X-Message-Number: 8422
Date: 27 Jul 97 00:26:37 EDT
From: Paul Wakfer <>
Subject: Prometheus Pilot Project Update

Philosophy and Approach

	I think it was Forrest Bishop who first used the abbreviation PpP for
Prometheus Pilot Project. I believe that conveys the right information, so I
will use it too.

	The PpP is the initiation and the build up to the PP itself. And I still

consider the PP as the sum total of the work which I see as moving us inexorably
towards perfected suspended animation. This will almost certainly include work

done by 21st Century Medicine, could well include work done by Alcor and CI, and
may include work done outside the cryonics community as well. One of my goals
will be to attempt to coordinate the various independent efforts so that there

is as little duplication and waste as possible and so that information is shared
as much as possible within the limitations of the requirements to award credit
for advances to the individuals who accomplished them, and to award potential
profits to the shareholders whose money made them possible.

	The target of more than a million dollars per year (and more
realistically 1.5 million per year) needed to achieve the goal of perfected
brain cryopreservation in 10 years and then carry on to perfect whole body
cryopreservation in the next 10 years, is still there. However, for both
practical and motivational reasons it is better to begin small and build up
strength, knowledge, and direction as we proceed. Even if we *had* an immediate
million dollars to throw into the research, it is most likely that some of that
money could not be well-spent during the first year.

	Therefore, we should not look upon the PpP as a compromise or a "making
do with less because we couldn't succeed at getting what we really needed". No,
the PpP is essential for the necessary investigative work which will prepare us
to be able to more effectively apply greater funding. At the same time it will
build both scientific and motivational credibility, which will allow us to
solicit and obtain the funds necessary for a greater spending rate.

	We will begin the PpP as soon as we can with the funds that we have
available. As more funding becomes available we will enlarge it. This will

likely happen during the next year. Six months into the project we will probably
be doing more experiments and researching more cryoprotectants per unit of time
than at the beginning. When we run out of space at the research institute
facility for the number of people and amount of work fundable there, we will
expand to the additional private lab which I have already mentioned. It is even
possible, the expanded work could be funded at some existing place or places if
they can make it attractive to do so. In this manner we will build up from the

PpP effort to the PP effort required. In this same manner the million dollar per
year goal will no longer be a stumbling block nor a "holy grail" without which
we can do nothing. Now it will simply be a milestone and a mark of our success.


Current Funding Status

	The PP pledge total is now $386,600 for the initial ten years. I have
*not* yet counted the $100,000 lump sum initial offer for the PpP because it

does not have the same conditions attached to it as do the pledges. But when the

PpP comes to fruition, that money will be included in the total as equivalent to
$12,000 per year (recall that an $8000 up-front, lump-sum pledge is equivalent
to $1000 per year).

	The PpP funding total is now $117,000. All of the additional money is
collectable as soon as needed, and has come from PP pledgers.

	Here is a list of those who are funding the PpP:

Research Institute     $100,000
Joe Hovey                 1,000
Peter Voss                1,000
Bob Krueger               2,000
Ben Best                  1,000
Roy Yowell                5,000
Thomas Donaldson          1,000
Ken Greenwood             2,000
Forrest Bishop            2,000
Brook Norton              1,000
Mike Perry                1,000
                       --------
Total PpP Funding      $117,000

	All those named above were already on the PP "Honor Roll"
of pledgers. Now they have distinguished themselves even more by
showing their profound desire to immediately begin the task to
PROVE THAT DEATH CAN BE DEFEATED.

Who will be our next hero or heroine?

-- 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/

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