X-Message-Number: 30449
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:32:40 -0700
From: hkhenson <>
Subject: Non public information.

At 03:00 AM 2/10/2008, Charles Platt wrote:

>Subject: the response to intransigence
>
>Keith Henson's implication that CryoCare was funded entirely by Saul
>Kent suggests that Keith does not realize or has forgotten that
>CryoCare was very much a group endeavor by a sizable number of people
>(at least a dozen) who were responding to intransigence at Alcor,
>where I seem to recall that Keith was a director at the time.

I know there were a bunch of people involved.  And I know that at 
least one or two of them had the same information that the Alcor 
board had--but discounted it.  I believe that information has been 
disclosed and is now part of the record, but in the interest of 
caution won't say more about it except that the charge of 
"intransigence" could not be defended at the time without putting 
Alcor's patients and the organization itself at risk.

I am informed that you are fully aware of what I am talking about and 
that a dozen people know that you know.

>On the day of the infamous board meeting at which the Alcor directors
>re-elected themselves and ignored the complaints from a sizable number
>of members,

Who were mostly ignorant about the situation.

>those of us who felt seriously annoyed reconvened in the
>conference room at the building that was then occupied by 21st Century
>Medicine. Mike Darwin solicited contributions of $1000 per person from
>all those sitting around the table, and about ten checks were written.
>Paul Wakfer was working on a collaborative basis with Darwin at that
>time, and had contributed a lot of money to help establish 21st. Saul
>was still fighting the case brought by the FDA, and was not in a
>position to make large financial commitments.

Won't argue, you know far more than I do about such details.

>It is important to remember that the development of a new cryonics
>organization, which eventually inherited at least 60 members from
>Alcor, was specifically prompted by anger in response to an Alcor
>"establishment" that appeared to be complacent, arrogant, and
>unresponsive.

I have no doubt it looked that way from the outside.  The inside view 
as I personally remember it was between extremely concerned and terrified.

>Those who left Alcor included a significant number with
>relevant qualifications, experience, and willingness to donate their
>time--precisely the people that the organization could least afford to
>lose.

Yet Alcor reestablish the capacity to do suspensions and moved out of 
the earthquake zone.  Those who left were not able to maintain a 
viable operation in spite of or perhaps because they implemented what 
they were insisting Alcor do.  Reality is the ultimate arbitrator.

>In the words of Santayana: ". . . when experience is not retained, as
>among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the
>past are condemned to repeat it."

That's exactly my point--which is why I was recommending rereading 
the old CryoNet postings.  You could contribute a lot to "remembering 
the past" because you certainly know parts of the story I don't.

Keith  

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