X-Message-Number: 24671 From: Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 09:29:08 EDT Subject: Waynick disappoints Joe Waynick's reply to my recent post on comparing organizations was wholly disingenuous. He says that the statements published by Alcor never mention another organization directly, which is true, and that CI's web site does make direct comparisons with Alcor, which is true. (Incidentally, the CI web site has links to Alcor's, as well as to those of all other cryonics organizations, to make it easy for researchers to make their own comparisons. Alcor offers no links to anybody else.) But Alcor continuosly and emphatically asserts that it is the best--specically, most recently, in research--and that clearly implies comparison. Our comparisons are made precisely because, and only because, of Alcor's long and continuous history of claiming to be the undisputed leader (even during the period when many of Alcor's best and brightest left to form CryoCare, which also for some years claimed to be the elite). As for alleged mininformation on CI's web site, Mr. Waynick offers no specifics. All anyone has to do is point it out to us explicitly, and if the complaint is justified we will correct it. We have made many reviews and corrections in the past, and will continue to do so as indicated. Mr. Waynick also answers my suggestion about no comparison claims with the politician's dodge--that a good place to start would be to remove "misstatements" from the CI web site. He did not accept the suggestion of mutual abstinence from direct or indirect claims of superiority. He can't have it both ways--making "generalized" claims of overall superiority but refusing to uphold a rigid standard on specific claims. If we want to be honest, dignified, and credible, we must make only specific claims, not vague or general ones, and back these with facts. It is a fact that CI has the only professionally led research program, and that CI leads in number of patients, and that CI has in recent years grown more rapidly. It is also a fact that Alcor still has more members and more money. Beyond that, you had better be prepared either to engage in long debates which inevitably produce some ill will, or--preferably, in my opinion--just say nothing about others, either directly or by implication, and let prospective members draw their own conclusions. I have not cleared this or my previous note with our president, Ben Best, so my comments are not officiat CI doctrine. Ben hates to be abrasive, and I also would prefer good will, but enough is enough. On the whole, we have gotten along pretty well with some of Alcor's leaders, poorly with others. If some of Alcor's other people will intervene, maybe Mr. Waynick will come to agree that my suggestion has merit. I repeat: Let Alcor and CI refrain from direct or indirect comparisons of any kind, period. Robert Ettinger Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=24671