X-Message-Number: 29308
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 05:15:06 -0400
From: 
Subject: Re: Marce Johnson

   I wrote a response to Mike Darwin's posting
concerning Marce Johnson that appeared in the
Cryonics Institute Forum and been reprinted in
Cold Filter, but which has not appeared in CryoNet.
I also wrote a further comment which only appeared
on the Cryonics Institute Forum.  Now I think that
it is time that I posted to CryoNet my original
response to Mike Darwin's posting as well as my
qualifying remarks concerning those comments.

                                  -- Ben Best

**********************************************************************

  Ben Best wrote:

> I note that Mike mentions the failure of CryoCare, but had not directly
> mentioned in his text that Marce was one of the Alcor zealots who left
> Alcor in the early-mid 1990s to join CryoCare. The time frame of his
> description of the later years is a bit out-of-joint with my own. I find
> it hard to believe that Mike was ignorant of Marce's condition until
> 2001, although it is possible. When I became CryoCare President in the
> Summer of 1999 one of the issues I was dealing with was the fact that
> Marce was not paying her CryoCare Membership dues, and perhaps
> not even attending to maintaining payments on her life insurance
> (I admit my memory is unclear on this). I spent a great deal of time
> trying to negotiate with Marce and Walt about this. Marce had
> lost interest in cryonics and dues were not being paid for either
> Marce or Walt. I tried to put them on the spot by sending them
> a statement asking them to sign declaring that they no longer
> had any interest in being cryopreserved. Passively not paying dues
> was apparently easier for them than signing this document. They
> told me that they would think about signing it. They never
> responded to me and I was too embroiled in the collapse of
> CryoCare to press the matter.


   Concern has been expressed to me that my remarks could be
detrimental to efforts to raise funds for Marce Johnson's
cryopreservation. This was not my intention and I do not think
my remarks should properly lead to a conclusion detrimental to
raising money. The fact that Marce could not bring herself to
sign a document disclaiming the desire to be cryopreserved should
indicate that even in dementia cryonics had a grip on her. Her
condition may now render any kind of decision-making irrelevant.

   Those familiar with my website should be aware that I have
devoted considerable effort to understand causes, diagnosis,
prevention and possible treatment for Alzheimer's Disease:

http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/Alzheimer.html

and the relevance of Alzheimer's Disease to cryonics:

http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/Alzheimer.html#cryonics

  It is not necessarily the case that the brain of an Alzheimer's
Disease victim cannot be restored to original cognitive capacity
by future technology. I respect the fact that Marce spent a major
portion of her life working for cryonics and that the experience
of her mother made her fear not being cryopreserved if she faced
the same fate. Mike Darwin's comments about his 1997 meeting with
Marce reinforces this idea by her request that he "promise that
I would not abandon her should such a fate befall her."

  I hope that Marce is cryopreserved and I hope that those
supportive of her being cryopreserved will make a check or
money order to "The Venturists" and mail it to: The Venturists,
c/o The Creekside Lodge, 11255 State Route 69, Mayer Arizona 86333.

                  -- Ben Best

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