X-Message-Number: 1324.1
Date: 24 Oct 92 03:14:34 EDT
From: STEPHEN BRIDGE <>
Message-Subject: AIN-6 Full Text Part A
ALCOR INDIANA NEWSLETTER #6
September/October 1992
Editor: Richard Shock
WELCOME ONBOARD!
Congratulations are in order for Steve Bridge (Alcor Indiana's most
influential member) who was elected to Alcor Central's Board of
Directors at its September meeting. Steve's decade of experience as
Midwest Coordinator for Alcor more than qualifies him for the new post.
We hope to see similar regional talent tapped for the Board in years to
come.
Currently Steve plans to attend at least every other Board Meeting
in California and participate in the others via telephone. All this air
travel won't be cheap, of course. If you'd like to give Steve a
financial hand, contact him at (317) 359-7260 (evenings).
Also elected to the Alcor Board of Directors were Mark Voelker of
Arizona and Allen Lopp of California. Good luck to these new Directors
and to the Board as a whole!
***
"A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a
fool trusts either of them."
-- P.J. O'Rourke, "Parliament of Whores"
***
FIFTEEN YEARS IN CRYONICS
Part IV
By Steve Bridge
It is 1979. World-shaking political changes seem to take place
almost daily. The U.S. and Communist China resume relations and Coca-
Cola is the first company to jump into the new market. Ayatollah
Khomeini chases the Shah out of Iran and, in November, Iranian
"students" seize the U.S. Embassy. Vietnam forces take control of
Cambodia, ending the Khymer Rouge's reign of terror, and Idi Amin is
driven out of Uganda. Margaret Thatcher becomes "Prim" Minister of
Great Britain. Somoza leaves Nicaragua, and the Sandinistas take over.
The Soviet Army invades Afghanistan.
Anwar El-Sadat of Egypt and Menachim Begin of Israel sign an
historic peace treaty. An accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear
generating plant freaks out the press and the natives, setting back
progress in nuclear power by decades. Voyager 1 discovers rings around
Jupiter; the tabloids report a secret marriage to Saturn.
Movies like ALIEN and THE CHINA SYNDROME encourage viewers to fear
the future; but STAR TREK -- THE MOVIE adds balance by showing how
boring the future will be.
The famous "Dead and unfrozen" include Al Capp, Nelson Rockefeller,
John Wayne, Richard Rogers, life extensionist Benjamin Schloss, and
Skylab.
As the new year began in Indianapolis, Indiana, a small group of
cryonicists celebrated a year of progress, capped by the cryonic
suspension of Mike Darwin's dog, Mitzi, in November (discussed in Part
III). The Institute for Advanced Biological Studies, Inc. (IABS) was
not quite ready to live up to its grandiose name; but we were sure it
was only a matter of time.
Another late 1978 accomplishment had been the first open lecture in
our new home. Mike Darwin, with a lot of photographic help from Allen
Lopp and some slides purchased from Art Quaife at Trans Time, had
developed a slide show as an introduction to cryonics. I believe he
modeled this after a presentation he had seen Fred Chamberlain do in
California; but many of the ideas were his own. As I recall, Mike gave
the first presentation in December of 1978. We were listed in the
"Things to Do" section of the local newspaper and we told as many
friends as we could think of. I don't think we drew many people for the
first talk, and those were probably all friends; but it got us started
on public relations.
Mike gave an open presentation about one Sunday a month for the next
two and one-half years. We only got perhaps four or five local members
from those talks in all that time; although we did expose many people
to our ideas. Other than that, all new members came from people we knew
personally. In hindsight, we were taking the wrong approach to these
talks. We should have pushed much harder to do talks at the
universities, libraries, science clubs, and other traditional homes of
free inquiry. Only the most daring people will go blindly to someone's
home for a meeting with a weird group. Most people's experience will
suggest that such a group represents either a sinister religion that
wants your soul and your money or something like an Amway sales
presentation which wants pretty much the same thing. We only wanted
their TIME and their money; but perhaps the difference is insignificant
to most people.
Mike DID do a series of useful talks for the local mortuary college.
While he didn't persuade anyone to sign up, he did discover that
morticians were a widely varied bunch and that many of these younger
fellows (there are very few female morticians, for whatever reason) were
open to the possibility of offering this as an option to their clients.
And Mike learned a immense amount about human death and current mortuary
practice from the morticians.
Four new "outside" members stick in my mind from 1979. An architect
and his wife attended several monthly meetings and even hosted one in
their home. I think they found us intellectually interesting and they
enjoyed our energy and "different-ness." But they never became
personally interested in the idea of cryonics.
