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Re: Even Smellier, and Where I Would Prefer Not to Go, but ...
July 5 2007 at 12:23 AM Steve Harris (Login StevenHarris)
Veteran Member


Response to Even Smellier, and Where I Would Prefer Not to Go, but ...
FD: Somehow I have the gut feeling that Kent is really the chief reason SA is the way it is. How well did you really get to know him the few times he was at SA while you worked there? I don't know him either, but I'd be surprised if his general attitude is much different from Charles Platt's, Steve Harris', or any of the other several "inner circle" faithfuls who do his bidding and have been doing so now for nearly two decades. Most of these have likely, indeed, gotten many of their own attitudes from listening to Kent. This is the dark side of what money can buy, and in saying that I fully recognize and appreciate the bright side of it and what the Kent/Faloon/LEF empire has funded in R&D and other cryonics-related areas.

COMMENT: At risk of being accused of bias here (so who here has none?), let me ask, then: why are you complaining? The SA facility, warts and all, has been nearly donated to the cryonics community. Anybody can use it, for a small fraction of the money it took to create it. Some of the same is true of certain products of CCR and other cryobiology companies. But does anybody say "Thank you?" No, all we get is whining about lift gates and location and salaries. Next, it will be that the money could have been used for starving children in Africa. The poor who you have with you always. Okay, so what are you doing spending your money on cryonics, anyway?

If you don't like SA and CI, there's a very simple solution: sign up with CI only. Or with Alcor and specify "No SA, even if I'm rotting near Florida." There you are. I don't want you to be unhappy. But don't come here and complain about a product you don't have to buy. That reminds me too much of the classic Woody Allen joke in Annie Hall: "The food is horrible! And such small portions!"

And to Melody Maxim: I wasn't kidding about volunteering or selling your services as a perfusionist to Alcor. You can be on-call from afar, in this day and age of jet travel.

And BTW, as to the question of how do I know that ACS has patients from California to Florida, when their rosters are secret? Answer: by knowing some of their members personally. Yes, indeed, the minimum I'd have to know, to make that statement, would be two. Notice, however, that the point would not be diminished. There's not a cryonics organization out there that doesn't need all the help it can get. Let us therefore cooperate where we can, to allow the U.S. cryonicist maximal choice for minimal cost, so that the only rotten thing in Florida is their election process.

And no whining! That applies whether or not you actually do cryonics (and are thus an "inner circle" person-- blyeh!), or whether you don't (and thus probably know too little about it). If you don't like your options in cryonics, go donate or volunteer. Armchair critics that it doesn't work like our trillion dollar medical system, are not needed. You may have noticed that even our trillion dollar medical system is a little busted.

SBH





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Why this side show? - George on Jul 5, 2007, 2:09 AM
You're Going to Bust Something... - Steve Harris on Jul 5, 2007, 3:30 AM
Something already seems to be busted... - George on Jul 5, 2007, 11:04 AM

Re: Even Smellier, and Where I Would Prefer Not to Go, but ... - Melody Maxim on Jul 5, 2007, 9:27 AM