X-Message-Number: 9661
Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 03:17:00 -0400
From: Saul Kent <>
Subject: What I Mean By Failure
In his comments on my essay--The Failure Of
The Cryonics Movement--Thomas Donaldson (9645) states
that a "logical implication" of my essay is that cryonics patients
"should be thawed out and abandoned."
This is truly a first! I've never heard anyone, even
the staunchest opponents of cryonics, suggest that patients
be thawed out. The only time I've ever heard such a horror
suggested was early in 1988, when Riverside county coroners
threatened to thaw out Alcor's patients unless we relinquished
my frozen mother (Dora Kent) so that they could autopsy her.
We didn't give in to the coroners, or even *consider*
doing so. Instead we fought them tooth-and-nail...in the courts
=2E..in the media...and behind the scenes...until we finally achieved
total victory! In the process, we had to go against a powerful
array of forces, and risked being tried criminally for "murder"
and "grand theft".
It is, therefore, quite amazing to see myself
--10 years later--being accused by Thomas Donaldson of
suggesting that patients should be thawed and abandoned!
What appears to have led Thomas to this astonishing
conclusion is my statement that present-day cryonics is a "bad
product" and my use of the word "failure" in describing the cryonics
movement. As Thomas puts it: "If our current product is so bad,
just why should we still provide it? If cryonics has 'failed' (whatever
that may mean) then why should we promote it at all? For that matter,
if it really has 'failed', why should we bother to keep those now in
suspension? It's failed, hasn't it?"
In further explaining to Thomas what I mean when I write
of the "failure" of the cryonics movement, I'll start off with the lead
definition of "failure" in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary as "an
imperfection, lapse, fault or defect."
I've come to the conclusion that the cryonics movement
has "failed" because, after 33 years, it has come up *abysmally*
short of my expectations for it.
I believe the movement has failed because relatively little
progess has been made in preventing brain damage caused by
freezing.
I believe the movement has failed because, except for two
people--Jerry Leaf and Mike Darwin---one (Jerry) now frozen himself,
we've failed to develop well-trained professionals to deliver cryonics
services.
I believe the movement has failed because we've been unable
to persuade even one establishment scientist critical of cryonics to change
his or her mind.
I believe the movement has failed because we've only been
able to convince the tiniest fraction of the population to join us.
I believe the movement has failed because so many cryonics
activists are aging or dead, without enough young activists to replace
them.
I believe the movement has failed because I see too many
cryonicists content to inch forward at a snail's pace rather than push
forward with drive and vigor!
Thomas asks: "What do you really want from cryonics? If
you expect large numbers of people to flock to us, and measure the
success of cryonics by the number of its adherents, then you will wait for
a long, long time. If you expect even most doctors to accept cryonics,
then you will be waiting for a long, long time."
Well, Thomas, I've *already* been waiting for a "long, long time" =
and I don't like it! Not even a little bit! I've had my fill of "slow
progress"
and have no intention whatever of being "patient" or being satisfied with =
our "limits"!
I intend, in fact, to do everything I possibly can, over the next =
5-to-10 years, to transform cryonics from a tiny, oddball movement into a =
much larger, much more credible practice grounded in science and
medicine. I intend to work as hard and as long as I can to build cryonics =
into an established movement that is rock-solid scientifically, medically, =
financially, legally and administratively. I intend to do everything I can
to
attract bright young people into cryonics, who can take over from old-
timers such as myself when we have to be replaced. I intend to keep
on fighting to improve our chances of survival until I am forced to submit =
to the freezer myself!
I invite everyone who feels as I do to join me (and my colleagues)
in our efforts! Those who would prefer to be "patient" should take their
seats
on the sidelines, get out their binoculars, and make sure, as Curtis
Henderson
is fond of saying, that "their eyes are open and their hearts prepared!"
---Saul Kent, CEO
21st Century Medicine
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