And then there were Chuck and Chuck, a couple of guys stranger than
we were. Cryonics has attracted many truly bizarre and out-of-touch
individuals, as I have found from stories told by Curtis Henderson, Saul
Kent, and others. Chuck and Chuck ran right up there with the worst.
These were two men named Chuck, about 30 years in age, who showed up for
an open meeting. One (Chuck2) was a big, body-builder type, none too
bright. Chuck1 was a weaselly, long-haired chemist, who seemed a bit
creepy but intelligent. Someone of literary bent began referring to
them as "George and Lenny" (from OF MICE AND MEN). They seemed to be
fascinated with cryonics and immediately joined IABS. Mike was
concerned about them and claimed that they "pegged his creep-meter;"
but I was kinder and gentler and willing to give them a chance.
They took that chance fairly quickly and began making unsettling
phone calls to our young female members. During one call Chuck1 claimed
he had a magic mirror that let him watch the young ladies undress. He
stated that he and Chuck2 were interested in long afternoon drives
sometime. At the next meeting, he claimed that the two of them were
"men of the future." "Chemically enhanced humans," he called it. I
assumed he was not referring to vitamins.
When I told my girlfriend, Linda, about these people, she appeared
horrified and asked what Chuck1's last name was. It seemed she had gone
to high school with this character, and he had distinguished himself by
laying claim to magic powers and placing curses on everyone who
displeased him. Then whenever something bad happened to one of those
people, he could take credit for it. Since everyone hated him, he
pretty much had cursed everyone in the entire school and, high school
being what it is, there were plenty of bad events for him to attribute
to his "powers." This included at least one death.
Some additional telephone calls brought the unsurprising information
that his profession of "chemist" was focused on the synthesis and
purification of various illegal substances and that the sale of such
substances had once been rewarded with a long vacation in a concrete-
and-steel resort, courtesy of the State of Indiana. We were deeply
upset and totally bewildered. These guys were big trouble in every way;
but how could we get them to leave IABS without them wanting revenge for
the snub? We suspected that their chemistry knowledge extended to
things that go "boom."
We stumbled onto the answer totally by accident. By the middle of
the year I was starting to feel burned out on being President and I let
people know I would resign at the July annual meeting. However, several
people agreed to take on more responsibility and appealed to me to stay
on. At the annual meeting I was quickly re-elected. Chuck and Chuck
found this to be highly suspicious and undemocratic (Chuck1 may have
even been planning to run for President himself!) and became very upset.
Mike and I immediately saw an opening and offered to refund their
membership dues if they were unhappy. When everyone else expressed the
opinion that they were pleased with the outcome, Chuck1 called US
"sinister," and they both left, never to return. Whew.
Then there is, as Paul Harvey said, "the REST of the story."
Several years later, after Mike Darwin had moved to California, I called
to tell him about a local news story. It seems that some strange
character in Indianapolis had kept two women chained naked to his bed
for several days. One had escaped and had run to the police, who were
now in a standoff around the man's house. Guess who? Chuck1, of course
-- maybe his magic mirror was in the shop. Mike and I shared a big
laugh and a huge sigh of relief that we weren't all back in 1979
watching this, with our friends as the victims and "local bodyfreezer"
being tagged on to Chuck1's name.
1979 was an exceptionally busy year for cryonics in general. In
January, Trans Time's Northern California team under the direction of
Jerry Leaf performed its first neurosuspension (although not the first
neurosuspension ever done). It is obvious from the published reports
that the medical quality of suspensions had jumped significantly by this
time.
In April, 1979, the Cryonics Society of South Florida moved to a
new home at 2835 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Florida. This was soon to
be the home of the new Life Extension Foundation and Saul Kent's
newsletter, LIFE EXTENSION REPORT. This entire operation was a key
toward getting Saul Kent professionally involved in the life extension
business, which eventually allowed him to contribute immense amounts of
money, time, and effort to cryonics.
On June 5, 1979, the NATIONAL ENQUIRER reported on Dr. Robert J.
White's more or less successful experiments in transplanting monkey
heads at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital. Sometimes the science
reporting in the NATIONAL ENQUIRER is surprisingly accurate, and I
believe this was one of those times. I think that Mike actually
telephoned Dr. White and talked with him about his work.
In July, Jerry Leaf made copies available of his detailed transport
protocol. It was a major improvement over the procedures of the Manrise
manual (the only previous set of technical instructions available), and
this was the forerunner of what Alcor uses today.
On July 22, 1979, New York cryonicists reorganized as Cryonics
Association, New York Chapter. CANYC officers at the first meeting
included President Nick Bouras, V.P. Joseph Berk, Arthur McCombs,
Secretary, and Carlos Mondragon, Treasurer. Curtis Henderson, Saul
Kent, and others were also involved.
