X-Message-Number: 32459 From: Mathew Sullivan <> Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2010 22:57:34 -0500 Subject: Re: neuro vs whole --00504502c09cdb554d0481421106 Hi cryofan, Personally speaking, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Why? Many of Alcor's cases are subsidized through membership dues and donations as an end result of grandfathering. Also, Dave neglects to consider that vitrification solutions used today are VERY expensive, and neuro patients only require a small fraction of what is required for whole body patients. And the consequence of forcing members to take out a larger life insurance policy would only serve to increase the bounty on the heads of members (no pun intended) for family members who would be tempted to cash in by interfering. So, I believe forcing neuro members to become whole body members would result in an implosion of the total number of Alcor members, and many of them would simply go signup with CI. Some people out there may be turned off by neuro preservation; similar to Dave, I've talked to many people over the years and it isn't neuro preservation that is the key issue here, but our inability to bring back a whole organism such as a monkey or dog, etc. And for those who continue to find neuro preservation a bit creepy, it is a matter of educating them about the scientific efforts with organ printing; naturally, we can't expect to please everyone while engaged in such discussions, but that's life. Natural selection and technological progress will resolve this issue in time. In conclusion, unless Dave is willing to personally finance a free upgrade for individual members, I don't expect to see a shift in members who will be signing up for whole body preservation any time soon. And from the perspective of someone who is signed up for neuro, I wouldn't make the switch even if it was free. Mathew Sullivan When you stand upon the truth, you can defend against many things that are false. http://www.mathewsullivan.com/ --00504502c09cdb554d0481421106 Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32459