X-Message-Number: 7442 Date: 07 Jan 97 10:55:15 EST From: "Kent, Saul" <> Subject: SCI.CRYONICS - Research Vs. PR In Mike Darwin's discussion of the quality of care that cryonics patients have been receiving, he comments as follows: "I believe altogether too much attention has been paid to the public relations aspects of cryonics, and far too little to the harder and far more important problem of achieving reversible brain cryopreservation." I agree with Mike that not enough attention (and money) has been spent on brain cryopreservation research, but I do not believe that spending money for such research is in any way detrimental to public relations. On the contrary, I believe there is nothing better we can do for our public image than to report the results of our research advances in our publications, at scientific conferences, and in peer-reviewed journals. Once the scientific community, the media and the public perceive that cryonics methods are improving, that there is a scientific plan and substantial funding for the achievement of suspended animation, that scientists with solid credentials are conducting this research, and that perfected suspended animation is in sight, I believe they will take cryonics more seriously, and that our movement will soon grow in size, scope and influence. So, the problem, as I perceive it, is not that cryonics organizations have been spending too much time on public relations, but that they have taken the wrong approach. I think we should spend considerable time informing the public about the scientific, technologic, and medical advances we are making. We need to make these advances and the public needs to know we are making them. ---Saul Kent Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7442