X-Message-Number: 973
Date: 09 Jul 92 18:49:41 EDT
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: CRYONET

To: Kevin Brown
 
 
 
In reply to Mark Voelker:
 
There's no great mystery about the way in which Michael 
Paulle was able to intervene or interfere in the Boston 
standby situation. The sequence of events went something like 
this: 
 
1. M.P. started coming to Alcor New York monthly meetings as 
a result of an announcement that we were able to get 
published in a local newspaper. M.P. didn't say much or do 
much at first. 
 
2. Mike Darwin came and gave a slide show which revealed the 
kind of freezing damage that patients may currently be 
sustaining. M.P. was deeply worried by the pictures and 
wanted to do something to help cryonics. 
 
3. M.P. correctly figured that the prime movers of the New 
York group were (are) Brenda Peters and Courtney Smith. He 
befriended them and made a lot of offers that they would have 
been crazy to refuse. He offered to pay for an 800 number for 
Alcor New York. He agreed to research and partially finance 
the possible purchase of an ambulance company, which we could 
run for profit AND use to collect Alcor patients when 
necessary. He was enthusiastic and he had a lot of free time. 
Each month, he made a point of paying twice the usual monthly 
dues. He brought cookies to the meetings. And so on. 
 
4. After a couple of months, M.P. became impatient with Alcor 
and with its membership. He felt that Alcor was not bold 
enough, and the members were too passive. He decided to do 
more on his own initiative. He joined our local suspension 
team and started taking an EMT training course. 
 
5. He made a lot of phone calls to cryonicists all over the 
country, and was extremely resourceful at getting people's 
phone numbers. He established regular phone contact with 
everyone from Bob Ettinger to Saul Kent. Through this, and 
through the contacts he had made in New York, he kept up-to-
date on everything that was happening, as it happened. He 
also became a memorable presence on the net. 
 
6. M.P. heard about the patient in Boston. At one point, M.P. 
wanted to go there and lend a hand. Since he had already 
participated in some washout/cooldown training sessions, his 
presence could have been useful. There was a period of 
confusion near the start of the Boston standby, because 
another patient was in serious condition in Colorado, and 
Mike Darwin was afraid he might not be able to get to the 
East Coast. Gerry Arthus, Curtis Henderson, and Stanley 
Gerber were sent up to Boston and were told they might have 
to deal with things on their own. They needed help and were 
in telephone contact with several people back in New York. 
 
7. Clearly, at this point, M.P. must have found out the name 
and location of the patient, and could have done so from 
three or four different sources, all of whom were accustomed 
to talking to him on a regular basis. 
 
I have already discussed M.P.'s motives for his subsequent 
actions.
 
Clearly, in an organization where there is a shortage of 
volunteers, everyone feels a strong tendency to encourage 
someone who is willing to put in his money and do more than 
his share of the work. 
 
I think it would be a mistake to "clamp down" as a result of 
this sequence of events. We see again and again, in 
macropolitics, the "clamp down" response, which ALWAYS comes 
as a result of an isolated incident and ALWAYS is justified 
on the grounds that "we need to do something because if we 
don't do something it will look bad." 
 
I suggest, as I did in my last letter, that we simply need to 
exercise commonsense and discretion, and be careful about 
whom we let into our confidence. I already listed some rule-
of-thumb personality tests, every one of which M.P. would 
have failed. 
 
--Charles Platt 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=973