X-Message-Number: 598
Subject: American Cryonics News
From:  (Edgar W. Swank)
Date: Wed, 08 Jan 92 10:10:47 PST

     [Reprinted from The Immortalist - December, 1991]
 
                AMERICAN CRYONICS NEWS
 
ACS Member Placed in Suspension
 
An elderly woman who has been an ACS member for several years was
recently placed in suspension at the Trans Time suspension and
long-term storage facility in Oakland.  The member had been in poor
health for many years, having suffered a number of strokes, and had
been confined to a nursing home in the San Francisco bay area.
 
We recently received notification from a relative that her health had
further declined due to yet another stroke.  Emergency standby was not
undertaken, and there was only limited cooperation from the nursing
home.  Resuscitation and cool-down was started just over an hour
after her death.
 
Only minimal perfusion was possible in this case.  A suspension team
physician, after reviewing the medical facts we have available
concerning our member, concluded that the patient's apparent
dehydration and predisposition to clotting due to illness were
factors which contributed to the difficulty in perfusion.  The patient
was not on I.V., and heparin was not injected directly into the heart
until several hours after death.  Early infusion of heparin was not
possible due to the patient's state of dehydration.
 
The suspension team physician recommends that I.V.  always be placed
and maintained and hydration maintained.  If family physicians do not
wish to cooperate with this request on the basis that this procedure
will assist in suspension, an argument can be made that an I.V.  is
needed to administer pain relieving drugs.
 
The perfusion technique employed by Trans Time is much like that used
in open-heart surgery.  The surgical team places cannulas directly
into and out-of the heart.  The main surgeon in this case was a
physiologist with many years experience in experiments requiring such
surgical skills.
 
Assisting with this surgery was a San Francisco Bay Area physician who
serves on the suspension team.  This suspension provided some valuable
hands-on experience for the physician in surgical technique used in
suspension.  Such training is important since there are so few people
trained to perform this surgery.
 
 
GUERRILLA CRYONICS (OR JACK IN THE CAPSULE)
 
Saul Kent once described cryonicists as the guerrillas of the life
extension movement.  This description is probably an accurate one, to
the extent that by guerrilla we mean vanguard --- the cutting edge or
front line --- of the anti-death resistance movement.
 
Guerrilla movements are characteristically small, highly independent,
undisciplined, personality cults.  Cryonics is certainly small ---
fewer than 1000 full fledged suspension members in the world!  ---
Cryonics organizations and cryonicists are certainly independent and
most of us would probably admit --- even boast --- to being at least a
little, undisciplined.  And, there are a number of very strong
personalities in the cryonics movement.
 
The fact is however that cryonics is a highly disciplined force and
none of the cryonics organizations in the U.S., Canada or Australia
can be said to be under the control of any one person.  Recently
however, there have been a number of references in various cryonics
publications to "Do it yourself" or "Go it Alone" cryonics.  "Do it
yourself"or "Go it Alone" cryonics is not a new idea.  It has been
attempted many times in the brief quarter century history of cryonics,
generally out of necessity i.e.  there was no cryonics facility
readily available nearby.  One either "did it themselves" or it didn't
get done.  After all, storing an even poorly frozen loved one in one's
basement or garage is clearly preferable to storing them unfrozen in
the ground.
 
Nevertheless, most attempted "Do it Yourself" cryonics suspensions
were eventually terminated i.e.  failed.  With at least three full
service cryonics facilities in existence in the U.S.  each fully
capable of suspending and storing anyone in the continental U.S.  and
even many foreign countries, the necessity for independent, "do it
Yourself" cryonics is not obvious.  Indeed "Do It Yourself" cryonics
could constitute a real threat to the cryonics movement.
 
Mismanagement, (even unintentional), lack of adequate resources
including technical know-how, inadequate response to a natural
disaster or accident, etc., all could easily precipitate another
Chatsworthgate which could easily be seized upon by a sensationalist
press hungry for a negative story or a government bureaucracy hungry
for something to do.  That is of course the worst case scenario.
 
Even the best case scenario however, is not entirely optimistic.  A
proliferation of cottage cryonics facilities could deprive the
emerging cryonics industry of the capital it needs to achieve critical
mass.  On the other hand , it may well be possible for small,
independent cryonics facilities to contribute to the future growth and
development of the cryonics movement.  Independent cryonicists could
contract with an established full service cryonics organization to
operate as satellite storage facilities, to provide Information and
Referral services, and even to maintain an operating room for use by
suspension personnel from the headquarters facility to perform
suspensions for persons living, or deanimating, in that locality.
 
Such contracts would set out in specific detail, minimum conditions
and guidelines for operations at the satellite facility including
marketing rights and responsibilities, liabilities, continuing
training of all personnel, regular inspections by representatives of
the parent facility to assure compliance, and a Mutual Aid Agreement
should either of the facilities be threatened by a natural or
bureaucratic disaster and require the assistance, specifcally
storage space, of the other facility.  All costs would of course be
borne by the satellite facility.
 
In return, the satellite facility would be permitted to advertise that
its facility and operations are approved by the parent full service
facility and, most importantly of all of course, everyone would know
that patients stored in th e approved satellite facility are receiving
the highest level of care.
 
In other words, cryonics could franchise.
 
