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354: Mistakes Were Made
Brief
The episode centers on two linked explorations of failed responsibility: a long-form investigation of early cryonics led by Sam Shaw and a literary riff on insincere apology. Act One follows Bob Nelson, a charismatic but nontechnical organizer who helped found the Cryonics Society of California and oversaw an amateurish, underfunded attempt to suspend and store bodies for future reanimation. Shaw chronicles the movement from Robert Ettinger’s idea through the first documented suspension (Dr. James Bedford, January 12, 1967) to Nelson’s improvisations: packing corpses in dry ice, hiring welders to open and reseal thermos-like capsules, and building a vault in a Chatsworth cemetery when funds ran out. Nelson repeatedly chose ad hoc solutions—consolidating people into a single tank, skimping on reliable vacuum pumps and nitrogen safeguards—because he believed publicity and rescued donors would advance cryonics. When one capsule failed and liquid nitrogen boiled off, at least one child (Genevieve) could not be revived; Nelson says he told relatives in person, but relatives (Guy, Terry Harris) and reporting dispute his account. The fallout became legal and public: Harris and others sued and were awarded roughly $800,000, and the episode portrays a collision between Nelson’s evangelical faith in future science and the tangible human costs of secrecy and engineering failure.
Act Two reframes the theme through William Carlos Williams’s short poem “This Is Just to Say” and many playful parodies contributed by the show’s writers and guests. Producer Sean Cole reads the poem as an archetype of a non-apology—“forgive me” that actually celebrates the offense—while contributors (Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, Shalom Auslander, Jonathan Goldstein, among others) offer riffs that expose self-justifying impulses in private life. Ira Glass and guest Derek Jones bookend the show with reflections—citing contemporary political non-apologies and the biblical Nathan–David story—asking when admission of wrongdoing becomes genuine repentance. The two acts together ask whether good intentions and belief in a cause excuse deception or poor stewardship, and they leave listeners weighing technical negligence, legal responsibility, and the moral meaning of saying “sorry.”
Why it matters
Act One (reported by Sam Shaw) traces the early cryonics movement through Bob Nelson, a 30-year-old TV repairman who became president of the Cryonics Society of California and helped arrange the first public suspension (Dr. James Bedford, who died January 12, 1967).
Key details
- Nelson secretly consolidated multiple patients into a limited number of stainless-steel cryo-capsules (including Marie Sweet, Helen Kline, Steven Mandell and later seven-year-old Genevieve), improvising storage with dry ice, welded-open tanks and a cemetery vault in Chatsworth when regular funding and engineering support failed—practices he later defended as necessary to keep the program alive (Bob Nelson, recounted to Sam Shaw).
- Mechanical failures and poor maintenance caused at least one capsule to warm and lose liquid nitrogen; Nelson admits a capsule boiled off and a child (Genevieve) was irretrievably lost, but he and relatives disagree about whether he personally informed them in person (Nelson says he visited, Genevieve’s father Guy and Terry Harris deny the visits).
- The public exposure of the Chatsworth vault’s condition led to litigation: Terry Harris and others sued and were awarded about $800,000; roughly half of what was collectible came from mortician Joe Klockgether’s malpractice insurance (reporting by Sam Shaw; testimony from Terry Harris).
- Nelson repeatedly justified secretive choices by citing donors' Anatomical Gift Act designations and his conviction that imperfect steps would advance cryonics; he later published a memoir Freezing People Is Not Easy, died in June 2018, and — per the program — is himself preserved at the Cryonics Institute in Clinton Township, Michigan (Ira Glass narration).
- Act Two uses William Carlos Williams’s poem “This Is Just to Say” (presented by Sean Cole) and multiple parodies (Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, Shalom Auslander, Jonathan Goldstein, etc.) to illustrate apologizing that asks forgiveness without genuine remorse—the episode’s thematic capstone.