X-Message-Number: 8729 Date: Thu, 06 Nov 97 11:34:59 From: linda <> Subject: Promoting and Supporting Alcor Fred Chamberlain is at the Foresight Conference in California this week. He won't be able to read CryoNet until next week, and that will be a busy week of catching up, so priorities will have to be applied. I have a few comments, however. So far Steve, you are the only Alcor member (who has been on the telecon information exchanges) that has posted any comments on CryoNet. Kennita Watson and Thomas Donaldson have not participated in the telecons. Their comments reflected their own philosophical views, and their reactions to your comments. After almost 30 years of promoting cryonics, Alcor still has less than 500 members. That is telling us that we've been doing something wrong. We have to make some changes, find some more productive means of promoting Alcor, if we are going to survive. We can't survive the long term if Alcor is small and weak. We need more research. We need a stronger rescue network. To have these, we need to grow. If we don't, none of us will survive. We can't grow if we continue to cater only to one minority viewpoint. We don't need more people who want better services but don't want to have to pay for it. What we do need is more dedicated people who are willing to jump in, roll up their sleeves, and be part of building Alcor. We need people who will contribute their time, their brains, and their money in order to make life extension possible. The old ways of promoting cryonics and Alcor have proven to be insufficient. We cannot survive the long struggle to the future with 500 members, or 5000 members, or even 50,000 members. If a large enough number of our membership feels a given attempt to grow is a nonproductive approach, we will change it. So far, that has not proven to be the case. You say that we did not answer your questions. I believe we have. You just weren't listening, or you are just angry and want a fight. We see no productive outcome from verbal fisticuffing. In fact, it is the viscious manner in which many cryonicists attach each other on CryoNet that has kept many people from joining our small movement. We hear this indictment frequently, when trying to convince people to finalize their once started membership paperwork. Further, many of the participants on the very telecons that have made you so angry are telling us how grateful they are to see that kind of animosity dwindling. Boundless Life and a Strong Alcor, Linda Chamberlain () CryoTransport Manager Alcor Life Extension Foundation Non-profit cryonic suspension services since 1972. 7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale AZ 85260-6916 Phone (602) 922-9013 (800) 367-2228 FAX (602) 922-9027 for general requests http://www.alcor.org Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8729