X-Message-Number: 4557
From: 
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 12:55:35 -0400
Subject: organizations

Steve Bridge's post #4556 on organizations is generally accurate and fair, as
usual, but I have a couple of remarks/corrections.

1. Steve says I have retired from day-to-day leadership of the Cryonics
Institute. This was more or less true, as far as he knew, although it was
always intended that I would continue to coordinate the research and
P.R./recruitment programs for (probably) the next few years. However, there
has been some very bad news.

As explained in the July issue of THE IMMORTALIST (going in the mail shortly)
CI President Dr. Andrea Foote has been forced to resign as President
(although not as a director) because of a serious health problem. At a CI
Board meeting on June 11, I was named President again, with Pat Heller as
Vice President in addition to being Treasurer. 

(If something happens to me, which appears unlikely now, the plan is for Pat
to become President and for Steve Luyckx--a young man with a good
professional financial background--to become Treasurer.)

Mae and I will be moving to Scottsdale,  Arizona in September, but will
maintain most of our activities for the Cryonics Institute and the
Immortalist Society, except for many of the "routine" chores.   These have
been or are being taken over by John Besancon, John Connole, Sally Bazan, and
others.  These changes, in general, should be beneficial rather than
otherwise, since we have been forced to subject our practices to systematic
scrutiny and, where appropriate, revision.     

2. Steve is right in noting that prospective members must take into account
not only present comparisons between organizations, but also likely future
changes, as best these can be estimated.

a) As one example, Alcor and BPI  (and Trans Time?) suspension procedures
 are more complex than CI's. We have kept ours relatively simple for a
variety of reasons, including affordability, legality, and availability; but
also because we knew of no clear evidence that (for example) the  many
medications (around 20) used in initial stages by Alcor and BPI really
contribute significantly to the bottom line, the patient's probability of
revival. This is beginning to change.

With the work being done by Dr. Pichugin and associates in the Ukraine,
funded by the Immortalist Society (donations tax deductible) and the Cryonics
Institute; and with the ongoing research at Alcor, BioPreservation, and
BioTime;  and with the improved cooperation among organizations, many of the
important questions of fact should be clarified within the next couple of
years if not sooner. No doubt some or all of the organizations will then
amend their protocols accordingly, and continue to modify them as new results
come in. At that point, choices will be made on a clearer cost/benefit basis.

Cryonics Institute expects then to offer either the method(s) proven best;
or, if these are too expensive, to offer different options at different
prices. We may also then have to consider offering the neuro option. 

b) In terms of organizational strength and depth of available talent,
certainly Alcor is the clear present leader. However, CI has gained its #2
position (by most criteria--#1 in full-body patients) in spite of many years
of near-invisibility, as contrasted with Alcor's high profile. In part, this
was because we were unwilling to bring journalists to our old, small facility
in Detroit. Now that we have a much bigger and better facility in Clinton
Township, this will gradually change; and in fact there are some beginning
signs of it.

c) Although in cryonics all the numbers are too small for much statistical
significance, and events such as changes at Alcor can grossly distort
perception of trends, still one straw in the wind concerns switches between
organizations. All of the organizations have gained members from other
organizations and lost members to other organizations; but at CI in recent
years such changes have been definitely in our favor. You don't necessarily
want to follow the crowd (in cryonics, any number greater than one is a
crowd) but you might want to meld this in with the other data.

d) CI has a huge current advantage in price--$28,000 minimum for full body
(plus local and shipping expenses for members at a distance) vs. $100,000 or
more full body and $50,000 neuro elsewhere. This clearly means we will get
(and are getting) a disproportionate share of older people--those who do most
of the dying and who usually cannot afford the higher prices and usually are
uncomfortable with neuro. Of course, if it is proven that we need much more
expensive methods to offer the best chance, that advantage may fade to some
extent; but we will probably still have the lowest overhead.

e) CI tries to be flexible, and while we offer integrated in-house services,
as does Alcor, we also will accept members for storage only, if they prefer
to obtain initial services elsewhere. This might help us grow faster, and in
fact has already.

f) As Steve notes, many comparisons involve difficult judgments. For example,
which is better--CI's policy of never having any debt, or Alcor's current
policy of (essentially) buying a building with a mortgage? Right now it looks
like Dave Pizer and Alcor made a very good deal, and their tenants will pay
off their mortgage while their equity grows and Scottsdale real estate values
grow. Any danger looks minimal. Nevertheless, some people will prefer CI's
rigid conservatism in this respect; we own our properties free and clear. 

Is it better to have assets or not? Some of the oversight organizations,
which subcontract physical services and sometimes other services, are
deliberately structured to have essentially no assets, so no one can sue them
and collect. Does this really offer more protection to the patients? Will
prospective members feel comfortable with this? A book could be written on
this topic alone.

g) For those who have not yet made a decision, don't lose sight of this:
Joining any organization now costs a maximum of around $1,250. If you decide
later you want to change, walking away from that sum is not a huge deal. But
if you dither and inconveniently die in the meantime--or become ineligible
for life insurance--then you won't walk anywhere.

Incidentally, in our current CI brief information brochure, we list the names
and addresses of all the organizations. As far as I know, no other cryonics
service organization does this.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society


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