1979 was probably the most busy and exciting year in the short
history of IABS. The August, 1979 IABS Newsletter makes it appear that
we were working non-stop on cryonics. For Mike Darwin, that was
certainly true. For several of the rest of us, it was nearly so.
One person who came to the fore that year was Ella Vinci. "Ellie"
had been a high school friend of Mike Darwin and Joe Allen and became
re-intrigued with cryonics after being invited to our 1978 annual
meeting. By 1979, she had become our secretary and provided us with
reasonable minutes for the first time. Ellie was professionally a
counselor and possibly the most "grown-up" of the people in the group.
She was a badly-needed stabilizing influence, good listener, and friend
to our wild bunch.
You may recall from an earlier installment that Allen Lopp and I had
sold our IABS house to an insurance company, but that we were allowed to
rent it for $1 per month for up to seven years. With his part of the
profit from the sale, Allen and Mike Darwin went shopping for another
building to turn into a real research lab. They found an old store
about 20 blocks north of our house and spent several months remodeling
it. This became the home for Soma, Inc., Mike's for-profit company, as
well as a second facility for IABS projects. Mike and Allen ended up
with an operating room, store room, library, office, and. . . patient
care room? Yes, IABS was moving in the direction Mike had wanted all
along: suspension capability. By September, Mike thought he had all of
the equipment in place to do the best suspension anywhere east of Jerry
Leaf.
That also meant a lot of other work had been done. I was in charge
of putting together the legal contracts to handle suspensions. We
started with some documents we had seen produced by Trans Time (possibly
by their Attorney, James Bianchi), added a lot of our own ideas, and
went to our local attorney. He and I pushed paper and ideas around for
several months before ending up with a fairly cautious document. Our
attorney emphasized over and over again that the biggest danger in
signing up members was the question of fraud through lack of informed
consent. It doesn't matter if what you are selling doesn't work as long
as you TELL people that it is experimental and might not work. And you
have to tell them the possible downsides, so they can make a truly
informed decision. Since Mike was hearing this advice backed up in
conversations with New York's Curtis Henderson, who had learned it the
HARD way, we had no trouble agreeing. And frankly, giving Mike Darwin a
legitimate reason to tell people why everything might go wrong was a
perfect match of problem and solution.
This paperwork was the direct ancestor of the sign-up package used
by Alcor today. Although I have shepherded it through three complete
revisions, the emphasis on caution and informed consent is still there.
These documents enabled IABS to present a competent face to the rest of
the cryonics world, although the only members we ever signed up were
local. While I don't find records on this anymore, I think that Mike
Darwin, Allen Lopp, Joe Allen, Anna Schoppenhorst, and myself were our
only suspension members. Since we were also most of the suspension
team, it was a good thing that we never got the chance to try out our
operating room on a human (although Mike may have a different opinion
about that). And that "patient care room" -- I'm SINCERELY grateful
that we never used that except for naps. The first time a patient
actually deanimated in a cryonics facility was not until nine years
later: Dora Kent at Alcor in California. The firestorm surrounding
that suspension was so great that it came close to destroying even
Alcor. Our little group would have been completely overwhelmed by such
a case.
We used the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act as the vehicle for conveying
custody of the patient to IABS. Charges were $55,000 for whole body
preservation and $25,000 for "other alternatives." The annual
suspension membership fee was $300.00 for whole body; less for the
cheaper alternatives. In much the same way that Alcor and Cryovita
partnered for many years, IABS contracted with Soma, Inc. (Mike Darwin)
to provide professional services.
One major gap was that we did not have a whole body storage dewar
(the large double-walled, stainless steel container containing liquid
nitrogen, in which the patient is maintained). These were custom-made
items, costing as much as $12-15,000 at that time, if you could persuade
a manufacturer to make one at all. But Mike didn't see that as much of
a problem, since he preferred the "alternative" anyway. Those of you
who have been involved with cryonics for many years may chuckle over the
evasiveness of that language. Mike was a strong supporter of the idea
that only a person's head and brain needed to be placed into suspension,
an option he called "neurosuspension" or "neuropreservation." (These
terms may have been coined by the Chamberlains or someone else.) When
Mike first delicately broached the idea of freezing only heads, I must
admit that most of us were deeply unsettled. It took weeks of
discussion to take the horror movie/French Revolution coloration off the
idea. After fifteen years, neurosuspension no longer seems radical to
me, but I can certainly appreciate how people looking at cryonics for
the first time might be unnerved by it.
When I am asked about neuropreservation today, the inevitable
question is, "Why would you want to be revived as just a head?" Of
course, we DON'T want to be revived as a head, and we think that
neuropatients will be revived and repaired to health in a full body.
