X-Message-Number: 13479
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 10:55:34 -0700
From: Jeff Davis <>
Subject: Welcome, TonyD, to the cryonics community

Tony,

Allow me to apologize for the slight discourtesy shown you vis a vis the
"punctuation" remark.  Clearly it was a joke--a very small joke--cheaply
made at your expense.  Well, hey, no big deal really.  At one time or
another we've all opened our mouth when we should have left it closed.

That bit of business taken care of, allow me to welcome you to the cryonics
community.

Regarding your question,...  When all the dust has settled it really boils
down to this: either death is inevitable or it is not.  The former is the
conventional--one might call it the static-- view, the latter the view
which arises from the observation that change is the natural condition of
things--in this case change in the up-till-now-inevitable certainty of
death.  

Of course, if you accept the conventional view that there is nothing that
can be done--that can ever be done--then you do nothing--take no
action--sit back and live life as it has always been lived.  If, on the
other hand, you acknowledge even the possibility that scientific/medical
progress might slow/halt/remediate aging and death, then logically you
would want to take whatever steps seem reasonable and within your means, to
achieve for yourself whatever benefits may be available.  This is a very
wordy way of saying that, if it's affordable, you should sign up for
cryonics, since the only other option is certain oblivion (death).

For someone your age, a life insurance policy for the necessary $28-35,000
(these are numbers for the Cryonics Institute) runs about $100/year.
That's certainly easily affordable by anyone.

Now, the likelihood that you will need this is low.  The insurance
companies know this, which is why the cost is low.  Statistically, they
don't expect you to expire on them anytime soon.  That's good news all
around, for you and for them.  The real value of the cryonics contract to
you now, when you're young and not likely to use it soon, is as insurance
against accidents.  As unhappy as it is to think about them, they do
happen.  A young person who has plans in place to deal with the unexpected,
is in my view a person of unusual maturity and intelligence.  

It may be that the next few years will see advances in life extension that
will make cryonics completely unecessary for someone your age.  It would be
astonishingly pleasant if such advances came along that fast.  I don't know
of anyone who doesn't wish for that unexpected surprise.  In the meantime,
your cryonics suspension contract is the logical fallback position that you
want to have in place.

Call Rudy Hoffman, 800-749-3773.  Sixty days from now it can all be taken
care of, and you can proceed with your life knowing that, if it is
possible, you have taken the steps to make a long and remarkable future
available to you. 


			Best, Jeff Davis

	   "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
					Ray Charles				

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