X-Message-Number: 9559 Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 05:57:59 -0400 From: Saul Kent <> Subject: Emphasis Bob Ettinger (in msg #9558) says that "current leaders of some organizations want to put almost total emphasis on research, very little on recruitment. This seems to me badly out of balance." I am not a leader of a cryonics organization, but I have been advocating emphasis on research rather than recruitment, and so I'd like to respond to Bob's posting. My position (as I explained in my essay, "The Failure Of The Cryonics Movement," msg. #9556 ╕) is that we have failed in our recruitment efforts over the past 33 years because we have a product that people do not want to buy. I, thus, advocate an all-out effort to improve that product, which I believe can be done, to a great extent, in the next 5-to-10 years. Success in research will, I believe, greatly increase our chances of revival, while gaining considerable credibility for cryonics among scientists, physicians, the media and society in general. When we have advanced cryonics methods. and a major, ongoing, well-funded suspended animation research program, I believe it will be much easier to sell cryonics. At that point, I believe we will be far more successful in our recruiting efforts than ever before, and that our success rate will increase progressively as we continue to improve our methods. That's my position. And that's why I'm spending as much time and money as I can on research. It's also why I am trying to convince others in cryonics to follow suit. ---Saul Kent, CEO 21st Century Medicine Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9559