The Immortalist

I first met Ben Best in the autumn of 2000. I admit I was expecting to be impressed. I was a new kid on the block back then, barely at CI two years; and, from Robert Ettinger to Eric Drexler to Marvin Minsky and many more, cryonics was certainly not poor in terms of persons well-known for their intelligence and commitment. Ben Best was one of them, and was certainly a name to conjure with. Traveller, author, activist, Ben was one of the people who had founded the Cryonics Society of Canada, and was one of the founders of CryoCare, and was committing both time and funds to the Institute of Neural Cryobiology's efforts to improve human brain cryopreservation. Quite a few people in cryonics are brilliant, and talk brilliantly; fewer act. Ben acted. With significant effect.

So I expected to be impressed; and I was. Not so much by his knowledge and learning, then, as by his sense of responsibility. CryoCare was in trouble, because, through no fault of its own, other service providers it had counted on were collapsing. And far from deserting the sinking ship, Ben had come to the Cryonics Institute to do his very best to see that Cryocare's patients were assured of safe shelter with CI, should that become necessary.

This was before the CryoSummit; relations between cryonics organizations were not warm at the time. But to Ben, patients mattered more than factions. They did to CI as well, which is why he came and why he was welcomed to make his case. It was a sound and solid case; and it impressed us all as coming from a sound and solid human being.

And shortly after, in the wake of Cryo-Care's own subsequent passage into stasis, Ben Best joined the Cryonics Institute. This was not a move that was much celebrated in certain corners. CryoCare had largely been formed by Alcor members who had become disaffected with that organization. CryoCare having faltered, the general sense was that the Revolution had failed and the rebels should now return home. Many did. Ben did not. He turned to CI.

Why? I've never really asked, but I think he saw something during the CI meeting that he did not see in Alcor at that time - namely, a willingness to change, a determination to develop and improve. Far from discouraging potential members with high prices and complex paperwork and an elitist sensibility, CI was trying to open the door further by keeping costs low and things simple and to actively reach out and inform the public through its mushrooming web site. Far from repeating the same methods, CI was reviewing its protocols, improving its methods, and looking to develop a lab doing, in short, what CryoCare had been doing: looking at itself and cryonics operations critically, and adjusting and upgrading things to achieve continual renewal and improvement. In short: thoughtfully working to make itself ever better.

Whatever his reasons, he did join. And as many know, his rise in the organization has been meteoric. Nominated for Director the first year; advisor to the Board the next year; elected as full Director last year. And, now, President, succeeding the legendary figure of Robert Ettinger at the helm of CI.

Ben Best has already served as President of a major cryonics organization, Cryo-Care. He's been President of the Cryonics Society of Canada and a leader of its Toronto Local Group, one of the most active, rapidly-growing, and successful such cryonics support groups in the world. He directed the Institute of Neural Cryobiology as President, where he worked with Dr. Yuri Pichugin, CI's current Director of Research, on the Hippocampal Slice Cryopreservation Project (HSCP), where he helped produce some of the more significant advances in the field ever recorded.

Ben Best has served as career computer programmer specializing in database applications specifically for the financial industry and for major banking institutions. He's also served as Treasurer for the Toronto branch of Mensa.

As a member of Alcor, CryoCare, CI, the CSC, Ben has pretty much seen it all first-hand. How things operate across the board. What works, and what doesn't. As a traveller and 'roving cryonics ambassador', Ben's worldwide travels have included attendance at virtually every significant cryonics conference ever held. Is there a prominent cryonicist anywhere that Ben Best has not met or contacted in some way or other? I can't think of one.

Ben is universally known in the cryonics world - and universally respected. Ben's met cryonicists in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the United States, Canada. His arrival at CI headquarters in Michigan this year was directly preceded by his visit to John and Chrissie de Rivaz, Alan Sinclair, and other Cryonics Europe representatives in England. Cryonics is a phenomenon of transnational, universal scope; and with Ben Best, CI will have a leadership experienced in and at ease with that universal scope.

Ben is well known as both an author and a lecturer, and his extensive writings on cryonics at his web site at www.benbest.com are generally admitted to be one of the most informative infor-mation sources in existence on the subject. His work has been a major resource both for local group efforts such as Cry-onics Europe's operations manual, and has been featured often in The Immortalist and other publications. He is one of the small handful of people that are deeply knowledgeable about the technical aspects of cryonic suspension; and one of the even smaller handful that has gone to painstaking lengths to make that knowledge freely available to all.

Admittedly, there are things about cryonics that can transcend technical or resume considerations. And, though it may embarrass Ben a bit to have me say this, he's not lacking in those qualities either. I had the privilege of assisting Ben in a small way in the recent suspension of a CI member in Toronto.

The report is on Ben's web site, and it's not short of comments on things that need to be improved and what has to be done better next time. But it doesn't mention Ben straining to haul a heavy oxygen tank upstairs to the apartment of a dying CI member, or of his taking days from his work and his personal life to sit by an elderly woman's bedside, and keep vigil. Compassion doesn't appear on resumes very clearly. But I've seen it appear on Ben Best's face very clearly. And that recommends him too.

