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
 


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