappy with their coverage. Members of the Cryonics Institute, just like other cryonicists, are not blank androids controlled by Robert Ettinger or anyone else. Whether or not Mae and Bob like the idea of Prometheus, members may well like it --- if informed that it exists. And the piece in TI did do that, whether or not it did so in a way you would like. It is little kids who say they'll take their toys and play somewhere else when they're upset. Moreover, by your response you confirm one worry I myself have had about your promotion of Prometheus. It should be done entirely by appeal to rational thinking, with no implication that Prometheus is or will be the only means for our salvation. I say "worry" here because I'm sure you'll come back and tell me that's not what you're doing. But I know several people who read your pieces as saying just that. Some unknown # of people, who would be happy to contribute otherwise, are put off by what they see as a quasi-religioustone to your promotions. Vitrification will not, without other important technologies, give us our salvation. It's not even clear that it will make the noncryonicist public look at us more seriously --- you may get lots of people who respond: "ugh... me as a well-preserved brain???!! How repulsive". Sure, given that it works it will and should be seen BY CRYONICISTS as a major advance, but that doesn't mean that those who aren't will notice at all, or if they do look on the idea favorably. Yes, research on brain vitrification is very important, and should definitely be done as soon as we are able to do so. And it will also be expensive. Those two propositions, it seems to me, are the only ones necessary to make people see the merits of Prometheus. As for promoting those two propositions, I also think we would do much better to listen to those who object rather than simply shoving them off into a corner with the other unwashed. They, too, may have important insights which we should include in our planning. Do you really want this thing to fail because of squabbles between cryonicists? We should ALL try to control ourselves on this issue. Yes, we are all prideful and headstrong, and react strongly to criticism. We can choose to play out those traits one more time, or we can genuinely try to put together a joint project which just may provide a big increase in our ability to preserve ourselves. It seems to me those are pretty stark alternatives, but there they are. Long long life, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6669