X-Message-Number: 9470
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 23:48:39 -0400
From: Saul Kent <>
Subject: Growth in Cryonics

        Ralph Merkle (Msg #9454) notes that 
for  years the annual growth rate of Alcor was
"almost 30%", and wonders why this is no
longer true.

        As someone who played an active
role in Alcor for much of that period, I know
one of the reasons.  Many of the people active 
in Alcor during this period are no longer active
in Alcor, for one reason or another, including 
but not restricted to: Mike Darwin, Jerry Leaf,
Brian Wowk, Brenda Peters and myself.

        At the time,  these people
generally became involved in multiple areas
such as research, cryonics services, promotion
and administration. One price that was paid by 
people trying to be "jacks of all trades" was 
that they were unable to do any one of them as
well as they could have.

        Today, several of these people are
focusing all or most of their attention on research
in an attempt to do the best job they can in this
area.  They are now able to do this, in part,
because enough funding is now available to do
research well on a full-time basis.

        I believe this focus on research will
pay off in a big way for cryonics growth in the 
long-term, even if growth continues to
suffer in the short-term.  I believe this will be the
case because the researchers are addressing 
the single most important brake on growth: the
poor quality of the product we are offering.

        I am confident that the key to long-term
growth in cryonics is better cryopreservation
methods, which will improve the credibility of
cryonics in the eyes of scientists, physicians,
the media and the general public.  

        I am sometimes surprised by the
resistance of some people in the cryonics 
community to this conclusion, which seems 
to me to be supported by considerable
evidence.  The overwhelming majority of
people believe that today we offer a  poor
product.  Many of them believe it is worthless.
Even in the very tiny cryonics community, a
significant percentage of the most active
people also believe that the product we
offer today is a poor one.

        It is, therefore, very clear to me
that improving the product we offer by clearly
verifiable, scientific means, and publishing
this evidence in peer-reviewed medical and
science journals will play a major role in
improving the growth rate of cryonics.

        It will improve our chances of
survival in two ways:  by lessening the
burden on future medicine to restore us to
life, health and youth, and by convincing 
more people to opt for cryonics as an 
opportunity for a longer, healthier lifespan.

        Anyone who agrees with this line
of reasoning, and who can afford to do so,
should invest as much of their money as they
can in research to improve cryopreservation
methods.

---Saul Kent, CEO
21st Century Medicine

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