X-Message-Number: 572
Date: 08 Dec 91 00:56:32 EST
From: Steve Bridge <>
Subject: Mike Darwin Correction

In reply to Max More (Msg #567):

     Mike  Darwin has indeed resigned from Alcor as a Director and  as  an 
employee.   He has no immediate plans to work on cryonics, but he has  not 
exactly  "resigned  from cryonics."  He is keeping  his  Alcor  Suspension 
membership  and remains committed to the principle of cryonics.   Mike  is 
planning on taking some time off and then exploring his options.

     Without getting into private matters, I think it is fair to say  that 
Mike,  after being the adrenalin force for Alcor for almost 10  years,  is 
suffering from not-unexpected burnout.

     Obviously, Alcor's technical capabilities and medical expertise  have 
dropped  somewhat.  That means that the rest of us who want to stay  alive 
have to pick up the pace.  Alcor will have to start hiring professionals-- 
at higher prices-- a lot sooner than we had planned.  No more counting  on 
the  cheap suffering of Jerry Leaf and Mike Darwin.  This kind  of  change 
will take money and leadership.

     It  also means more of us have to make efforts to personally  attract 
capable medical and technical personnel to Alcor -- or become those people 
ourselves.

     As  a long-time close friend of Mike (and as someone who wants  Alcor 
to  continue to be the best cryonics organization possible),  I  sincerely 
hope  that  someday  he may find the energy and reasons to  work  with  us 
again.  The ideas and experience he has developed cannot be easily (if  at 
all)  replaced.   But we cannot count on that.  Mike does not owe  us  his 
life.  

     In  the last ten years Mike Darwin has done more for us than we  have 
done for him.  He has worked many hours a week for poverty wages and under 
stress  that  few  of us could manage for even a few  days.   Without  his 
efforts in the 1980's, Alcor might not even exist any longer, except as  a 
small  discussion group of less than ten people.  Instead we have a  large 
capable organization of nearly 300 full members and many more prepared  to 
join.   We have a strong set of publications that would not exist  without 
his  efforts.   That  building in Riverside was  practically  pushed  into 
existence by Mike. Every aspect of Alcor has his mark in some way. I could 
go on and on.

     Let him have his rest.  But let us not force others to burn out, too.  
Alcor -- as usual -- needs more money and more people, so WE can have more 
time.  Wish him well and tell him you'll take a turn for a while.

Steve Bridge
Midwest Coordinator
Alcor Life Extension Foundation

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