The ones who catch on quickly then ask, "So where are you going to get
bodies to transplant the brains into?" That's not it, either. These
patients will be revived in new copies of their OWN bodies, I answer. I
generally ask people if they know that young children can regrow a
fingertip if it is cut off. Some do know that; others realize it is
plausible. It then seems reasonable that in the next twenty or thirty
years we will find ways to regrow an entire missing finger. And if we
can regrow a missing finger, why not a missing arm? And if a missing
arm, why not the entire body?
Understanding these points took us a long time; but each of us
eventually agreed to neurosuspension, partly because Mike persuaded us
it was a good idea, but also partly because it was cheaper. Just as
importantly, with IABS's lack of capital, the storage dewar we would use
for heads was a relatively inexpensive, "off the shelf" item. (The
manufacturers were making that model of container for an entirely
different purpose, of course!) As we discussed the concept of
neuropreservation with other cryonicists around the country in 1979 and
later, the arguments were intense (and have not entirely ceased even
today). Mike wanted to publicize the idea openly; but I felt that it
was rare enough that someone would accept the idea of freezing even an
entire body. I wanted to get them thinking about the possibilities of
living in the future FIRST, before adding something that might really
shock them.
COMING NEXT ISSUE: 1979 continued! Research with Jerry Leaf, and IABS
meets science fiction.
**
COLD COMFORT AT WORLDCON
Three members of Alcor Indiana (Steve Bridge, Angalee Shepherd, and
Richard Shock) attended the 50th Annual World Science Fiction Convention
in Orlando, Florida, September 3-8. Aside from the obligatory bland
nanotechnology panel, cryonicists and life extensionists were left to
their own devices. Fortunately, we are well-versed at handling this
type of situation. [See A TRAVELING BRIDGE, later in this issue.]
Steve Bridge and Angalee Shepherd hosted a cryonics room party on
Saturday night (September 5), which was attended by numerous interested
individuals (as opposed to the inevitable crowd solely on the hunt for
alcoholic beverages). One particular "interested individual" turned out
to be a convention committee member who invited us to submit items for a
time capsule, scheduled for opening in fifty years at the 100th Annual
World SF Con. Two of the items contributed were a copy of CRYONICS:
REACHING FOR TOMORROW and Angalee Shepherd's emergency instruction tag.
For a further perspective on this minor piece of history, see ALCOR
INDIANA NEWSLETTER #306, September/October 2042. [If I start nagging
Steve Bridge NOW, he may just have an article ready by that time. In
newsletters, long-term planning is everything. -- ed.]
***
"We should all be concerned with the future because we will have to
spend the rest of our lives there."
-- C.F. Kettering
***
ALCOR: COMING SOON TO A NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR EVERYONE?
The last few months have seen an exciting and gratifying flurry of
Alcor activity around the United States. For example:
-- In August a group of Alcor members in Arizona signed a Chapter
Agreement with Alcor Central (one of the first such association
contracts). Alcor Arizona is headed by doctoral candidate and new Alcor
Board Member Mark Voelker.
-- Alcor members in Southern California have organized an Alcor
chapter independent from Alcor Central. If Alcor headquarters ever
moved out of state, this would leave a solid nucleus in that vital area.
-- Alcor Boston's recent suspension has reportedly helped to build
cohesion and enthusiasm within this small group.
-- Both the Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania areas
have seen two solid meetings each of cryonics discussion groups, with
continued activity appearing likely.
-- Alcor East (formerly the Cryonics Society of Southern Florida),
the only group besides Alcor Central to possess an operating room and
laboratory for suspensions, is undergoing a renaissance of interest and
action.
Midwest residents will please note that Alcor Indiana refuses to be
omitted from this excitement. We want to see YOU at our next meeting.
***
ALCOR INDIANA MEETING NOTES:
Sunday, August 9, 1992, at the home of Margaret and Bob Schwarz.
Present were Steve Bridge, Margaret and Bob Schwarz, and Richard Shock.
The bulk of the meeting was composed of announcements by Mr. Bridge:
-- Matt Swanson from Chicago had mailed in an article from the July
13, 1992 CHICAGO SUN-TIMES entitled, "As Funeral Costs Grow, Cremation
Popularity Rises." Aside from information about modern mortuary trends
and practices (always a concern for cryonicists, who must frequently
rely on mortuaries for remote patient preparation), the article
suggested a shift in public attitudes toward "alternative funeral
arrangements."
-- A DISCOVER Magazine article on unusual software products
mentioned a game that realistically simulated surgery ("Life and Death,"
Software Toolworks, 1988, $39.95). Mr. Bridge wondered if this program
might be of any use for cryonicists seeking practice in suspension-
related surgical techniques. Mr. Shock agreed to investigate. [I DID
investigate, and found this software less than adequate for our
purposes. The graphics and detail were primitive even by current
shareware standards. I am personally aware of at least five Alcor
members who could compose far more accurate and useful programming aimed
directly at suspension training. Please consider this an invitation. --
ed.]
