X-Message-Number: 5377 Date: 08 Dec 95 16:40:48 EST From: Mike Darwin <> Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Who's Who & Dave Cosenza David Cosenza writes: Snip snip... >The only people I can think of that Mr. Wowk could be referring to is Brenda >Peters and Mike Darwin who were vocal Alcor supporters for years. It should >be noted that during the political schism at Alcor, Mrs. Peters violated her >fiduciary duty to Alcor when she was a director and misappropriated Alcor's >mailing list and made unauthorized mailings (one of which I got a copy of). I have no particular deep loyalty to CryoCare or any cryonics organization. I do however have a modicum of respect for history. The above summary is a little truncated and more than a little distorted. The real history would be useful: When I assumed Presidency of Alcor in 1981 it had about 30 members and fewer than half had "real" funding and fewer than 25% of those had adequate paperwork. Three people: Hugh Hixon, Jerry Leaf and I worked tirelessly to improve and change that situation. Major help was provided by Steve Bridge (who co-edited CRYONICS magazine with me and served as sounding board, and who also co-wrote the basic Alcor sign-up paperwork and early literature) and by mainstays like Marce Johnson and Greg Fahy who provided support services from hosting functions and making things run smoothly (Marce), to providing critical technical information (Greg). Paul and in particular Maureen Genteman were also helpful with day to day and social tasks as was (later) Saul's wife, JoAnn Martin. Anna Hughes was also tireless and very valuable during the early days taking on both research andadministrative work. I exclude (only from mention!) here people who were not present continuously, but who also helped greatly. Among other absolutely critical people were Saul Kent and Bill Faloon who picked up the tab for the salary for me and Hugh Hixon for about three years. Saul also dropped about another $40 to $60 K into Alcor to support the cat brain/body cryopreservation survey research, paid for the canine deep hypothermia (4 C) blood washout and 4 hour perfusioj work (highly successful) and covered much of the patenting cost on the resulting technology. Saul and Bill also paid for countless special projects including four color brochures, mailings of tens of thousands of pieces of literature, and the purchase of critical capital equipment. This was a staggerring, truly unimagineable amount of money at the time in cryonics. I used to agonize over the cost of a can and of paint. BTW Saul and I were also instrumental in persudaing a personal friend to switch to Alcor and to leave Alcor several million dollars. Until the break with Carlos Mondragon (Alcor's then CEO) Saul worked closely with Carlos and was truly in partnership in planning much of Alcor's promotional activities, legal strategies (and paying for them, including sponsoring several costly conferences). Indeed, he and Carlos met weekly and sometimes more often, and spoke by phone almost daily, in short they worked as a team. As an aside, Bill Faloon is greatly underestimated in his decision making role and in the influence he has had. High profile isn't his style; as a consequence his input has been badly undervauled. During the Dora Kent legal crisis Saul paid many of the tens of thousand of dollars of legal bills and with Jerry Leaf was initially *exclusively* involved in strategy and mapping legal approach. The role of all current Alcor personnel and Directors was minimal in this regard until after the first and very critical months of the crisis had passed. My role was also minimal as my response was what I guess is called a nervous breakdown; not impressive, not effective, and not to be repeated. Hugh and I worked long hours to put out a magazine, build equipment and carry out day to day work -- as did Jerry Leaf. Brian Wowk became a key player fairly early in writing much of the manuscript for the (still used largely as it was) Alcor handbook CRFT. CRFT was the single most successful promotional tool ever used in cryonics. Further, Brian was responsible for separating the idea of cryonics from the idea of freezing dead people by rigorously defining dearth and pointing up the obvious that death is irreversible by definition, and that cryonicists don't consider frozen patients dead. This was a pivotal creative promotional insight. The development of the portable ice bath, the use of end tidal CO2 monitoring, the introduction of many new drugs to mitigate ischemic injury, and the introduction of sensitive monitoring techniques to evaluate premortem state (and risk of death) and postmortem response to transport and cryoprotective perfusion were done by me. About midway through this period Steve Harris, M.D. came on board as Medical Director. Anyone who has read CryoNet cannot but have an appreciarion for the magnitude of the intellect and talent of Dr. Harris. He has greatly improved the quality of not only cryopreservations, but improved premortem care and in several cases saved members from needing to be cryopreserved. Dr. Harris wrote one of the most effective chapters in CRFT: Chapter 2: Introducing Cryonics. He also was a major contributor to Cryonics magazine and his articles on a wide range of subjects were immensely popular with readers. Thomas Donaldson also was a mainstay providing some financial support and unending editorial support and authorship of many fine articles on the philosophy and technology of cryonics and medicine as it related to cryonics. Brenda was without a doubt the best PR person to ever come into cryonics. Watch her on the Larry King show as she and I dismantled a leading scientific critic of cryonics. Her performance was art in action. She campaigned tirelessly for Alcor and brought later movers and shakers like Charles Platt into active involvement. Charles Platt masterminded the Alcor Omni Immortality contest. He wrote many articles promoting cryonics