X-Message-Number: 30689
References: <>
From: Kennita Watson <>
Subject: Re: Re: cost as disincentive 
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2008 05:39:58 -0700

From: David Stodolsky <>:
> 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

Fortunately, Wikipedia agrees:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism#North_America

Forgive me if I didn't trust "atheistempire.com" to
give an unbiased accounting.

Note that of the 107 people who answered the question
on this year's survey at/after Frozen Dead Guy Days,
8 professed atheism (FTR, only 1 of them was signed up;
of the 4 signed up, there were also 2 Other/None and
1 Christian).  I'm sure there was self-selection at
work, but it would need to be pretty dramatic to
explain that result.  I was trying hard to get people
to fill out the survey even if they disagreed with
cryonics, but many who feared a hard sell may simply
have veered away from the booth.
>
> If we have .5 million millionaires in the USA:
>
> http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_billionaire_next_door.htm

That page says "Current studies show that in 2007,
one-out-of every 200 people Americans is a millionaire",
which would make 1.5 million, not .5 million.  The same
page says elsewhere that there are 2.7 million.
>
> 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.

If instead there are 2,500,000 millionaires, we'd expect
10,000 recruits.  I think that discrepancy could be
explained simply by lack of publicity (and the ready
availability of misinformation).

That of course assumes that all the recruits are
atheists.  Even my small sample shows one Christian
and two Other/None recruits; surveying the members of
the various organizations would be needed to
elucidate.

Incidentally, there are magazines, papers, etc.
specifically aimed at millionaires.  Maybe we should
advertise in one/some of those publications.  Better
yet, we should advertise in a publication specifically
aimed at atheists.  Hunt in a target-rich environment.

Live long and prosper,
Kennita

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