X-Message-Number: 8420 Date: 25 Jul 97 02:30:04 EDT From: Paul Wakfer <> Subject: Prometheus Pilot Project News Prometheus Pilot Project News My friend, and Alcor's Accounting Manager, Joe Hovey kicked off the pilot project additional funding, when he sent me email Tuesday which stated: >I am prepared to donate my $1,000 I had pledged to Prometheus for >1997 NOW, subject to the following understandings. > >1. This is indeed the start of the Prometheus Project and my early >donation counts towards my committment to that project. > >2. If this is not in fact the beginning of the Prometheus Project but >something "extra", I am still prepared to committ $1,000 to it but >in that case I won't be able to fulfill my Prometheus pledge until >later in 1998. (Probably not until the 3rd or 4th quarter of 1998.). Joe was already a $1000 per year confidential pledger to the Prometheus Project. Now he has "come out of the closet" :-) and is eager to fund the *real thing*. The answer to Joe's question, as I assured him with an immediate phone reply, is: Yes, this is indeed the start of the full project, it is not something to be outside and preliminary to the Prometheus Project. It will be part of the first year's work. The only way in which this could be false would be if the full project does not get funded and nothing can be carried on after completion of the Pilot Project. I find this last to be quite inconceivable, especially once we are actually underway with research. In fact, I will *not* let it happen! Yes, it is possible that we might not soon reach the full million but I believe that much valuable work could be done by starting off with less, and working up to the level of $1,000,000 per year and more within a few years. In essence, that is what the pilot project is all about. Joe's next question was "I'm ready to send the check tonight, who do I make it out too?". So I had to refuse the immediate input, because I haven't got a corporation and bank account set up yet. This will be done within a week or two and I will post that information here as soon as it is available. An hour later, another message came from Peter Voss who wrote: >I'll invest $1000 based on what you've said. On Wednesday, Bob Krueger phoned and said that he would put half of his Prometheus pledge into the pilot project, so that's another $2000. The earlier today, I received email from Ben Best asking me how he should send his $1000 contribution. Then I phoned Roy Yowell who said he is putting in half of his original pledge immediately (again as soon as I am ready to take it) for another $5000. One question that Roy was curious about was: How does this project relate to the work that 21st Century Medicine is doing? That is an important question and the answer is very simple. The principals of the two research efforts are already in contact to ensure that there is no duplication of effort, that the research efforts are fully complementary, and that research findings are immediately shared. Roy was also concerned about the waste of scarce resources in the duplication of effort required by two separate efforts. However, reality being what it is, we all know by now that it is not always possible for everyone to work together in peace and harmony. In addition, a unified effort is not necessarily optimal from the point of view of encouraging different ideas and approaches. So, there are many good reasons why it is beneficial to have independent, though cooperative, research efforts proceeding and not have "all our eggs in one basket". The next contribution to be received was from Thomas Donaldson who emailed me: >Depending on just when this pilot project is going to start I should be >able to speed up my contribution ($1000) a bit. If you need the money >immediately it will be a bit harder, though I will see just what I can >do. I thanked Thomas and told him that it doesn't have to be right away, any time before the end of the year would be okay. The next time I checked my email there were two more offers. Forrest Bishop and Ken Greenwood will each contribute $2000 to the pilot project. So, as of 23:00 PST Thursday July 24, we have an additional $15,000 committed to add to the initial $100,000 pilot project funding. Who is going to be next?? The pilot project planning (don't you just love all these alliterations I've got going here :) continues to roll along as additional questions get answered and pieces fall into place. I sincerely wish that I could share it all with you more openly. -- Paul -- Paul Wakfer email: Voice/Fax:909-481-9620 Page:800-805-2870 HELP TO ACHIEVE - PERFECTED SUSPENDED ANIMATION WITHIN 20 YEARS! Check out the Prometheus Project web site at URL: http://www.prometheus-project.org/prometheus/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8420