-- Since Mr. Bridge was to attend the September Alcor Central Board
Meeting scheduled for the second Sunday of that month (caused by
scheduling changes from July), he proposed that Alcor Indiana hold its
September meeting one Sunday late. The proposal was adopted.
-- Mr. Bridge, Angalee Shepherd, and Richard Shock would be
attending the 50th Annual World Science Fiction Convention at the
beginning of September. Mr. Shock noted that the 1993 World Science
Fiction Convention in San Francisco, California would probably have a
better cryonics presence because of its proximity to Alcor North,
American Cryonics Society, and Alcor Central.
-- Certain Alcor members had compiled their dissatisfactions with
Alcor administration into a book entitled IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE! This
work was being widely circulated among the membership, and was partly
responsible for Mr. Bridge's next attendance at an Alcor Board Meeting.
-- A protracted remote standby for an Alcor member in Boston finally
culminated in an adequate suspension on July 27. On the transport team
were Mike Darwin, Tanya Jones, and Naomi Reynolds. (Several weeks
previous to this, Mr. Bridge had contributed four days to this same
standby. Alcor Indiana also contributed some of its equipment.)
-- A collection of Alcor members in Arizona recently signed a short
Chapter Agreement with Alcor Central.
-- Mr. Bridge was scheduled to give a speech and slide show about
nanotechnology at the Broad Ripple Library in Indianapolis on September
20. He was also tentatively slated for a similar presentation at the
Illinois School Media Association Conference on October 31 in
Schaumberg, Illinois.
-- Tanya Jones from Alcor Central had sent an updated list of
equipment necessary for Remote Standby Kits. Mr. Schwarz was still in
the process of performing an inventory on the Alcor Indiana equipment
replaced after the Boston suspension.
Richard Shock mentioned an article from the August 1, 1992 SCIENCE NEWS,
"Hearty Vitamins," which supplied confirmation that Vitamin C
supplements provided significant beneficial effects for arteries.
Mr. Shock also reported on the progress of the Newsletter, asked for
submissions, and thanked everyone for their financial help on the
previous issue.
Margaret Schwarz submitted a list of "Six Principles for Successful
Voluntary Organizations," which she obtained at an Audubon Society
meeting. According to this list, Successful Voluntary Organizations
(such as Alcor Indiana):
-- Have a clear goal and specific objectives which are communicated
to their membership and to the public.
-- Offer many opportunities for every member to act on behalf of the
organization's goals and objectives.
-- Train their members and officers in skills and subjects necessary
for the organization's success.
-- Establish clear expectations and procedures for individual
voluntary performance.
-- Recognize publicly and reward the work of their members at all
levels.
-- Are networks of socially and functionally related people.
***
September 20, 1992, at the home of Margaret and Bob Schwarz. Present
were Steve Bridge, Margaret and Bob Schwarz, and Richard Shock.
Mr. Bridge began with his customary announcements:
-- Alcor Central's three-man Financial Advisory Committee recently
resigned. Various reasons were cited. The move would have no immediate
effect on Alcor's finances.
-- Mr. Bridge would attend the October Alcor Board Meeting in
California, his second meeting in a row. He also discussed details from
the September Board Meeting.
-- The Boston Remote Standby and Transport of an Alcor suspension
member in Boston greatly overran its budget. While the Boston tactical
situation had been far from ideal, funding of even the best remote
standby operations was still a matter of great concern for future
suspensions. Discussion about this matter was intensifying in the
cryonics community.
Mr. Shock gave a short report of his experiences with individuals
who were interested in cryonics at the World Science Fiction Convention.
He noted that a large proportion of those he met with serious potential
of joining Alcor happened to make their living by working with
computers. Discussion of this topic suggested that computer workers
might be more inclined toward cryonics than individuals in other
occupations because of the rapid technological strides in computers;
one type of advance prepared people for another. Mr. Shock proposed
wider cryonics appeals to computer enthusiasts.
Relating to the latter point, Mr. Shock had advertised Mr. Bridge's
September Nanotechnology presentation with a message on the Indianapolis
Computer Society Bulletin Board. Results of this attempt were
inconclusive.
Mr. Shock also brought up two articles of note:
-- A section of the correspondence page from the September 8, 1992
NEW YORK TIMES listed three negative public reactions to FDA
overregulation of vitamins and diet supplements.
-- "STM Technique Yields Tiniest Battery," from the August 15, 1992
SCIENCE NEWS detailed how a Scanning Tunneling Microscope had been used
by scientists at the University of California, Irvine to create a
rudimentary chemical battery on the nanometer scale.
