X-Message-Number: 2572
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: CRYONICS:reply.to.mike
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 09:13:45 -0800 (PST)

Hi Mike!

The first thing I will say is that your rabbit experiment looks like a 
well planned one, and it should definitely be done. It is a pity or 
perhaps even worse that work of this kind has not had the public 
notice it deserves, even within the cryonics community.

It's also quite true that some cryonicists may be upset by these 
results. But anyone who thinks the problem is trivial has simply not 
thought it through. There is a great deal we can do NOW to improve 
our suspension. Work that tells us in detail just what CURRENT 
methods do to us will define much better what we must do to fix 
the problems found.

The second point I wish to make concerns the issue of public 
opposition to cryonics, and/or opposition by public officials. You 
clearly believe that the current level of harassment by officials will 
increase. I do not... which is not to say that we will experience no 
more difficulties in the future. But I do consider the Dora Kent 
experience as a test case: it certainly gave Alcor a LOT of trouble ... 
but Alcor actually WON in the end.

The matter goes even farther: the previous message, by van Sickle, the 
"reluctant cryonicist", when we consider it calmly, actually PROVES 
my point. There he is, with his former certainties shattered, and 
wondering just what will happen to him, when before he had begun to 
listen to us, all was calm and determined. But note very well the 
DIRECTION in which he finally jumped: he became a cryonicist, rather 
than join any kind of opposition group.

Furthermore, if we listen to the kind of response the media makes to 
cryonics, it is simply not true that we are presented as "kooks", nor is 
it true that the public is "indifferent". It is an old and frustrating 
paradox that we can and have constantly gotten tons of media attention 
... out of which crawl a few milligrams of people who actually join. Nor 
does anyone put us in the same box as the faith healers, the 
homeopaths, the people with some new cancer cure provided by Ayurvedic 
medicine, etc. Even though it is very frustrating if we look at 
RECRUITMENT, this kind of response tells me something. It is a sign of 
FASCINATED PARALYSIS. When these people finally decide to move,
they simply will not move against us. They will join, either slowly or 
all at once. 

Finally,, it is not even enough to suppose great opposition from the
AMERICAN medical establishment. A lot of cryonicists, with planning, 
could make use of facilities outside the US. No, that would not be easy, 
but that is exactly what isolated American groups, or groups and 
members in countries which lack facilities, hope to do: go elsewhere to 
be frozen. I've written about the mechanics of this several times in the 
past, particularly when I myself lived overseas. And even some LARGE 
countries MIGHT welcome us, if the US does not. As you know, despite 
their other problems, Russians still retain a much more positive attitude 
to science and technology than that now common in the US.

I would suggest that the REAL policy question we must face is that of 
whether or not by messing up repeatedly we could actually manage to 
turn all these people against us. As we've seen, even Chatsworth has not 
ended this public fascination; but ENOUGH incidents like Chatsworth and 
we very well might lose out. However, even that looks like it would take 
work BY US to totally discredit cryonics. 

And finally, if what you really want to say is that we should make as
many preparations as we can, in advance, for another Dora Kent problem,
I cannot agree with you more. My arguments are NOT arguments to simply
ignore a possible problem. There are arguments not to get carried away
by it.
		Best, and long long life,
			Thomas

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