FD:
I strongly suspect that if the truth ever comes out about the development of LV, it will have at least as much to do with the desire of the patent holders of certain aspects of its development to control its use and extract income from it...
This doesn't make sense, to me. I think we've already established that the immediate, primary goal for cryonics would be the benefits of cooling, not oxygenation, and I don't believe it is possible for any cryonics organization, (or anyone else, for that matter), to prevent others from performing cold lung lavage. There are ways to do it that are not proprietary.
FD:
...as it might have to do with employees milking the system for years on end designing new bells and whistles.
The fact that CCR and SA have spent all these years, and a ton of money, on the liquid ventilation project, without ever mentioning, (as far as I can see), the underlying questions regarding oxygenation and rapid cooling only strengthens my opinion that certain parties just find something to design and build, and then milk the situation for every penny they can. It probably helps to have a good journalist with computer graphics skills on your side, if you want to convince someone to "build things" without properly addressing known issues, beforehand. CCR's "liquid ventilation" work has been just more "smoke and mirrors," as far as I can see.
I have yet to be convinced that oxygenation would be beneficial to cryonics patients, and I believe it may actually be harmful. Mike Darwin, and others, agree this is a complex question. I think there's also a question of whether cooling at the rates CCR and SA are proposing is of any benefit, during the initial stages of cryopreservation. (This doesn't mean I think cooling via lung lavage is a bad idea; I think it's a great idea. I'm just questioning the rates that are being suggested.) In heart surgery, perfusionists adhere to a 10-degree, or less, gradient between the temperature of the perfusate, and the temperature of the patient's blood volume, because past studies indicated rapid cooling could be detrimental to the patient. (Harris claimed to have never read any of these studies. The papers are abundant, but I certainly believe Harris never read them. He did admit CCR's perfusionist adheres to this safety margin, in heart surgery.) Recent studies show the dangers of rapid cooling may have been over-estimated, but why not err on the side of caution, or at least address the issue? When I questioned rapid cooling, during one of my first days as an SA consultant, I was told rapid cooling was required, due to the toxicity of cryonics solutions at high temperatures. The person telling me this neglected to mention that the washout solution is non-toxic.
FD:
Alcor ain't talking, so far at least.
I'm not so sure Alcor's relative silence is such a bad thing. It may be better to keep your mouth shut than to constantly spew out empty promises and propaganda.
FD:
Kent ain't talking...
I think it would be difficult for Saul Kent to admit he's been wrong, at this point, but I don't see any logical justification for the lack of progress at SA and CCR. It appears, to me, Kent has allowed his organizations to waste many years, and many millions of dollars, while accomplishing very little. He seems to have his head turned by design and fabrication projects, without really questioning whether they are appropriate for the intended use, or if they are cost-effective.
What was it Charles wrote about the lighting in the van? I think it was something like "it's really cool." Yes, it was "really cool," but it was a tremendous waste of time and money, paying personnel to drill those "more than 200" (from the SA web site) little holes and putting in those teeny-tiny LED's when one person could have bought a couple of inexpensive fluorescent tubes and installed them on the ceiling, in minutes. After they got through with the "really cool" LED's, they had to install additional lighting because the LED lighting was inadequate.
Charles also wrote on this forum, in a response to Pancake, that SA only spent about a week on the ramps, (sometime after August 2006, because I was an SA employee at the time), and made it sound like the ramps were less expensive than lift gates, but that was very deceptive. Charles was actually working on the ramps, prior to January 2005, as evidenced in this post:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1162512312/bulletins There were probably some expensive design hours billed for, before that initial test, and the cost of those design hours and the man-hours for that test alone probably approached the price of one lift gate. Even if Charles, Gary, Ken and Piotr had only spent a week on the ramps, (and I think it was much more than that), SA would have saved a ton of money, (not to mention a little face!), by having two lift gates professionally installed on their vehicles. Anyone who can't see that the leveling system for the ramps was as dangerous as it was ridiculous is just plain blind. You don't balance a patient container on two wheels, for any reason, much less with the flimsy leveling device SA was using. When we used it at a training session, some of the elevated wheels weren't even over the ramp. If the person holding the leveler had tripped, the contents of the PIB, (including the patient), could have been spilled to the ground. The entire project was really intellectually insulting. How many very-expensive man-hours did Kent pay, for the design and fabrication of something that defied common sense and now appears to have been cast by the wayside, in favor of the lift gates Mathew Sullivan suggested before this project began? It appears the "liquid ventilation" project parallels this, and other LEF-funded projects. Someone just draws up the design, and starts building...puts it to the side for a while...drags it back out and works on it some more...and, in the end, cryonicists either get something ridiculous, or nothing at all.
Why does Saul Kent keep approving of these projects, many of which not only are unproductive, but make everyone associated with them look foolish? Why does he keep relying on the same people who have taken him no where, (except maybe to the cleaners), for many years now? At what point is he going to wake up?