X-Message-Number: 9060
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 10:57:02 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Those Elusive Millionaires

On Tue, 27 Jan 1998, Den Arles wrote:

> Apart from this, wouldn't it be a good idea for cryonics organizations to
> specifically 

> target the high(er) income groups (intensively)? Surely there must be plenty 
of

> rich folks out there without an urgent death-wish...Or has this already been 
tried?

In 1960, Robert Ettinger circulated the idea of cryonics to 200 people 
whose names he selected from Who's Who in America. There have been 
repeated attempts since then to snag wealthy benefactors. A few rich 
people have signed up (Don Laughlin, who has a town named after him in 
Nevada and a net worth of more than $200 million, has made no secret of 
his belief in cryonics) but to date, only two people have actually used 
their wealth to support cryonics (specifically, cryonics research) in a 
big way: Saul Kent and Bill Faloon, who amassed their wealth mainly 
BECAUSE they wanted to improve the quality of human cryopreservation. 
Therefore, if past experience is any guide, people who make a lot of 
money generally don't put the money into cryonics, unless cryonics is the 
reason why they made the money in the first place.

Elsewhere I have argued that relatively few wealthy people sign for
cryonics because cryonics tends to appeal more to people who are
dissatisfied with their lives in the 20th century and hope there may be
"something better" in store for them in the future. Also, the rich and
famous may feel less sanguine than the rest of us about waking up in a
world where they could easily find that they have been forgotten, their
wealth has been devalued, and their worth to society has diminished. 
Since I am neither rich nor famous, I am merely speculating about this,
not arguing from personal experience. 

--Charles Platt

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