X-Message-Number: 14825
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 08:23:06 -0500
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: problems are member's responsibility

Some comments on Dave Pizer's message:

First, Pizer badly misrepresents my position. If you don't live in 
Arizona, then you may need a team to come to you. And that team may not
reach you soon enough to give you an optimal suspension. That fact 
remains true whether or not someone lives in the US or not, though
in some cases getting the team to come to another country may be 
much harder. None of that bears on whether or not some can be allowed
to become a member, regardless of where they live. It's basically
the responsibility of the MEMBER, not of Alcor, to arrange things 
so that an Alcor team can reach them quickly.

And if such arrangements involve separate contracts or conditions,
so be it. In my own case, when I first joined an American cryonics
society (BACS, which changed its name to ACS) I verified with letters
from Australian and US governments that a team coming to Australia
would be allowed to come and take away my suspended body. It's not
hard to get the required visas, for instance.

Yes, if you live overseas and want service by a US cryonics society,
then you are subject to more risks than if you live close by. Yet
you are the one who takes these risks.

Similar points may be made about foreign life insurance. It should be
the responsibility of the member to show that his/her foreign life
insurance will be paid and is valid. Alcor may ask many conditions
to be satisfied, but refusing insurance merely because it comes from
a foreign supplier is quite short-sighted and wrong.

It's true that more things can go wrong. But those things are the 
responsibility of the member, not of Alcor, and any additional steps
to prevent them belong to the member. Why does he/she join Alcor 
except because he/she believes that even with these problems Alcor
remains superior. And it should not be hard to make all contracts
Alcor may set up with such members to put the responsibility for
many problems on the member, not on Alcor. 

		Best wishes and long long life for all,

			Thomas Donaldson

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