X-Message-Number: 30687
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Re: cost as disincentive
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2008 13:30:16 +0200
References: <>

On 5 Apr 2008, at 16:54,  wrote:
> DSS wrote in part:
>
>> If  the cost consideration was
>> eliminated, however, then we could  expect about a third of the
>> population to choose cryonics (over  a trip to Hawaii, as the Omni  
>> mag.
>> contest  showed).
>
>
> This does not square with the very low  number of recruits among the
> wealthy. After all, there are hundreds of thousands, if not  
> millions, of
> millionaires in this country.

It is necessary to distinguish between cost as an emotional response  
(Personal Emotional Rejection [PER]) and cost as part of a rational  
calculation (Social Economic Burden [SEB]). In the first case,  
information will be rejected by all but atheists and agnostics. In  
Britain, 31 - 44% of persons are agnostics:

http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_atheist.html

Therefore, this fits quite well with the results from the contest,  
where information was presented to readers.


However, if we take the millionaires in the USA, they would have to  
actively seek information. We expect only atheists to seek  
information. About .4% of the US population is atheist:

http://atheistempire.com/reference/stats/index.php

If we have .5 million millionaires in the USA:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_billionaire_next_door.htm

Then we would expect 2,000 recruits (500,000 x .004). This is pretty  
close to the combined memberships of the cryonics organizations. So,  
it looks like our theoretical assumptions are well supported by actual  
statistics.


dss


David Stodolsky    Skype: davidstodolsky

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