X-Message-Number: 33060
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2010 10:17:28 -0700
Subject: "in good shape"
From: Charles in Arizona <>

In Alcor News dated November 12 I ran across the following astonishing
statement:

"Recommendation #1:  Provide Alcor with funding well in excess of
current cryopreservation minimums at all times
If you already have a life insurance policy with a death benefit that
exceeds the existing cryopreservation minimum, you are in good shape."

Not long ago, on CryoNet, I posted text that I had written for
Cryonics magazine (rejected by the magazine's supervisory board) which
discussed the problem of excessive optimism and its financial
consequences. In a previous article, which did make it into Cryonics
magazine (before the supervisory board had been formed to block such
material), I estimated that an inflation rate averaging around 4
percent per year could mean that someone who signs up around age 30,
making provision for minimum funding, and lives another 40 or 50
years, could find that by his time of death, his funding will cover as
little as 20 percent of the minimum for cryopreservation that will
apply at that time.

Let us assume that the staff and directors of Alcor read their own
magazine. In that case, how is it possible that a statement such as
the one above can be circulated to members? "You are in good shape" if
your funding arrangement exceeds the existing minimum--by any
unspecified amount? This is nonsense. How much should the excess be?
How would such a figure be calculated? What are the assumptions
underlying such a calculation? Would the desirable excess be
age-related? Such questions are fundamental, but they remain
unanswered.

I had been under the impression that Alcor was getting ready to
rationalize its membership dues and cryopreservation minimums, and its
grandfathering policy. But Alcor News of November 12 is an
embarrassing exercise in semantic contortions, as the organization
sort-of tries to warn its members that there may be some problems,
without actually admitting how serious they are--even though these
same problems have already been communicated to the membership in
Alcor's own magazine!

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