X-Message-Number: 15670
From: 
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 11:58:17 EST
Subject: Seidel

My impression is that Billy Seidel was a member of CryoCare, and is probably 
now a member of Alcor. In any event, he has remarked that Alcor has more 
"prestigious" members, willing to be named in public, than CI. That is true, 
but several things should be kept in mind.

1. If you want to play follow-the-leader, you shouldn't be in cryonics at 
all. By a large majority, the leaders in all fields of science (with the 
possible exception of nanotech) will vote you into the grave, if you allow 
them to.

2. Until the last couple of years, and especially in California, Alcor got 
almost all of the publicity, and few had even heard of CI. 

3. The "leaders" who split off from Alcor and formed CryoCare did not prove 
especially effective. CryoCare now exists only on paper and does not function.

4. In the last couple of years CI has grown faster than any other 
organization, both in absolute and relative terms, and as far as I can tell 
we have roughly the same proportion of highly educated people. Want to play 
follow-the-leader?

5. When a member leaves one organization for another, it is much more often 
in favor of CI, not the other way around. I can't prove it, because our 
membership lists are confidential, but it's true.

Regardless of any of that, the obvious thing for any prospective member to do 
is read all the web sites carefully (ours has links to all the others), then 
ask further questions if you have some, then visit the facilities if you can, 
and make your decision.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org

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