Margaret Schwarz mentioned that pursuant to broadening public
awareness of cryonics-related technological developments, she and Mr.
Schwarz had been leaving issues of the FORESIGHT UPDATE at their Audubon
Society meetings.
Mr. Schwarz pointed out the October, 1992 issue of LIFE Magazine,
which ran a fairly optimistic article about stopping the aging process.
The group then examined the new Michigan Instruments Heart Lung
Resuscitator unit that had arrived two weeks before. [See BREATHING
EASIER, later in this issue of AIN. -- ed.] Mr. Schwarz and Mr. Bridge
noted that modifications would have to be made to Alcor Indiana's
Portable Ice Bath in order to accommodate this HLR. Mr. Shock suggested
that when the modifications to the PIB were complete, Alcor Indiana
members should attempt a "dry run," packing the equipment, transporting
it to another location, and unpacking it to test for any logistic
difficulties.
***
Date: 24 Oct 92 03:16:26 EDT
From: STEPHEN BRIDGE <>
Message-Subject: AIN-6 Full Text Part B
A TRAVELING BRIDGE
By Steve Bridge
From September 2 to October 5 was one of the busiest travel times I
have had in years.
To start with, Angalee Shepherd, Richard Shock, and I attended
MagiCon, the World Science Fiction Convention in Orlando, Florida (home
of Walt Disney World) on September 3-7. The Worldcon is always one of
the highlights of any year I can go to it (this was my sixth). As
usual, the Dealer's Room was immense, the Art Show was staggering, and
the movies and videos non-stoppable. Hundreds of authors, well-known
and just beginning, read from their work, answered questions about it,
and were on panels to discuss time travel, characterization, planet
building, politics, agents, and just about every other conceivable
subject.
Except cryonics, life extension, and nanotechnology. What happened?
Last year in Chicago, several panels covered these topics; but many of
the top speakers in these areas did not make the trip to Mickey-ville
this year. And we knew that only a few cryonicists were going, so we
didn't push to be on panels. Since the 1993 WorldCon will be in San
Francisco, a regular hotbed of cryonics and nanotech activity, I'm sure
we will be much more represented there. (Contact Keith Henson for
information on helping out at ConFranciso).
But we still made our presence felt. As long as Angalee Shepherd is
around, we can throw a very classy room party. Angalee has run the
hospitality suite (called "ConSuite" in fan-slang) at our local
Indianapolis convention for three years, she helped Alcor put on a
wonderful three-night bash at NorthAmeriCon in Phoenix several years
ago, and she helped me plan an excellent one-night party at the Chicago
WorldCon last year. There is no doubt that Angalee has the social touch
that many cryonicists lack.
Angalee arranged for vegetable, cheese, and fruit trays from a local
grocery, along with crackers, soft drinks, and cookies. WorldCon
parties are primarily advertised on a Party Board and in the daily
convention newsletter. We also set up a hotel-supplied easel in the
hall leading to our room. We ended up staying in a more expensive hotel
than we otherwise would have, but it was the Party hotel -- and we
WANTED people.
During the course of the evening (about 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.), I
estimate about 200 people came into the room for food and conversation,
although there could have been more than that. Fifteen people gave us
their names and addresses to get copies of CRYONICS -- REACHING FOR
TOMORROW (Alcor's information book) and many more took free fliers I had
left out. Most of the people passing through had at least heard of
cryonics and nanotechnology, so the conversations generally started out
at fairly intelligent levels. At least two people who were just
beginning the signup process with Alcor were there asking questions. We
were fortunate to have a few other Alcor members or at least interested
regulars at the party, including Cryonet posters Brett Bellmore from
Michigan and Andrew Davidson from Great Britain, AIN subscriber and
friend Ron Trout from Indianapolis, and Doug Baldwin, a South Florida
cryonicist. With a full room, we needed each of these people to help
answer questions and to keep conversations flowing.
On Sunday, Angalee and I got away from the convention for a while
and took a side tour to the Kennedy Space Center, about an hour away.
It was pretty impressive, although I was very disappointed that we
couldn't stay for the shuttle launch scheduled for the following
Saturday. On Monday, Angalee headed back to Indianapolis, while I
rented a car and drove to Davie, Florida (just south of Ft. Lauderdale)
to attend a special meeting of the Alcor Florida chapter.
The meeting was held at Austin Tupler's home. Fourteen people were
in attendance, including Steve Rievman, the co-founder (with Mr. Tupler)
of the old Cryonics Society of South Florida, and two of Mr. Tupler's
sons, Glen (a member of the Alcor Board of Directors) and Mark. Bill
Faloon and Dana Dye of the Life Extension Foundation were there, along
with several long-time Alcor members, two new and enthusiastic members,
and several guests. Especially noteworthy among those guests was the
owner of the Air Ambulance service that Mr. Tupler has contracted with.
