X-Message-Number: 2937
From: 
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 94 22:04:43 EDT
Subject: CRYONICS platt, wakfer

I thought I had answered Mr. Platt. Anyway, CI did not do microscopic studies
on the sheep heads--lacking equipment, expertise, and space. That is one of
the main reasons we asked the Europeans for help, to repeat and EXTEND our
work. I have several times said that, even if our observations were correct,
there still might be offsetting damage at finer levels. We shall see.

I strongly disagree with Paul Wakfer when he seems to imply that observations
that are not heavily documented and accurately quantified are useless. On the
contrary, engineers frequently begin their work this way--use trial and error
and  rough observations to begin to zero in on a problem. This procedure is
very often of excellent use to the individual doing the work. Naturally, it
is of less use to others who may not be familiar with the investigator, his
methods, or his reliability--but even then it is by no means necessarily
useless. When Semmelweiss said that  dirty hands transmit disease and clean
hands are less likely to do so, he didn't specify precisely how one measures
dirt or exactly which washing procedures one uses.

I remember quite a few  years ago I visited the then much younger Mike Darwin
at his home in Indiana. Among other things, he proudly showed me his proposed
system for record keeping in cryonics, as I recall with every entry noting
the time and date and not only signed but countersigned by a second person,
and with a multiple filing system--almost as fussy as certain bureaucratic
procedures....Well, there are indeed arguments to be made for such a system,
but there are tradeoffs. I certainly don't fault the zeal that contributes to
complicated paperwork, and it is sometimes justified--but not always.  Each
person and organization must make the decision(s) about the tradeoffs in
light of his priorities and resources from time to time. 

As far as the sheep heads are concerned specifically, by the time the
Europeans have finished their work I think the documentation will satisfy
almost everyone. 

Robert  Ettinger

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