X-Message-Number: 7155
Date:  Sun, 17 Nov 96 20:00:13 
From: Steve Bridge <>
Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Re: Cryonics Contracts

To CryoNet
>From Steve Bridge, President
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
November 17, 1996

In reply to:   Message #7149
                     From:  (Anonymous)
                     Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
                     Subject: Cryonics Contracts
                     Date: 16 Nov 1996 19:24:13 +0100
                     Message-ID: <56l0sd$>

> Alcor says on its home page that it and its members are betting on future
> technology.  And that is certainly true.  But IMO the much bigger gamble
> cryoenthusiasts are making is that each successive crop of
> burger-flippers-turned-managers can keep the company afloat indefinitely,
> or can keep it out of the hands of slash-and-run takeover artists--who might
> in turn immediately begin to look at ways to cut costs by experimenting
> with room-temperature cryonics.  :-(

     There are a number of unspoken -- and incorrect -- assumptions here.

     The "burger-flippers turned managers" comment shows a total lack 
of knowledge of how cryonics companies are run.  Cryonics companies 
are run by *cryonicists*: people who themselves want to be frozen.  
It is a requirement here at Alcor that all Directors and all employees 
with any decision-making capability be signed up with Alcor.  That 
only makes sense; the decisions we make for others will apply to our 
own suspensions.

     All Trustees for Alcor's new Patient Care Trust -- where most of 
the *money* will be (more on this in a message soon!) -- are also 
required to be Alcor suspension members.  A minimum of 3 of 5 
Trustees must be related to Alcor suspension patients.  There are 
many more reasons for these people to continue to make secure 
decisions than to give the company to "take-over artists."

     In addition, Alcor is a tax-exempt, non-profit.  All but one 
cryonics membership company is at least a non-profit.  WE CANNOT SELL 
THE COMPANY.  You can't do a take-over of a non-profit.  No one can 
OWN a non-profit, tax-exempt or not.

     Alcor's past three Presidents (including in-coming President 
Fred Chamberlain) have had quite a bit of management experience.  
While Mike Darwin, the fourth President back, didn't have much 
management experience when he became Alcor's leader in 1982, in those 
days energy and willingness to work were much more important.  At 
that time Alcor was mostly a listless discussion group.  Mike pulled 
it up to being a force in cryonics.  

> Given the realities of modern business (read managerial incompetence and
> malfeasance), which are in the short term almost certain to screw up our
> plans to be well-preserved for a relatively long period, 

     That might be true if cryonics companies were run as businesses 
by managers who didn't have a personal stake and who simply sold 
products to outsiders.  Instead, we are people trying to save our own 
lives and the lives of our friends.  Two of our employees and one of 
our Directors have parents in liquid nitrogen here.  Every one of us 
have FRIENDS in suspension here.  This is *personal.*

> For instance, I would like to see some kind of guarantee that I won't be
> thawed out and cremated, no matter what happens to the company.  Perhaps
> a contractual requirement that dewars be turned over to competitors when
> certain conditions cannot be maintained.  

     Such a guarantee would be great: except who is going to 
guarantee that another company will *accept* the patients?  Alcor has 
33 frozen patients.  If the money in the Trust which keeps the 
patients suspended were to disappear (the *only* possible reason 
Alcor would stop taking care of them), what other company would have 
the wealth to take them on???

     Have you actually read Alcor's contracts or the contracts of any 
other organization?  We pledge that if Alcor dissolves we will do 
everything we can to keep the patients frozen.  But we cannot 
guarantee the actions of other groups known and unknown.

> Or, minimally, that they be buried at the south pole, say, which
> surely would be better than standard burial.

     No, probably not.  Sperm stored even at -78 degrees C (dry ice 
temperature) are damaged severely after 3 years or less.  While 
I have heard that the south pole drops near -78 once every few years, 
it's not that way all year round.  And does anyone seriously think 
that such a project could be undertaken (pun intended) for less than 
several million dollars?  It will be much easier to keep the patients 
frozen right where they are.

> Furthermore, I'd sure hate to be the first person scientists try to revive.
> Whoever that guinea pig is,  he is almost certain to die again after
> suffering horribly for days, weeks, or even months. 

     "Almost certain?"  Where do you get such god-like knowledge?  
A bit of thinking about the problem will show that the most logical
sequence is different.  The first person revived will be one of the
last patients placed into "biostasis" (I switch words here under the
possibility here that future methods may not necessarily involve
freezing technology).  Even this will only be done after many animal
experiments.  

     This is true because the last patients placed into stasis will 
be frozen (or whatever) with the latest technology, with the fewest 
diseases or injuries done to them (because of the advanced medi tech 
of the time), and because they will have the most living relatives 
and friends ready to fund and push for getting them back.

     I would LOVE to be the first person out of suspension.  That 
means I will have lived a hell of along time and made it to an era 
where I won't have much down time.

Steve Bridge


Stephen Bridge, President ()

Alcor Life Extension Foundation
Non-profit cryonic suspension services since 1972.
7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale AZ 85260-6916
Phone (602) 922-9013  (800) 367-2228   FAX (602) 922-9027
 for general requests
http://www.alcor.org


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