Cryonics Institute playing catch up by using SA.

I got a response in one of my posts yesterday indicating that SA services were in ADDITION to what CI could do for C81... and was reminded by the poster that C81 has never done standby and stabilization. In effect, CI did not "hand over" C81 to SA-- rather they did everything they normally do and, in addition, got C81 the service from SA-- professional stabilization. This persepctive certainly modified my view somewhat-- however it got me thinking down yet another line-- and that's where I want to go this morning.

Let's consider the idea that SA services were in fact IN ADDTION to what CI would normally do-- as the poster told me. What does this say about CI? It tells me that Cryonics Institute is "not doing cryonics" in essence. Because what IS "the essence" of cryonics? It's a chain of events-- and each link of the proverbial chain has to be fulfilled. As it turns out, and as I explore the CI site again, there is NO ATTEMPT by ANYONE in CI to "go fetch" their OWN MEMBER-- EVEN WHEN THAT MEMBER IS only 200 mi out!

In fact, what startles me now-- since I seem to be easily startled for some reason--- brain defecit maybe-- is that I suddenly realized that Cryonics Insitute has NO VAN. Hell, they don't even have a station wagon. They won't EVEN rent a U-haul truck. They've never EVEN TRIED to rent a truck with a lift gate and drive 200 mi to get a local member. They haven't even DISCUSSED it. So I asked myself "what on God's earth has CI been doing all these years--?"-- and what have they been doing "vitrification research" via Pichugan for ---what is the point?-- if you can't be on hand and fetch your deanimating member?

I haven't kept track of the criticisms of CI over the years-- but it just seems to be that it's probably useful to open up criticism full bore-- and lay it on-- because this is the only way that people interested in cryonics can really see the truth. What has happened here is not that SA is offering "far more advanced serivces" over and above what Alcor can offer-- as was the original thesis forthcoming from SA-- but rather what has happened is that SA is seeing a need in CI's chain of action that needs fixing-- and they're filling that need. Because WITHOUT SA-- Cryonics Institute cannot be said to be doing cryonics-- at least by the definition of 2007 standards-- even by 1969 standards-- if you compare what TransTime was doing back then.

The key question came up in my mind over the past day-- what IS cryonics in view of expected standards? Everyone attempting to do cryonics seems to have their own view-- and there is no industry standard specified. However I think what this C81 case with SA participation has done-- most importantly-- is act as a clarion call to the cryonics community of the neccessity for a clearly stated set of standards. The first standard is that if you have not got a way to be reasonably positioned near a deanimating member or vice verse-- the member has not got a way to be reasonably positioned near an Initial Perfusion & Cooldown Unit (IPCU-- my coinage)-- to be serviced immediately upon pronouncment of legal death, then you're not doing standard cryonics per the year that you're in. You're doing SUB standard cryonics, at best-- and NOT cryonics at worst.

As it turns out, the persepctive that I have here-- that is far more accurate a view of reality-- is that we see CI playing catch-up by employing SA. They have no choice. CI has, essentially, a gaping hole in their program. It's so big, that can't call it a cryonics program. What has happened here, in my view, is that they've hoodwinked the public, the media and the cryonics community, and worst of all, their members, for years. Because the very definition of cryonics MUST include at LEAST an effort to care for a cryonics customer/member from the point of legal death to the dewar. CI dropped the ball years ago. Actually they never had the ball. We thought they did. They deeked us out... like on a basketball court when you think someone has the ball behind their back, and they don't. Where'd it go?

If you don't think this view is accurate, then ask yourSELF, at what point does cryonics become NOT cryonics but freezing corpses? The extreme view was talked about in the past year or two by someone who wanted to disintur buried bodies and freeze them because there might be something left to preserve. Certainly we can all agree that that would NOT be cryonics, right? So back up from that point until you come to Granpa Guida-- who is stored in a shed in dry ice-- who WAS a TransTime patient at one time!-- which we should constantly remind people of-- and then back up from there to the guy in AZ who stored his wife in a freezer-- who ended up doing Arctic burial for her-- the expert on Arctic burial being none other than Ben Best, president of CI-- who got a call from THAT guys laywer-- who Ben says he referred to his website-- and for which case Ben CLAIMS to NOT know where that guy's wife ended up-- and so what I'm SAYING is LINKED-- step by step by horrible step into-- what we CALL "cryonics". And there you have it.

So what is cryonics? It's not surprising to me that a guy who thought highly of Arctic burial as a preservation method at one time became CI's president, CI having a MISSING component in their program to the extent that if you were buying a car with no actual wheels on it, you'd have to question the salesman about that really being a car. The salesman might say "well, it depends on what you mean by car". OR that salesman would say "you have to get your own wheels... we don't actually sell you the wheels". That's where SA comes in. SA are the WHEELS for the CI "car".