and provided support to Alcor in areas as diverse as PR, finances and administration. Other members such as Courtney Smith, Bob Krueger, and others who I cannot publically name provided advice and support (often financial) over many years, in some cases over a decade. Al Lopp similarly put in years of effort in magazine production, help with cryopreservations, dog experiments and early on (first three years) bookeeping and business support. Later he contributed costly computer equipment, even more costly expertise, and a hell of a lot money as well. Carlos Mondragon made significant administrative and crisis management contributions and took Alcor through a very difficult period, contributing important and critical legal and logistic input. Not to mention dealing with the grinding day to day of cantanejerous personnel, incluiding moi, and dealing very effectively with the media which he had a special flare for. Bill Seidel contributed thousands of dollars of video hardware to Alcor, did professional quality filming of cryopreservations for media/promotional purposes, and produced the first and only Alcor documentary/videotape to promote cryonics to prospective members and the media. Bill also brought on board 4-6 "suspension" members (minimum) as a result of his salesmanship. An impressive feat even today. Ralph Merkle and Keith Henson & wife Arel Lucas also made significant contributions in formatting nanotechnoloy ideas and lending their reputations (considerable) to promoting cryonics. Ralph also lectured tirelessly on behalf of cryonics and Alcor, and continues to do so. Further, Ralph supllied significant financial help. Of course there were many others who helped. But the above people were absolutely critical and made major inputs of a creative nature which drove Alcor forward powerfully during its formative years and, so far, peak period of growth. I have nothing to say about current Alcor Staff or Management as that is not relevant to Cosenza's remarks; and besides people like Joe Hovey, Hugh Hixon, Steve Bridge, Mike Perry, and Derek Ryan (Derek now "retired" to go to Medical School) are fine people who are hard workers. They are also people I consider friends. But that is not the issue here. What is at issue is CryoCare and BioPreservation people and their track record: I (Mike Darwin) left Alcor first. Steve Harris Followed about a year later. People who left shortly thereafter: Brenda Peters Al Lopp Saul Kent & JoAnn Martin Charles Platt Maureen Genteman Marce Johnson Brian Wowk Bill Faloon Bob Krueger Greg Fahy Jerry arrested from an MI before the controversy/break occurred and is currently cryopreserved at Alcor in Phoenix. Anna Hughes dropped out in the mid '80s. People who stayed: Hugh Hixon Steve Bridge Carlos Mondragon Thomas Donaldson Ralph Merkle Keith & Arel Henson-Lucas The numbers don't really matter here. And a debate about the relative importance of each contribution by these people, stated or omitted is also not really relevant. What is relevant is that a significant number of people involved in critical aspects of building Alcor left to found CryoCare. These people were not inexperienced, or morons, or currs, and I think even most of current Alcor management would agree with this assessment. Certainly they are experienced at doing cryonics and are well-intentioned. The same can be said for those who stayed with Alcor. >Darwin was relieved because he put the whole organization and patient base >at risk of autopsy when he stepped outside the legal milieu. So, if that >falls under your heading of worthy then... Relieved, no not really. Stepped outside legal bounds: this is true. It will probably be true in the future and will certainly be true for Alcor in the future. I have made many mistakes, some quite serious. I try not to repeat mistakes, serious and otherwise. If the position is to be taken that serious mistakes that jeopardize patients are a disqualification for further practice of cryonics, I would be willing to make a public list for Alcor of the same magnitude of errors on their part some repeated by the same people and qualitatively the same (in my estimation anyway) since I left. If Steve Bridge wishes me to do this, or any Alcor Director for that matter, I will comply. I do not think this will be productive for Alcor, for CryoCare, for BPI or for me. But if we are to sling mud and inneundo then it should be done competently. If mutually assured destruction results, the big losers will be the patients and members of all cryonics organizations. Personally, I remain signed up pro forma. I have dealt with the issue of personal death and rank avoiding it for myself fairly low on the event horizon of things I worry about. That position can be wonderfully liberating for a person, and a dangerous situation for their enemies/competitors who like to play chicken and misguess who'll swerve or blink first. >My last post couldn't possibly have been more impersonal. It is not my >intention to flame Mr. Wowk or his cryonics company; if i have >inadvertently done so, then I humbly apologize. Look at Cosenza's PAST posts. This is a little like Hitler posting a piece saying simply "I think genetics play a part in behavior. I can't understand why anyone in the Jewish community would be offended by this remark." Yeah, while failing to mention Mein Kampf and then sending copies privately through the mail. That's Dave. Give it a rest Dave. Alcor seems to be doing well, CI is doing well, and CryoCare is doing well. Cryonics seems to be doing well. Maybe the real problem is that it is doing so without you. Get a life. Anyone else out there ready for another exchange of nice, hot steaming shit? Then Dave's your man. Mike Darwin PS: I would appreciate it if anyone who engages in "private correspondence" with Dave would copy the people he "accuses." Dave already has one libel lawsuit against him. Others should have a crack at him too. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5377