X-Message-Number: 6530
Date: 15 Jul 96 04:32:42 EDT
From: Paul Wakfer <>
Subject: Prometheus Project - Testimonials

The Prometheus Project:

      Convincingly demonstrated, scientifically proven and published,
      fully reversible brain cryopreservation within 10 years.

     Today, we have a testimonial from Bruce Waugh a $5,000.00 per year
pledger from Toronto, Canada:

"Death is an imposition on the human race, and no longer acceptable. Man has
all but lost his ability to accommodate himself to personal extinction; he
must now proceed physically to overcome it. In short, to kill death".

These words, which begin Alan Harrington's "The Immortalist" had a profound
impact on me when I read them in 1969.  They expressed the thoughts I had
been thinking at that time, and yet they were thoughts that no-one else was
expressing.  Did no-one else care?

Yeats, I found, understood the evil of aging:

"What shall I do with this absurdity-
O heart, O troubled heart-- this caricature,
Decrepit age that has been tied to me
As to a dog's tail".

"The Immortalist" talked optimistically about science's advances towards
stopping aging, and then death.  But that was 27 years ago.  A chapter that
has stayed with me was called The Cryonics Underground.  It described
cryonics as an insurance policy - one that looks more and more necessary as
the prospects of defeating death still seem very far away.

But the book was too optimistic again.  Professor Jean Rostad is quoted:

"So we don't have long to wait before we shall know how to freeze the human
organism without injuring it.  When that happens, we shall have to replace
cemeteries with dormitories, so that each of us may have the chance for
immortality that the present state of knowledge seems to promise."

The commercial possibilities were also discussed:

" The Cryonics Movement may at some point have vast commercial possibilities.
Science-fiction writer Frederik Pohl estimates the potential profits from
freezing and storage in trillions of dollars."

The book was exciting - but its promise has not been fulfilled.

The reasons for my pledge flow from all of this. If I do not act, who will? 
I am not an active person in cryonics - my job more than fills my working
days, and my wife, 2 children, relatives and friends occupy most of my
remaining time.
I very much admire those who devote so much of their time to cryonics. I am
therefore pleased that I am able to participate by way of my pledge towards
making the step change to our world that the Prometheus Project can
accomplish.
I hope others in a similar situation will feel the same way.

To them, I would repeat this quote cited in The Immortalist from Robert
Ettinger:

"This is not a hobby or conversation piece: it is the principal activity of
this phase of our lives; it is the struggle for survival.  Drive a used car
if the cost of a new one interferes.  Divorce your wife if she will not
cooperate. Save your money; get another job and save more money.  Sometimes a
fool will blunder through, but don't count on it.  The universe has no
malice, but neither has it mercy, and a miss is as good as a mile."

Best wishes,

Bruce


!!!!! REVERSIBLE BRAIN CRYOPRESERVATION *CAN* BE ACHIEVED IN 10 YEARS !!!!!


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