A franchise is a contract or agreement, express or implied, oral or
written, between two or more persons by which
 
    a franchisee is granted the right to engage in the business of
    offering, selling, or distributing goods, or services under a
    marketing plan or system prescribed in substantial part by a
    franchisor.
 
    the operation of the franchise's business pursuant to that plan or
    system is substantially associated with the franchisor's
    trademark, service mark, trade name, logotype, advertising, or
    another commercial symbol designation the franchisor or its
    affiliates; and
 
    the franchise is required to pay, directly or indirectly a
    franchise fee.
 
Franchising is a method of expanding an existing business operation by
licensing others, for a fee, to engage in the business utilizing the
existing trademark, business and accounting system and marketing plan
the franchisor, whether it be an individual or a corporation, has
developed a special product, service, or system and then grants a
right or license to independent business people throughout the
country, and in other countries, who pay a fee up front, the franchise
fee, and all other capital costs, to market this service or product
under the registered trademark and in accordance with an established
format.  This increases the franchisor's national and international
exposure and gives the franchisee greater chance of success and a
lesser chance of failure in a given field with a smaller amount of
capital investment.
 
Franchising is not limited to fast food or retail products.  Indeed
most franchises today in the U.S.  and abroad offer a service, not a
product.  For example, United Dignity Inc., of Nashville Tennessee is
a national franchise network "offering the public simple inexpensive
and dignified funeral services.  Family has option to choose embalming
or refrigeration followed by burial or cremation.  Each facility is
approximately 1700 square feet and designed to be efficiently operated
with minimal manpower and limited product inventory.  Conversion of
existing funeral establishments is possible.  Only vehicle required is
customized station wagon."
 
Franchising is perhaps the single most important innovation in
business since the concept of the corporation as an entity separate
from individuals was invented by the Romans more than 2000 years ago.
It first appeared in the U.S.  around the turn of the century and it
would appear to be an ideal vehicle for the continued growth and
development of cryonics.
 
Franchising is for an existing businesses that meet a clearly
identifiable need (that's us), with a product or service that is
relatively new and not extensively offered by anyone else (that's
certainly us), that is in need of expansion capital, and, that is
susceptible to a national and/or international system of marketing but
whose present potential is limited geographically.
 
A franchise offers a franchisee:
 
 --- A recognized trade name and with it the goodwill earned by and
     possessed by the franchiser.
 
 --- A standard of quality and uniformity of product or service set
     forth in an operations manual detailing an existing, proven
     system of doing business including marketing and accounting.
 
 --- Continuous training of the franchisee and his/her/their staff
     throughout the term of the franchise and a proven guidance system
     to lessen business risks to franchisee and minimize the need to
     continuously re-invent the wheel.
 
 --- Expert advice on location, design, capitalization, operation, and
     marketing.
 
 --- an on-going coordinated advertising campaign, which can be paid
     for by either the franchiser or the franchisee or both, and which
     is based on continuous market research and market analysis.
 
 --- Cost savings, by utilizing, whenever possible, a centralized
     purchasing system.
 
Franchising is very strictly regulated by federal and state law and
the laws of the many foreign countries in which U.S.  based
franchisors do business.  These laws are intended primarily to protect
the potential franchisee but complying with them can be of benefit
also to the prospective franchisor.  And, because of the popularity of
franchising there are numerous, guidebooks, manuals, organizations
and attorneys specializing in franchising that can advise on specifics
including feasibility.
 
Franchising offers the strongest possibility for rapid expansion of a
business with minimum capital expenditures.  It is working for
hamburgers and computerized dating and it might work as well for
cryonics.
 
NOT REALLY SURPRISING BUT INTERESTING
 
The Associated Press reported (November 18, 1991) that, in a survey
conducted by the Alliance for Aging Research, "Two-thirds of the
respondents said they want to see their 100th birthday, but 75 percent
said they worry about losing control of their lives."
 
"Two thirds of the participants said they believe scientists will find
ways to extend the average human life span to 90 years or beyond."
 
A spokesperson for the Alliance for Aging Research was quoted saying
the results of the poll show "lawmakers should work to advance
scientific research into healthier and more independent lives for
people as they age."
 
CONTINUING PROGRESS IN SUPERCOMPUTERS
 
Intel corporations has unveiled a new supercomputer that contains up
to 4000 microprocessors and can do 300 billion calculations per
second.
 
Meanwhile Cray Research unveiled a new supercomputer four times faster
than any the company has produced before, and Alliant computer Systems
Corporation has introduced a massively parallel supercomputer with up
to 800 Intel Corp.  microprocessors.
 
This new generation of teraflop supercomputers (a teraflop is a
trillion calculations per second) will assist researchers in global
weather prediction, unraveling atomic structure, understanding
turbulence, and in the designs of new materials and new
microelectronics.
 
AND CONTINUING PROGRESS IN DATA TRANSMISSION
 
AT&T is now offering a new form of data transmission --- frame relay
--- nearly 30 times faster than current methods, and, will soon make
available still another data transmission technology --- cell relay
--- which is 2700 times faster than current methods.  These new data
transmission technologies will substantially speed the transfer of
text, numbers, and images between users whose computers have outpaced
the capacity of telephone lines to transfer data quickly to remote
locations.

--
 (Edgar W. Swank)
SPECTROX SYSTEMS (408)252-1005
Silicon Valley, Ca

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