X-Message-Number: 6910
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: Cryonet #6884, Paul Wakfer
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 14:38:21 -0700 (PDT)

Hi everyone!

I note Paul Wakfer's message in this Cryonet, which states that BOB ETTINGER
has told us that Alcor and CI will compete with Prometheus.

The last time I heard, Alcor was not a subsidiary of the Cryonics Institute
and Bob Ettinger had no power to speak for Alcor. Certainly we should all
pay attention to Bob's opinions, since he is a sensible person
who has been with cryonics for a very long time. I don't think he or anyone
else can speak for other cryonicists, they must speak for themselves.

I remain very interested in getting the details of the Vissers' results, and
I would hope that the choice can be worked out quickly. If not, it may turn
out that Prometheus must spend some preliminary time (and money!) to 
evaluate TWO possible paths to reversible brain suspension --- hardly something
that would help bring it closer. 

Though I am hardly flush with money, and donated money this year to Alcor
already in specific support of research, I shall examine my books and try
to work out if I can give more to Alcor short-term, since they wish to 
evaluate Visser's method themselves. 

One final point, an important one: no matter what method we use, we are very
unlikely to obtain LITERALLY perfect brain preservation. What we are really
seeking is a way to bring down the damage to a much lower level than current
methods produce. Vitrification shows a lot of promise to do that; the Visser
ideas may do so also, though they raise more questions in my own mind than
does vitrification.

And why do I say that vitrification won't produce literally perfect brain
suspensions? Well, not because of any special thing I know about vitrification,
but because things never ever work that way in real life. Perfection only
happens in fiction, religion, and (prior to the election, but not afterwards)
politics.

			Long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson


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