X-Message-Number: 4035 Date: Sat, 18 Mar 1995 12:17:13 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: Naivety Perry Metzger accuses Trygve Bauge of being "hopelessly naive." But in my experience, almost all cryonicists are naive--thinking they will be able to cheat death and will be allowed to do so. I have met only a handful of cryonicists who are, in any real sense, "worldly." (I do not include myself among them, incidentally.) Moreover, in many cases the naivety is allied with great stubbornness (natural enough--you have to be stubborn to reject the preconceptions which everyone else takes for granted). Naivety and stubbornness can achieve quite a lot, if you're foolish enough to reject orthodox wisdom and pigheaded enough to refuse to give up. Historically this has been a useful combination in (e.g.) inventors. Unfortunately, though, the combination occurs even more often in people who are simply out of sync with reality. Thirty years ago, cryonicists started out in much the same style as Trygve Bauge, doing it themselves with minimal technology on their home property. They were naive to think their haphazard approach would work, and pigheaded in their obstinacy. Since that time, some painful lessons have been learned by those willing to learn them. Alcor, for instance, has fought a number of court battles which provided some hard but useful lessons for all of us re dealing with bureaucrats. The problem with Mr. Bauge (whom I spoke with at length on the phone some time ago, when he was seeking money to complete his cryotorium) is that he seems unwilling to learn any of these lessons. That attitude has already cost him dearly. More to the point, however, by precipitating a ludicrous situation (neighbors complaining about dead people stored on his property) he threatens everything that has been achieved by cryonics over three decades. Unfortunately, he seems either too naive, or too pigheaded, to recognize this. He also seems to have great difficulty even listening to other people's points of view--which may be the source of his problems with his neighbors in the first place. I am glad that so far, this story has not been widely reported. But it could easily turn into a scandal, and the more he complains publicly about his "mistreatment," meanwhile also claiming to be a totally rational individual pursuing cryonics in a sensible fashion, the more likely it becomes that the story will cause a lot of grief for the rest of us. ############################################################## Charles Platt / 1133 Broadway, room 1214 / New York / NY 10010 Phone 212 929 3983 email fax 212 807 6111 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4035