What is Ben Like as a person? Well -- he hates journalists, so he is clearly a man of taste and refinement. Also, I've visited him at his apartment, and I can't say enough about his magnificent gifts in interior decoration - the place appears to the casual eye to be three thousand books and a laptop. I speak as a veteran bookworm, true, but you can learn a lot about a man from his bookshelves. Ettinger and Drexler and Halperin are there, needless to say, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Baudelaire and Santayana and an anthology of French Poetry too. Tech books? By the score. Medical volumes? A ton. But philosophy, religion, sociology and art make their appearances as well. And where the readings are broad, the reader is not narrow.

Ben is not perfect, mind you. Sweatshirt and jeans are much more to his taste than pinstripe suit and tie. He is palpably morose at having to don the latter for formal appearances as CI President. Too, he is much into health food, vitamin supplements, and calorie restriction. And that's admirable, I guess. But though dinner with Ben can be an intellectual feast, looking down at a mixture of broccoli and wheat germ has never really entranced me. It may make you live longer, but it sure doesn't motivate you to do so. His humor, like his oat-meal, tends to be dry, and his honesty is legendary. Never ask Ben Best what he thinks of your tie or haircut. He'll tell you.

But this is only to say that Ben Best is a human being. A few of us have suspected that. Is he a good one? Trust-worthy, likeable? I can only speak for myself there. I trust him; and I like him. And I can think of very, very few people who don't.

So, is CI in good hands, and should the members be confidant, even happy, at this shift in leadership? Yes. It's in fine hands, and they have every reason to be confident. Not least because CI is not only in Ben's hands, but also in the hands of its several intelligent and competent Directors, now including Britain's Alan Sinclair, and the hands of Robert Ettinger too. Robert Ettinger is by no means leaving CI, but is staying on in the post of Vice President. His advice and input will doubtless be a welcome and shaping part of any decisions Ben is called upon to make in days to come.

Of course, Ben has a tough act to follow. Just as the Exodus began with Moses and the United States started with George Washington, so cryonics and the Cryonics Institute is in many ways a shadow stretching from the mind of one, very great, man - Robert Ettinger. Following a predecessor can be easy; following a predecessor of mythic dimensions is not so easy.

Can Ben Best do it? I'm sure he will. Because, after all, he must, if CI and its members and patients are to be properly safeguarded. And because great predecessors have great successors as well. Joshua executed his duties well enough at Jericho, and Jefferson and Lincoln had one or two good points too. New leaders can do well, and have done well. There's every reason to believe Ben Best will be one of them.

At the transition of power at the Annual Meeting, Robert Ettinger gave one of his most moving speeches. He reminded those listening, not of his own achievements, but of our responsibilities to our patients. He mentioned the names of people in CI's care that many there knew and loved and remembered -- Andrea Foote, Walter Runkel, Rhea and Elaine and Mae Ettinger, others. "They are more helpless now than new-born babies," he said, "and all they have protecting them and guarding them is our fidelity and our competence."

Fidelity and competence - it's hard to think to two words that better summarize the Presidency of Robert Ettinger at CI these many years. And, I confess, it's hard to think of two words that better characterize Ben Best's own long efforts to further the cryonics cause. So in a way, I suppose the torch is not so much being passed, as being upheld.

I feel extremely privileged to have been elected President of the Cryonics Institute. It is no understatement to say that many people have entrusted me with their lives, a huge responsibility.

Fortunately for all of us, many others share in this responsibility, including Andy Zawacki our Plant Manager, Yuri Pichugin our Research Director, David Ettinger our legal counsel, Pat Heller our Treasurer, John Bull our magazine editor. Jim Walsh our primary funeral director and Rudy Matic, who is in charge of marketing and public relations.

The Board of Directors has the collective wisdom of many years of experience in cryonics and l am especially pleased to welcome Alan Sinclair as our newest Director. Alan has been a pillar of strength and creativity for the Cryonics Institute in the United Kingdom.

Robert Ettinger will remain on the Board of Directors and will be our new Vice President. His role as an originator of cryonics as well as his life-long steadfast commitment merits deep respect and gratitude. As Vice-President he will provide continuity and guidance. It is easier to transfer a title than to transfer knowledge and responsibility. I have much to learn from Mr. Ettinger as well as from all those I have previously mentioned.

As a new President my concentration will be on learning rather than on trying to implement changes. I do hope, in the long run, to bring about many significant changes as the Cryonics Institute grows.

I will pursue the vision of fully reversible suspended animation along with the elimination of death due to ageing, disease, accident, murder and suicide. It is my hope that these goals can someday be achieved without the Cryonics Institute ever having to raise prices. I have been very inspired by the creation of a simple, low-cost portable ice-bath and closed circuit perfusion unit by Alan Sinclair. I share Alan's idea that good technology and low cost need not be mutually exclusive.

Aside from learning, however, I am initially concentrating energy on the creation of a member's database. I want to create an e-mail forum for members and voting-members of the Cryonics Institute. John de Rivaz has offered to moderate these forums. I believe that CI has a great-untapped pool of human resources in the knowledge, talents and ideas of our members. To ensure maximum participation, please e-mail your current e-mail address to CIHQ@aol.com.

You may mention your occupation, special expertise, or ideas you have for improving CI. The more we work together and the more of us we have helping, the grander the dreams we can all fulfil.