This man is a "rescue junkie" with four teams of physicians, nurses, and
medics ready to fly anywhere in North America. He is fascinated by
cryonics and may be part of the first step toward those science fiction
visions of helicopter rescue teams swooping in to grab a dying
cryonicist and carry him or her to the cryonics facility. I hope we can
do more with this gentleman in the near future.
Part of the meeting was taken up with concerns about Alcor's recent
political discord. The real purpose of my visit, however, was to give
this group more ideas about how they could become more active. As Steve
Rievman said, CSSF had been very happy about their merger with Alcor
several years ago. The Florida members had assumed that they didn't
have to function as an isolated local group any more, except for meeting
once in a while to keep up some level of emergency suspension readiness.
Steve said it was now obvious that they had become moribund and that
they must get more active to attract new members and provide more local
support. The way Alcor has been growing, it is impossible for a central
office to provide as much personal attention as members might think is
necessary. So local chapters must begin doing more on their own.
It appears that the new Florida members have injected a bit of new
energy into the group and I hope to see much more activity out of them.
I gave them a list of my own organization building ideas and promised to
send more. I encourage any other cryonicists with experience in
organizing local groups to send their thoughts to Bill Faloon c/o Life
Extension Foundation, P.O. Box 229120, Hollywood FL 33022.
After returning to Indianapolis, I had three days at home to marshal
my thoughts before flying off to Riverside, California for Alcor's
September Board of Directors meeting and the election of Directors.
This meeting was being looked upon by many members as one of the most
important gatherings in Alcor history. Previous to this point, the
Directors only changed when one resigned (or was placed into suspension)
and the remaining Directors chose a new person to fill the slot.
Consequently, at least three Directors had been on the Board for longer
than ten years. This was the first meeting at which all Directors were
up for election and would have to compete for their slots with outside
nominees. Note that the only voters were the nine people who were
already on the Board. However, some of those Directors were also
looking for change and the outcome was not a sure thing.
My name was one of seven non-Directors being placed into nomination.
One of the long-time Board Members, Bill Jameson, had decided not to run
for re-election, so that left fifteen people running for nine slots. In
a secret ballot, two more long-time Directors (Glen Tupler of Florida
and Vice President Paul Genteman) were replaced. The three new members
were Allen Lopp (one of the original members of our Indianapolis
cryonics group in the 1970's), Mark Voelker (working on his PhD in
scanning tunneling microscopy and a long-time space technology
activist), and me, Steve Bridge. Hold-over Directors include Carlos
Mondragon (President), Ralph Whelan (Secretary), Dave Pizer (Treasurer),
Brenda Peters, Hugh Hixon, and Keith Henson.
No new elections for officers were held, so no changes have occurred
in that area. It is not entirely clear who is Vice-President now; so
that issue will have to be resolved. But it is certain that the three
new Board Members are willing to take an active part in planning for
Alcor's future. Some of the recent arguments over policy will not
easily be overcome; but I have high hopes for the future of this
cryonics organization.
During the first weekend in October, I participated in my second
Board Meeting as a Director. Whatever you think being a Director is
like, you are wrong. That weekend felt like the mental equivalent of a
three-day hike with a forty-pound pack -- long discussions with several
people on Friday; an eight-hour, no dinner, budget planning session on
Saturday, and the Board Meeting itself on Sunday. I was Chairperson for
Sunday's meeting (Mark Voelker will chair the November meeting and Allen
Lopp will chair the January meeting), so I had a lot of responsibility.
I was pleased with our accomplishments. We did put together a
reasonable budget, although there is no margin for error and we will
need the same level of donations from members in 1993 that we have had
in 1992 to make it work. We began the first steps toward a business
plan. We made very significant progress toward making higher-paying
investments with our Endowment Fund and Patient Care Trust Fund. The
first steps were taken in organizing discussion on two potential major
changes in Alcor's structure: 1. changing the ways in which Directors
are selected and 2. splitting the responsibility for Patient Care (that
is, care of the frozen patients) off into an entirely separate company
to provide more legal and financial protection for the patients. It is
a long way from obvious which changes could or should be implemented;
but discussing these possibilities should make us understand Alcor's
mission better. Nearly as important as specific accomplishments was the
basic changes in meeting format, with agendas set several days in
advance and with some control over the flow of discussion. I personally
believe that more formality will channel our creativity, not stifle it.
