X-Message-Number: 1207
Date: 19 Sep 92 03:24:30 EDT
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: Re: cryonics: #1192 - #1194

The main reason people in suspension are a burden is that right now the
job of caring for them is recompensed at way below normal rates. If Alcor
is to be a society formed for the benefit of its members, and only suspends
those who are members, such a system will only be viable if enough members
volunteer to directly or indirectly help out with the suspensions and care.
I note that suspended members somehow do not count among the volunteers.

Yes, morally (in one sense of the word) we have a duty to save people's 
lives. But the lifeboat just isn't yet very large. I worry that it might 
be swamped. I worry especially because (by my understanding of the failure
of previous societies) they too tried to freeze anyone who came --- and
found themselves trying to bail out all the water that poured in when 
some patients' relatives refused to pay. It's not clear to me that we
have really solved this problem by letting people join at the very last
minute. Especially given the problems Alcor has recently had simply 
establishing its own legality, it wouldn't take much of a lawsuit to 
bring us all down. Shall we then start ALL OVER AGAIN?

If Alcor could be structured as an insurance company, some of these issues
would go away: we could meaningfully charge much more for those who join
late. That has proven hard to do for any present cryonics society. 

I would not necessarily claim that we should NEVER freeze last-minute 
cases. But the fees charged are way too small, considering especially the
small number of volunteers. Perhaps the thing to do is to impute an age
of joining of 35 to everyone who joins, and a lifespan of 70 -- and then 
require that they not only fund their suspensions but pay 35 years worth
of dues, with interest. (Variations of such a scheme would also work, of
course. And I've suggested other possibilities too). And of course, those
who feel that we SHOULD suspend last minute cases are invited to become
volunteers (yes, I know many people involved in doing suspensions DO feel
that we should do this --- but many more helpers are needed).

There simply has to be a balance between the number of suspensions and the
number of people doing them --- or the small group of volunteers will
become overloaded, with all the other consequences for Alcor's day to day
running that will imply.
				Best and long life,
					Thomas Donaldson

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