X-Message-Number: 3410
Date: 15 Nov 94 15:14:01 EST
From: John de Rivaz <>
Subject: CRYONICS: estate planning
Terra Libra's Rivals
As people find out my interest in Terra Libra, they have been sending in details
of rival organisations. This one will be of particular interest to Cryonet
readers, who are invited to post it elsewhere on the Internet that may
appreciate it.
One is International Planning Concepts. [PO Box 107, Douglas Isle of Man
British Isles]. They publish a quarterly newsletter for 16 per year, covering
how to avoid lawyers, taxes etc just like Terra Libra. Their ideas on estate
planning are likely to be of value to cryonics people and offer a different
aspect to many US publications, as well as entry to European financial
institutions.
Here is the text of part of the editorial for the first issue:
Descent into another Dark Age?
Excluding catastrophe, a Dark Age descends on a civilisation quite slowly. So
slowly that few people notice. It is not a decline in the quantity of
information available or in the level of scientific achievement which causes a
Dark Age. It is a subtle decline in collective wisdom accompanied by a change in
social priorities. The last Dark Age for European civilisation was attended by
considerable technological advances, especially in warfare (e.g. cavalry
technology), seamanship (e.g. Viking dragon ships) & agriculture (e.g. the use
of the heavy plough). That Dark Age was the direct result of the economic
decline of the Roman Empire which was, in turn, due to a long-term degradation
of collective wisdom & social priorities.
Why should an economy decline when information & technological achievement are
soaring? The answer lies not in the quantity of information or technology
available to the few, but in the quantity which is usable by the many. It is the
latter which governs the long-term prosperity of the economy & hence the
affordable quality of civilisation. The trend towards a Dark Age starts with
prosperity & ample production. More people leave productive industry & go into
so-called service industry. The principal service industries are financial
services & (government) regulatory services. Both these service industries
become increasingly disengaged from real production & services of intrinsic
worth. Because of the high & relatively easy profitability associated with these
service industries (& note that government services can be highly profitable for
privileged suppliers) they suck in the bulk of the economy's financial
resources, thus tending to starve productive industries of their capital needs.
In this process more & more people become involved with the processes of
distributing & handling financial resources & regulating economic & social
activity. Fewer & fewer people have anything to do with the processes of
production & the creation of real prosperity. Students spend long years studying
the complicated intricacies of rules & regulations & of
social/political/educational theories. Few are gaining practical skills for the
survival & prosperity of the civilisation as a whole. The result is a cumulative
decline in the amount of information & technology usable by the general
population &, consequently, a long-term decline in the capacity of the
civilisation to replace depleting real economic resources.
If the productive capacity of one generation is just 10% less than that of the
previous generation, those who still care about long-term trends will notice the
inevitability of the Dark Age before 2 or 3 generations have passed.
Nevertheless, apparent prosperity may still increase during this time as an
economy's capital resources are spent on buying consumer goods & services from
other economies which may be in a different economic cycle (perhaps heading out
of their last Dark Age).
"Age-ism" & Unemployment
Have you noticed that there is an increasing tendency for the unemployed to be
skilled or professionally qualified people, especially older ones? Here are some
thoughts on the matter. Feel free to challenge them. Are employees generally
likely to be selected on the basis of being the best man or woman for the job,
or is it more likely they are selected on the basis of how they will fit the
corporate structure (i.e. will suit the personal priorities of the individuals
responsible for selection)? With the modem cult of the whiz-kid, where people
trained in finance or management can reach senior executive positions at
relatively young ages, many of the persons responsible for selecting employees
will be quite young. Have these people yet built the confidence to feel
comfortable employing those who are older (& perhaps wiser) than themselves?
Have these people enough experience to recognise that greater age may give rise
to greater knowledge & experience? Is there too much emphasis even among older
employers on trying to present a "young" & "dynamic" image to the public.
Ironically, the worst effects of age-ism will fall on today's youth. They have
little to look forward to when they become too old. Nor do they have the full
benefit of the experience of today's older people who have been able to learn
from the experience of their elders. Today's unemployed older workers may be
having a rough time, but how badly will the older workers of the future fare?
[Rights to reproduce the above are only given if subscription information and
the address is given as above. Please don't reproduce further without including
this information.]
[Acknowledgement to Mr Clive Wilkinson for introducing me to this group.]
United States readers will be particularly interested in IPC's ideas, which give
a different angle to many similar newsletters offered in the USA. They also show
the way into European financial institutions that are well outside US
jurisdiction. Any US reader not wanting to spend the $10 costs of getting a UK
bank draft can note that I will do the conversion for approx $4: send me a check
(Payable on a US bank to "J. de Rivaz") for $30 and I will forward subscription
request together with a UK cheque. (Or send me $30 cash, but at your own risk!)
Please make it clear what you are subscribing to. (send to J. de Rivaz Westowan
Porthtowan Truro TR4 8AX UK)
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