X-Message-Number: 22818
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2003 08:08:26 -0500
From: Paul Antonik Wakfer <paul@morelife.org>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #22807 - Aftermath
References: <20031110100001.73912.qmail@rho.pair.com>

>
>
>Message #22807
>Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2003 11:18:35 -0500 (EST)
>From: Charles Platt <other@platt.us>
>Subject: Aftermath
>
>So now comes the inevitable aftermath of the P&Z meeting.
>Phrases such as monday-morning quarterbacking come to mind.
>
David Shumaker already accused me of that in private email.

>It was extremely useful that Paul Wakfer provided some hard
>data instead of mere opinions: the actual text of the
>application from himself and Mike Darwin. The key paragraph
>of course was this one:
>
>"2) Solid and liquid state organ preservation for improved
>storage times for transplantable organs and the CNS
>(employing rabbits, dogs, and cadaveric tissues)."
>
>"Cadaveric tissues" means cadavers, obviously, but it is a
>classic pieces of Mike Darwin jargon, buried in a lot of
>other vaguely technical terminology. Probably this is why it
>slipped through.
>
Exactly! Mike was/is a master at that (although I have developed my own 
expertise in other areas over two decades). However, a full strategy of 
approach was also necessary. In particular, it was also essential that 
we got written permission to locate in a certain zone *before* we even 
looked for property there. In fact, we applied to several municipalities 
in this same manner *before* searching for buildings.

>It would be enlightening if the application that SA made
>originally could be posted here for comparison. This would
>enable us to learn from experience as opposed to offering
>opinions in hindsight, which tend to be less useful.
>
I have not seen in, but privately I have been told that Mike drafted 
their letter of application. However, it was also inferred that this did 
not happen until after a building had been selected (and perhaps a lease 
already signed) because a non-cryonicist involved with potential 
building alterations "leaked" the fact of cryonics related activity to 
the zoning officials. Of course, it also did not help that the name of 
the company involved was so openly called "Suspended Animation, Inc." 
When are cryonicists ever going to learn that it is far too early yet to 
be so publically up-front and *never* with government agencies who have 
no compunction to use force against you whenever they decide they can? A 
non-descript name should be used for the application (that is one reason 
why the 21CM application succeeded) and then that company could sublease 
the premises to the openly named and cryonically associated company 
*after* the written approval is obtained.

>One of the sad features of cryonics is that it has lost so
>many knowledgable and useful people over the years. Mostly
>this has been because of irreconcilable personality
>conflicts. This is one reason why persons who used to be
>regarded as essential to the field (Fred and Linda
>Chamberlain, Paul Wakfer, Mike Darwin) are no longer
>involved.
>
I thank you for including me here, but from my point of view the 
problems had less to do with personality differences and more to do with 
simple honesty, honor, fairness, and not breaking one's word. This can 
be prevented (and next time *will* be prevented by me) by the use of 
more clearly written agreements to cover all major aspects of  exchange. 
However, there were also major ego problems involved. Too many people 
involved in cryonics thought/think that they know everything better then 
anyone else, even those who clearly have had many years of experience in 
a given area. I, myself, may somewhat have given this impression, but 
some others have been far worse.

>Perhaps there was no conceivable way to retain any
>of the institutional wisdom of these people. Mike Darwin was
>employed by SA initially and gave advice on the P&Z issue,
>although I don't know what it was. After that he quit,
>several times, and became...unwelcome, I guess is the word.
>
>Reinventing the wheel is not an efficient process. The only
>thing worse is being forced to reinvent it less capably
>because the crucial people are missing.
>
I totally agree. There are indications that the uncooperative and 
back-bitting/stabing approach of so many cryonics leaders to one another 
has greatly diminished lately (mainly because of the descendency of some 
of the uncooperative back-bitters/stabers and the ascendency of more 
fully sincere and cooperative people). That is one of the reasons why I 
decided to resubscribe to Cryonet and have offerred my services to help 
in any way that I can, without once more getting hopelessly drawn in and 
entangled before disasterously having my productive output and any hope 
for happiness from it torpedoed, decimated and destroyed.

--Paul Wakfer

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