X-Message-Number: 32003 From: "John de Rivaz" <> References: <> Subject: Re: Wake from Cryonics Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:42:35 +0100 A bit of a quibble, but whereas it is perfectly true that Rudi Hoffman is the biggest cryonics insurance provider, this is only true because most of the world's cryonicists live in the USA. He cannot act for those not in the USA. He'd no doubt be very happy to, but the US insurance companies aren't. I am not sure whether foreign companies would let him act for residents in their countries - probably not. Also in the message, it says that the law is against cryonics revival trusts. Actually "the law" isn't for or against anything, it just adjusts itself to maximise the amount of money its practitioners as a whole group can extract from the economy. When a lot of money is flowing, it tries to get this for its practitioners. [ref Dawkins, The Selfish Gene] Future changes that may be essential for cryonics to progress is a different way of administering society. That way could come through technology. If there was a data processing system where citizens could enter a proposed course of action and be told whether it is permitted or not, for free or very low cost, then only those people who deliberately seek to flout what civilisation expects of them, and gets caught, would need to have contact with lawyers. (eg bank robbers, house breakers, extortionists etc). Cryonicists are strongly motivated not to commit these offences. This is because the longer you live the more likely you are to be caught. For example, Zandor Kepiro was guilty of checking people's identity in Nazi Europe with the result that those who failed his checks were killed (legally as defined at the time, but subsequently illegally). He was finally caught aged over 90 and sentenced to life imprisonment. [ref The Last Nazis, BBC TV 2009] A computer based administration is still probably too difficult with modern computers -- the task would be enormous. But computing ability is progressing by leaps and bounds. Also such a system would enable legislators to test silly laws for unintended consequences. At present legislation is going the other way. Some laws in the UK and probably elsewhere in Europe have the effect that perpetrators don't know that they are breaking them until too late. One example is that if you employ someone, even if just a household servant, who is an illegal immigrant, you can receive a serious fine. It is not a defence to say that you didn't know that they were an illegal immigrant. I think Mr Kepiro would have felt familiar with that law. -- 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 ----- Original Message ----- From: CryoNet Message #32001 From: Mark Plus <> Subject: Wake from Cryonics http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/forever-young/wake-cryonics <del> Wake from Cryonics Having written cryopreservation insurance policies for nearly a thousand people, Rudi Hoffman is well established as the world's leading cryonics insurance provider. As a certified financial planner, he also has a long standing record of helping people leave money to their future selves, and thus avoid the worry of being revived from cryopreservation to discover that they are penniless in wonderland. <del> Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32003