X-Message-Number: 28074 From: "John de Rivaz" <> Subject: hurdles Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 17:46:03 +0100 > From: Kennita Watson <> > This brings to mind a possible strategy. > There are multiple hurdles between any > given individual and signing up for > cryonics. In order to increase signups, > identify those hurdles and make each one > as easy to clear as possible. What is needed is some form of poll. Unfortunately it is very difficult both to get people to vote in polls and even to know themselves how to quantify obstacles. Many people are repulsed at the thought of having to deal with lawyers and insurance sales people (who are really a specialised sort of lawyer). In the UK the number of citizens who make wills is surprisingly low. I can't find a quick reference, but think it is about half. If it is through a common revulsion or a phobia, that already reduces the 30% who professed an interest in the New Scientist poll if cryonics were free, to 15%. Simply not having the spare cash (or spare income) is probably more common that many cryonicists admit. Even though the life premiums amount to deleting a few pleasures from daily life, a lot of people don;t have that many pleasures to delete and are not willing to give up those they already have, especially if annihilation through old age seems a long way off. Surely someone will do something about by then. After all, the world's annual death rate is equivalent to the entire population of the UK being wiped out in one event. Loss of control over a large portion of one's finances is also a possibility. The biggest problem is that people often won't admit as to what part of the sign up process worries them the most because they don't want to be ridiculed over it. -- Sincerely, John de Rivaz: http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy, Nomad .. and more Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=28074