X-Message-Number: 23668
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 12:21:33 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Frozen "dead" guy

>After all we are paying more than USD 750 a month to keep him on dry ice.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Trygve Bauge

This works out to more than $9,000 per year, $90,000 in ten years. The man 
should be transferred to liquid nitrogen storage, which by indications is 
far better, longterm, than the much warmer dry ice. Storage at a public 
facility could be arranged, one would think, given the amounts of funding 
that are currently going into storage in the private shed. This would also 
be safer because public facilities are better attended. (I don't think 
anyone is present 24 hours at the current site. It appears that someone 
drives up every now and then to replenish the dry ice. What if some 
malicious person gets it into his/her head to harm the patient meanwhile? 
Then there are other possible dangers, such as a combination of warm 
weather, transportation difficulties, illness of the attendant, occasional 
shortage of funds, and so on, that could compromise things sometimes. The 
chain of continuing care is no stronger than its weakest link. And there is 
the issue of what happens if something happens to Trygve.) If the patient 
is just seen as a "dead guy" as the public generally believes (and wants to 
believe), none of this matters, of course. You might as well enjoy 
yourself, if you don't have a problem over the "dignity" issue and always 
keep things sanitary. In cryonics, though, we see it differently, and the 
quality and continuity of preservation must be taken very seriously.

I am, of course, in favor of *good* publicity for cryonics, and I'll credit 
Trygve at least with keeping his relative frozen all this time (assuming 
the care quality has *always* been adequate). But in other ways I have 
misgivings about this whole thing.

Mike Perry

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