[ExI] Alcor management

[Max More]

Rafal: As I commented on cryonet -- I've been both on boards that were
elected and those that were not (i.e. self-elected). I think there's room
for both, but my experience has been that elected boards are usually less
effective and more fractious. We're seeing this with Humanity+ (and have
before).

I'm not so sure that it would be a bad thing to have one or two directors
elected. From what someone posted, that does seem to be legally possible,
although whether Alcor could make the change I don't know.

I agree that it's generally better to choose between organizations rather
than elect those who run them. Some might object, in this case, that there
are only two real alternatives in cryonics in the USA.

--Max


On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 9:19 AM, Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com
> wrote:

> I found this on cryonet:
>
> > 4.  I believe having a Board of Directors who does not answer to anyone
> > else is not good for bringing out the best in Alcor's directors.  You can
> > not expect the best work from those who are not held accountable.
>  Changing
> > back to having the membership elect the Directors would help Alcor more
> > than any other thing you could bring about
>
> ### Bad, bad idea. Alcor is (or should be) a business, not a democracy
> or a cooperative.
>
> Clients efficiently influence businesses by choosing between using
> their services and paying for them, or going somewhere else - this is
> the exit option. Most people exercise the pay or leave option in a way
> that maximizes their utility, weighing both cost of service and its
> quality versus competing offerings. They do that without knowing the
> internal details of how the business works yet their choices still
> force businesses to stay cheaper and better than their least efficient
> competitor (this insight is the basis of marginal analysis). Business
> managers either find out how to run their business efficiently enough,
> or somebody else eventually will compete their clients' money away
> from them, and this is a powerful incentive to search for the best
> solutions.
>
> A business that lets its paying customers directly control it with
> voice (which is costless to use) is likely to act very inefficiently.
> Clients usually do not know how to best run a business (it is not
> *their* business, only a business they have business with), and
> letting them dictate the details of how it is run will likely ruin it.
>
> Rafal
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-- 
Max More, PhD
Strategic Philosopher
Co-editor, *The Transhumanist Reader*
President & CEO, Alcor Life Extension Foundation
7895 E. Acoma Dr # 110
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480/905-1906 ext 113
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