X-Message-Number: 2245 Subject: CRYONICS Letter from Curtis Henderson From: (Charles Platt) Date: Thu, 13 May 93 23:04:33 EDT Curtis Henderson has asked me to place this message on Cryonet. Please note that I am merely acting as a copy- typist, transcribing Curtis's handwritten letter as a favor to him. I am not aligning myself with (or against) anything he says. FROM CURTIS HENDERSON: Saul Kent's letter announcing the creation of 21st Century Medicine is the most encouraging event that has happened to the cryonics movement in months. It's been said that "Hope springs eternal in the human heart." Any hope that the establishment would do any meaningful research into life extension or reversible suspended animation has led only to eternal frustration. The fact is, remaining in power has always been the main concern of those in power. Research has always been just one element of the pork used for this purpose. Recently, remaining in power has become the ONLY thing, and research has just moved a lot lower on the establishment hog. Every cryonicist should give as much support as possible to 21st Century Medicine and Cryovita. This is a real chance to buy a share in our own future. Everyone of a libertarian persuasion understands the superiority of this approach to that of "keep faith" and "charity." Keep in mind if we finance it and do it ourselves, and keep our wits about us, we will own it and control it. On the subject of Cryonet: We saw the demise of gossip and backbiting from the net during this last month. The fascinating discussion of new ideas for cryogenic storage was great. This is what the net should be all about. It's been almost 25 years since Saul and I pulled out of New Prague with the first MVE tank on the back of our truck. The MVE tank proved very reliable over the years and has led to the present Big Foot tanks. However, 25 years is a long time without some dynamically new development in the area of storage. Particularly since it has been suspected for some time that the raw LN2 temperature was not the optimal one as far as thermal damage was concerned. I say this even though it means I have to break out the books again to catch up. I am still trying to catch up with that motorcycle of the mind, the computer. But it's better to have to catch up than have death catch up with you. --Curtis Henderson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2245