X-Message-Number: 10204 Date: Sat, 08 Aug 1998 13:29:23 -0700 From: Paul Wakfer <> Subject: Re: CryoNet #10190 Inexorable Progress in Technology? As can be seen from the header information below, this post was sent in plenty of time to appear in the Aug 8 edition of CryoNet. I hope it does not appear twice. Subject: Re: CryoNet #10190 Inexorable Progress in Technology? Date: Fri, 07 Aug 1998 20:42:01 -0700 From: Paul Wakfer <> To: On Thu, 06 Aug 1998 Kennita Watson <> wrote: > Even if you are signed up for cryonics, but especially if you aren't, I > presume you realize that each year that you stay alive improves your > chances for living indefinitely; medical technology, computer technology, > cryotechnology, etc. are constantly improving. We so often hear of the inexorable improvement in technology, that most of us have become complacent and think that *all* we need do is sit back and wait. However, while this may be true of the other fields noted above: medical technology and computer technology, relative to what any of us could do to make a difference, it has never been true for cryotechnology and, specifically, is not true for any technological improvement in your chances of returning alive by being suspended. I understood this 7 years ago when I decided to come to Southern California and put my life and fortune towards improving my chance for vastly extended life through cryonics. 7 work years later with my assets largely gone, it is still very clear to me. What I cannot understand, though, is why it is not clear to so many others who profess so strongly to desire life-extension through cryonics? After an enormous amount of thought, hundreds of hours of work, and large cost in personal funds, with the help of others, I have finally succeeded in initiating a project which is a critical first step towards a major improvement in suspended animation methods and, once its achievement is implemented, in the chance that your life will be saved by cryonics. This is apart from the fact that the project's success will undoubtedly have medical/neuroscience applications from which every human will benefit. I refer to the Institute for Neural Cryobiology's Hippocampal Slice Cryopreservation Project (HSCP). Not only is this project crucial for increasing our chances of extended survival, but it connects us with a major establishment research institute from which half the funding is coming. *All* that INC is required to put up is a mere $75,000. If it were a few years back, I would have simply taken this from my own pocket and that would be the end of it. Unfortunately, I can't do that anymore (I can't even afford to be signed up for cryonics right now) and I must therefore rely on others to finance this project which is the current culmination of my years of effort. For reasons which I cannot fathom, most of the people who pledged large yearly sums to the Prometheus Project have chosen to ignore the HSCP. Thinking that this might be because HSCP has no stock investment capability, I have offered future options on my stock in 21CM (the only asset which might possibly allow me to recover the money I have spent trying to get cryonics research going over the last 7 years). However, this offer has so far brought in no additional funds for the HSCP. At this point, I have no idea what to try next. If it would do any good to beg, I am ready and willing to do that. I earnestly ask all CryoNet readers to send me either donations or ideas for raising the $35,000 which remains, and to also communicate this urgent need to others who might help. Kennita Watson also wrote: > Every year could be the year in > which rejuvenation is discovered -- in which a crucial disease (any > disease can be crucial if you have it and it can kill you) is cured > -- in which suspended animation is perfected. How much can you > afford to pay to live till that year rather than to die in the year > before? Since we may have little control over the year in which we die, I think a better question would be: How much can you afford to put towards research so that suspended animation may be perfected in time for your own suspension? > And what if you have fatal disease X (AIDS comes to mind as an > example, but there are others, and evolution seems to toss us a new > one now and then)? Can you afford to fund research to find the cure? > Or at least a treatment that will allow you to live another year, or > five, or ten? Or better: Can you afford to fund research which will make your chance of cryonics revival better, great, or even comparable with established and effective major medical procedures? > And what about the people in the world most important to you? Wouldn't you like to have perfected suspended animation technology available for your loved ones, for your children? > I've heard many people say "I don't care about money". Neither did > Schindler, but he realized that money could mean the difference > between life and death, and he cared about life. Precisely what I am asking of people when I request donations for the HSCP, because I care about my life and theirs. > While our > circumstances are not as dramatic, the things I mention above, and many > others (living in a safe neighborhood, driving a safe car, whatever) > show ways in which money can prolong our lives. Schindler and the > Schindler Jews survived until the end of World War II. Your mission, > should you choose to accept it, is to survive until the War on Death > is won. Or to hasten that victory, by supporting research which will increase your chances of successfully arriving at the time when Death is no longer inevitable. > "The worst is over" This is what you will be thinking before you are suspended. > "I could have done more" And this is what you would be thinking from the state of death after it is determined in the future that the poor cryopreservation methods of your suspension do not allow revival -- if it were possible to think at all after you are dead. > Schindler also could not have saved 1100 lives had he not been a member > of the Nazi Party. He clearly hated what they stood for, but he > realized that they had the power and that he would need some of it in > order to save lives. Many years ago, as an individualist anarchist libertarian, I vowed to give as little money to governments as possible, never to take any, and to never use statutory organizations, especially non-profit charitable ones, for anything which I wished to do. IMO, they legitimize and support the status quo of government tyranny, and I hate that. However, at great personal ethical cost, I retracted this vow when I realized that I needed to use them in order to perfect suspended animation and save lives. >I wonder if people can be taught to hate death as much as I do? Don't teach them to hate death, teach them how to truly love themselves and, thus, become determined to have more life. > An army > of such warriors could certainly fight the War on Death more effectively > than me alone. Perhaps that would be the best use of money -- starting > a school, funding a college course or community education class.... Or making the possibility of continuing life much more certain. If anyone reading this is moved to action, please examine the INC web site (below) for more information or simply send your tax deductible donation to: The Institute for Neural Cryobiology 8439 White Oak Ave, Suite 110 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730-3860 -- Paul -- Voice/Fax: 909-481-9620 Page: 800-805-2870 The Institute for Neural Cryobiology - http://neurocryo.org Perfected cryopreservation of Central Nervous System tissue for neuroscience research and medical repair of brain diseases Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10204