X-Message-Number: 12888
From: "john grigg" <>
Subject: contention on cryonet...
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 14:37:35 PST

Hello everyone,

Charles Platt wrote:
>I mean, why should anyone who is NOT signed up, give money for >research 
>into cryonics?

Paul Wakfer wrote:
>This is a quite ridiculous statement, which perhaps illustrates why
>CryoCare has gone nowhere since Charles became a director and its
>President.

Ouch!!  I don't know the details of this accusation against Charles Platt 
but it is a rough one.  Every organization does have at time rough waters to 
travel and the president is not always to blame but must wade through them 
till steps can be taken to improve things.

I deeply respect both men here as people and for what they have done and 
attempted to do on behalf of cryonics.  I realize sometimes disagreement is 
inevitable but I still find it sad.  I am seeing firsthand the contention I 
have read about in various places.

Charles Platt did a giant cryonics promotion with Omni magazine a number of 
years ago that got the word out and even awarded a painfully ill young man a 
suspension policy.  But as he wrote in a recent column in Cryonics Magazine, 
in the end the effort was nowhere as successful as one would have hoped and 
to top it off the young man who won the contest never claimed his prize 
despite being chronically ill and in pain.

Charles Platt helped to create Cryocare to solve the organizational and 
managerial weaknesses he saw elsewhere.  He wanted an organization that 
would stand the test of time and legal and financial challenges.

I am still saddened that Paul Wakfer's "Prometheus Project" did not get the 
funding it deserved for the noble goal of fully reversible suspension.  I 
realize many consider it a technology too far out of our present reach but I 
feel it was a worthwhile and incredible project nonetheless.  I remember 
reading over the website with a feeling of reverence as Paul Wakfer 
described the goal of fully reversible suspension and the world it could 
help create.

The real world applications for battlefield wounded, fetuses, the terminally 
ill and others would be staggering and far more appealing then the present 
state of cryonics but again it would be a promethean task, and hence the 
name of the project I suppose.

I am just trying to say how much I respect these two men.  I wish I were a 
billionaire and could write a few checks to solve all the research and 
budget problems in cryonics but that is only a fantasy.
Again, I hope Saul Kent and Will Faloon are successful in their fundraising 
efforts with wealthy and middle-class signed up cryonicists this coming 
year.  I have been told there is enough wealth just in that ONE group to 
solve ALL funding problems permanently.

I am beginning to get a sense of perspective on the history, technologies 
and future of cryonics and I am still moving forward to get my life 
insurance.


sincerely,

John Grigg

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