X-Message-Number: 31738
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #31727 - #31729
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:52:22 +0200
References: <>

On 8 Jun 2009, at 11:00 AM, CryoNet wrote:

> Most cryonicists seem to forget that just before they die they will  
> be older and may be being managed by relatives or the government,  
> both of whom may think cryonics is silly, stupid, a waste of good  
> money, or even a rip off.  It often isn't a sudden act that keeps a  
> suspension from happening but as the cryonicist gets older his/her  
> relatives (or others) move them away from the cryonics community.   
> We cryonicists at present don't have a way of keeping track of our  
> people on a daily basis.  We don't have a way of protecting them  
> from their relatives or others who don't want them suspended.
>
> We need a physical community where older cryonicists can come to  
> live among other cryonicists - where we can take care of our own as  
> we get older.  Where we can protect our own.

This analysis is correct. The major influence on lifespan subject to  
human control at this time is socio-psychological. There is a three-to- 
one difference between average lifespan in the most advanced countries  
and the most backward countries in the World. Of course, part of this  
is attributable to the availability of medical care, good hygiene,  
etc. However, even taking account of these differences in physical  
facilities and services, socio-psychological effects have a major  
impact on longevity.

When we take into account processes of political economy, we can see  
major negative influences on human lifespan. For example, clean water  
and sanitation were selected by the British Medical Journal as the  
most important medical break through of the last 200 years. It would  
take something like 80 billion dollars to provide this 'break through'  
to the 2.4 billion people that currently don't have it (this is the  
high estimate, the low one is about 10 B USD). Economic benefit from  
this would be about 224 billion USD. From this point of view, the  
Communist Revolution in China was the most significant advance in  
human health in the 20th Century - it doubled the life span of one  
billion people.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/35/48/39358569.pdf



Even in the rich countries, we can see malfunctioning political  
processes shortening lifespans. The most obvious example, in recent  
times, was the refusal of the S. African Government to supply anti- 
viral therapy to HIV infected persons, by arguing that HIV and AIDS  
was not related. This can be seen as a 'money saving' measure that  
gave current politicians more flexibility in budgeting, with the  
unfortunate explosion in AIDS coming ten years later, when they were  
out of office. Even in the socially most advanced rich countries,  
these types of suboptimization are apparent. For example, in Denmark  
there was a gap of ten years, before statins were made widely  
available to persons with high blood cholesterol, if we consider the  
research findings. Interesting enough, the treatment was made standard  
only when the drugs went off patent and therefore fell in price.  
Currently, the Danish Government funds HPV vaccination for girls, but  
not boys, even though HPV induced cancers are almost  equally likely  
in both sexes.



>
>
> I was planning to help build such a community in Arizona and I was  
> accumulating wealth to do so, however the recent economic worldwide  
> financial reversal has slowed that down.
>
It isn't realistic to expect people to move to some location where  
they can find other cryonicists. Most people have jobs, friends,  
family, etc. that they can't very easily leave. Therefore, the model I  
suggested of forming supportive groups as part of a recruitment  
process is probably more likely to work. It also overcomes the  
economic limitations that face a vast majority of the World's  
population.


dss

David Stodolsky
  Skype: davidstodolsky

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