X-Message-Number: 15392
From: "Jeff Grimes" <>
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 21:47:37 -0700
Subject: Procedures at Alcor and Cryonics Institute


Having read CryoNet for a while, it seems the debate between Robert Ettinger and
others boiled down to people complaining, "When you described the new 
procedures, you didn't describe them accurately."


Well, duh! Of course he didn't! When someone stands up and says, "The procedures
used by my competitors are not as good as they are cracked up to be," surely no
one imagines he's going to give a balanced presentation. This is PR, not 
science. If it were science, we would have some way of finding the truth. But no
one can find out whether one cryonics procedure is better than another, till we
can start reviving the people who were frozen. Until then, it doesn't pay to 
take anyone's claims too seriously.


Still there were some interesting aspects of the debate. What interested me is 
that Robert Ettinger spends all his time talking about other people's 
procedures, and NEVER EVER talks about his own organization's procedures. 
Doesn't this seem a bit odd?

In fact, judging from CryoNet, no one seems to know what CI's procedures are.


I wrote some emails myself to CI, and received some polite informative replies, 
which seemed to be sincere, although the fellow who wrote to me admitted that CI
doesn't include all the information on its web site about the exact procedures 
that are used, and he seemed just a bit unsure about some details himself.


So this is a very interesting situation. Ettinger starts spreading FUD (fear, 
uncertainty, and doubt, the old Microsoft technique) about his opponents. But no
one turns it around against him, because no one seems to know what his 
organization is really doing. Why is this? Doesn't anyone WANT to know? 

Jeff Grimes.

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