All current CI members-- even the "fully signed up" ones-- or the "fully funded" ones-- which was my previous contentious point in CI's methods-- are NOT "true members" because the "wheels are missing"-- in effect-- they don't have a protocol that is consistent with what we call cryonics. Their protocol is actually closer to disinterment and corpse freezing, arguably. Arguably, so are some of Alcor's customers... but the difference is in the PREPAREDNESS to play the odds IN FAVOR of a better cryonics situation. To this end, any CI "member" NOT signed up through SA, is NOT involved in "cryonics" per se-- they're ALL "prospects". Lucky for THEM however, and lucky for SA-- in a sense for finding a desparate need and filling it-- we see that there are 16 CI "prospects" who have decided to actually sign up for current standard cryonics protocol-- via SA-- as much of a 1600 mi stretch that is-- it's still an attempt. CI has 16 cryoneers. The rest of the "members" are dupes, desparate and poor. That's going to be my new "count". Remember the count?

Among those who are signed up for STANDARD and not sub-standard or Non-cryonics or duped-cryonics-- MUST be Ettinger himself-- and quite likely Fred an Linda chamberlain-- maybe-- however if you recall the history there-- it turns out that Fred was essentially accused of embezzling funds from a Saul kent Alcor-directed fund for the creation of something called Biopreservation-- which was what?- to redirect them to Cells4Life- my memory fails me at this point. Let's repeat that story, just for the purpose of inflicting even more emotional pain into people's lives than there already is. Wouldn't be ironic if Fred and Linda who FOUNDED Alcor who were dumped from Alcor-- who lost all their money-- and who the wealthy backers of cryonics-- yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Clause!-- refused to cover-- and now would be CI members who are signed on for SA coverage--SA being kent/Falloon's creation.

So, the idea this morning is that Cryonics Insitute has been PRETENDING to "do cryonics"-- and the reason we can say that is because we have an EXPECTATION just like in accounting-- where they have GENERALLY ACCEPTED ACCOUTING PRACTISES-- GAAP-- We have expectations about what "genearlly acceptable cryonics practises" are-- and we need to state them and then compare each and every NOMINAL "cryonics" case with that standard. Of course the standard will change through time-- but that's okay. So does everything-- In Ben fRanklin's time, if he had REALLY preserved himself in a cask of madiera wine, we would have applauded that. Previous efforts at preservation with attempts to maintain structure for possible reanimation would similarly be thought of propertly as "retro-cryonics". Once LN2 was invented, then new standard would have had to have been consistent with that. Now that we KNOW-- and have known for years-- that immediate washout, preservation and cooling is essential-- then THAT is our standard. CI has made NO ATTEMPT to do this-- OTHER THAN their inclusion of SA in their program---

When SA first started interacting with CI, I didn't think much of it-- but it turns out that THIS is SA's Calling-- that SA has found a reason to be-- in their effort to bring CI up to current standards. CI should be flogging the SA service like crazy to their "Propects' because THAT is now the new center of CI... .the CI SA enhanced protocol. It's NOT an "option" as CI says it is-- it's a NECCESSITY. The problem is of course that SA is underwritten with millions of dollars and can't sustain that... .or can it? Who knows-- that's another question.

So this is this morning's Cryonics Context-- and as Howard Stern said about the ho's-- context is everything. It's just as true in cryonics as with ho's.

ADDENDUM

Just to be clear to new readers what standards in 2007 ARE-- let's look at Alcor's procudures page. [+] I haven't looked at this before-- and I'm a member-- it seems to me this page has been updated and even the protocol has been updated.... the thumper is new to me-- but then I've not been paying attention in class. Chewing gum reading Larouche. Oh well-- better late than never. This look at the Alcor procedures page is somethine everyone should do. Alcor needs a better "blogger" than whats-her-name and Alcor should also do more aggressive idea-publishing in AU-- if they're going to use that-guys' services. Conway, Wowk and SVS just don't cut it in terms of LEADING discussions-- you have to LEAD students-=- you can't just sit back and wait for students to present misconceptionsl.. so wowk is not a good discussion leader there. We have to think in terms of a cryonics classroom-- Hey I have an idea-- how about ME-- just keep readin gFRrozen files...

This MORNING-- today's lesson is a look at how CI/SA interact to make CI a "real" cryonics company-- which they were NOT before-- acc to standards SET by Alcor-- and so look at that standard now on that procedures page.

I want to see some animal's brain micrographed after the protocol described at the Alcor site--- why don't have that?