X-Message-Number: 6638
From:  (Ken Stone)

Newsgroups: 
dc.general,balt.general,sci.life-extension,sci.cryonics,sci.med,bionet.molbio.ageing,sci.bio.technology,bit.listserv.xtropy-l
Subject: Prometheus
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 19:55:49 GMT
Message-ID: <>
References: <4t6e26$> <>

Oy, vey... what have I wrought?

Steve Farmer <> wrote:

>I'd like to point out that I had never heard of the Prometheus Project 
>before I received the following unsolicited note a few days ago. 
>

Unsolicited, and *private*.  Perhaps I should have specified this in
my letter to you, but I normally expect people to have the courtesy
not to go publicly broadcasting things like this without permission
from the author.  Thanks for at least removing the 'further
identifying information', Steve, but anybody who read one of my
earlier posts to the CryoNet list would probaby have already figured
out that it was I who sent it.

>> Steve,
>> 
>> You might be interested to know that the founder and president of
>> the Life Extension Foundation (i.e. the man getting much of the money)
>> is one 'Saul Kent'.  His partner is named Bill Falloon.  Mr. Kent is
>> pretty active in cryonics circles, and has been for at least 20 years
>> or so.
>> 
>> Recently, he and a Mr. Paul Wakfer have been pushing cryonics
>> enthusiasts to form a new corporation (to be named 'Prometheus')
>> that will actively engage in brain cryopreservation research.
>> There's a LOT of money involved- the funding goal for this
>> corporation is $1,000,000/year for a period of 10 years.
>> 
>> To a dedicated cryonicist, that kind of research funding is like
>> a dream come true.  But that dream has a cost-- the money for
>> funding is coming in the form of pledges to buy stock, and the
>> minimum purchase is $1000/year (for 10 years).   To me, this is
>> actually a very worthy goal, but that $10,000 price tag isn't
>> cheap....I'm naturally more than a little bit worried about being
>> ripped off...[identifying information deleted].
>> 
>> Mr. Kent's level of official involvement is currently nil (other
>> than that he and Mr. Falloon have each pledged $10,000/year) [Steve F.'s
>> note: now much more, according to the Prometheus Web page], 
>> but he's certainly being very active as an organizer to make this
>> thing happen.  I have no doubt whatsoever that Mr. Kent will end up
>> on the board of directors; he has always been *the* major financial
>> player in the cryonics world. Unfortunately, he's also always
>> given me a really creepy feeling [further identifying information
>> deleted].

My 'Creepy feelings' are not cold hard facts, Steve.  The reason I
sent my letter to you was because I was looking for some *facts* to
back up my suspicions-- not because I was trying to get those same
half-baked suspicions broadly aired.  If you can supply some dirt
on the misdeeds of LEF, then please do so.  (But please, find
something to criticize other than their mis-handling of Deprenyl or
the flakiness of the induhviduals (sic) who work there.  We've heard.)

The other day, in response to a question by Paul Wakfer on CryoNet, 
I listed some reasons on CryoNet as to why I was reluctant to make a 
commitment to Prometheus.  Among them, I listed my suspicions of 
Mr. Kent, the LEF, and my fear of being ripped off.  I'm still
suspicious about the value of the products that LEF endorses.  
I still have some paranoia concerning Mr. Kent.  But I can't question
his commitment to cryonics, and without any *facts*, my paranoia is 
MY PROBLEM.  

But one person that I'm no longer willing to be suspicious of is 
Paul Wakfer.  And yes, strangely enough, Keith Lynch's carefully
guarded reputation in combination with his endorsement of Wakfer
and Prometheus *has* had some influence, at least on me.

The upshot?  I'm no longer willing to just sit by and snipe while
other people get to have all the glory of actually *doing*
something to help save our butts.

I hereby offer my pledge of $100/month, or $1200/year to the
Prometheus project.  I would also like to encourage the many people
who have been unwilling to commit more than the minimum to
consider joining me in contributing those extra couple of hundred
dollars per year.  Perhaps we can't afford much, and they may just
be drops in the bucket.  But they are *our* drops, dammit-- together
we can and will make them felt.

Ken Stone




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