The next year will no doubt be difficult in many ways. Each
individual Board Member has ideas for improvement, and the amount of
negotiation and persuasion required will be substantial. The challenges
of growth, improvements in technology, and interference by outside
forces remain with us, and considerable cooperation will be required.
The next twenty years of Alcor depends on what we do this year.
***
BREATHING EASIER:
Alcor Indiana Receives Its New Heart-Lung Resuscitator
by Richard Shock
Almost a year ago -- in AIN #1, in fact -- our Meeting Notes brought
up the feeble condition of an old Brunswick Heart-Lung Resuscitator we
were keeping. At that time, the $5,000 required for a state-of-art
Michigan Instruments HLR to replace the decrepit unit seemed an
unthinkably huge sum.
Enter Alcor member Paul Wakfer (now president of Cryovita, Inc.).
Reading of our impossible dream in that first newsletter, Paul offered
us a loan at once-in-a-lifetime rates. We jumped at the opportunity.
[Would-be borrowers please note that Mr. Wakfer has ceased giving loans.
-- ed.]
Michigan Instruments HLR units are not yet on sale to the general
public; Alcor obtained these machines only through a special agreement
to TEST them. We had to purchase ours through Alcor Central, in the
form of a directed donation. While there were certain financial risks
in this process, we felt the need for reliable transport equipment more
than justified our actions.
Now, after months of delays (slow parts shipments to Michigan
Instruments, etc.), the new unit has arrived! All of us at Alcor
Indiana have breathed a sigh of relief, particularly Bob Schwarz, who no
longer must sweat to keep the makeshift Brunswick HLR creaking along.
Should a cryonics remote standby be necessary in the Midwest, we'll be
ready to help.
"Why bother with a Heart-Lung Resuscitator?" some of you non-
cryonicists may be asking. "Aren't cryonics patients DEAD before you
can even start working on them?"
One answer would be that cryonics patients are only slightly more
"dead" than regular medical patients on full respirator. When we're
allowed to do our job as well as we can, a cryonics patient spends no
significant time without blood flow (or oxygen carried by that blood).
Death is a process where ischemic (unoxygenated) body tissues damage
THEMSELVES. Cryonicists want their patients to be as undamaged as
possible before freezing, hence the need for some form of artificial
respiration. Manual Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation may be used during
the earliest stages of a cryonics transport procedure, but only
mechanical Heart-Lung Resuscitators can continue this grueling activity
for the hours a body requires to cool.
Beyond lessening damage from oxygen starvation, HLR-forced
circulation has another uses in cryonics: spreading medication and
accelerating the reduction of a body's core temperature. External ice
packs would require DAYS to cool a body's central portions, the site of
most vital organs. With circulation, however, blood flowing just under
the body's surface is cooled and then sent to collect further heat from
deeper areas, not unlike the water coolant system in an automobile
engine. Cooling itself aids in prevention of tissue damage; at
temperatures as high as 60xF., self-destructive metabolism may be
greatly slowed (the basic principle behind much lower temperatures in
full cryonic suspension).
The Michigan Instruments MII High-Impulse Heart-Lung Resuscitator is
designed for the dual purpose of compressing a patient's chest to
simulate heart action and forcing oxygen into the patient's lungs, both
at rigorously-timed intervals. This particular HLR needs no
electricity, relying on compressed oxygen to impel the unit's chest
piston. For cryonics use, the HLR would be applied to a clinically dead
patient in a Portable Ice Bath, providing circulation and oxygenation
until the patient's core body temperature was low enough to ensure
little metabolic activity. The patient would then be packed in ice and
shipped to Alcor, where the final stages of cryonic suspension would
take place.
***
WHAT THE HECK IS "ALCOR INDIANA"?
ALCOR INDIANA is an unincorporated group of ALCOR suspension members
who have banded together to help ensure each other's eventual cryonic
suspension. Informal monthly meetings are held the second Sunday of
each month at 2:00 PM, and are open to anyone who calls ahead of time.
Subscriptions to the semi-monthly ALCOR INDIANA NEWSLETTER are at
present free of charge. Contributions are more than welcome.
For information on ALCOR INDIANA meetings, newsletter subscriptions,
ALCOR LIFE EXTENSION FOUNDATION, or cryonics in general, call Richard
Shock (days: (317) 872-3070; evenings: (317) 769-4252) or Stephen W.
Bridge ((317) 359-7260). ALCOR INDIANA COMMUNICATIONS BOARD, a local
electronic bulletin board, can be accessed between the night hours of
7:00 PM through 9:00 AM, at (317) 870-5780.
Write to Richard at 670 S. St. Rd. 421 N., Zionsville IN 46077 or
to Stephen at 1208 Charleston E. Drive, Indianapolis IN 46219. Or
contact Stephen Bridge via e-mail at
Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1324.1