X-Message-Number: 9391
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 12:41:33 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Cryonics: Business or Religion?

Dave Pizer's most recent message is very thought provoking. Thanks, 
Dave--although you may not agree with the thoughts that it has provoked.

You were replying a post of mine that suggested cryonics is severely 
underpriced as a business. Your reply suggested that wealthy cryonicists 
could donate more money.

But wait a minute! Why should wealthy members be expected to make
donations? If cryonics is a business, wealthy people should pay the same
amount, for the same service, as everyone else. Therefore, I conclude,
Dave, that even though we may delude ourselves into imagining that we are
offering a service in exchange for money (like a business), in fact this
is absolutely untrue. 

Look at the numbers. No cryonics organization has come remotely close to 
making a profit, in 30 years. Fewer than 1 person in 300,000 desires 
cryonics services in the United States, despite _huge_ amounts of 
publicity--exposure on TV and in magazines that other businesses would 
die for. If cryonics were a business, all cryonics organizations would 
have gone bankrupt decades ago, and no one in his right mind would start 
a cryonics business today.

So, let us agree: cryonics is not a business. The core group of people
who sustain cryonics services are like political activists, working for 
something they believe in.

But--here's the problem. They act as if they are offering a professional
service in exchange for a fee. They fool themselves, and in so doing, they
fool everyone else. When people join cryonics organizations, they believe
the image that is presented to them. They think of themselves as
customers, not donors. 

I remember when I first joined Alcor, I imagined that I was completing a 
business transaction. I was astonished when I read in CRYONICS magazine 
that people were donating money to the organization. 

When CryoCare was formed, there was a lot of internal debate about 
whether it should be for-profit or nonprofit. At the time I argued that 
the debate was pointless, since there was no way we were CAPABLE of 
making a profit. At the time, I was criticized for being negative and 
insufficiently growth-oriented. But all you have to do is look at the 
numbers, to see that even if cryonics grew at five times its current 
rate, STILL it would not be profitable, at least in the near term.

My conclusion, from this, is that we should forget about our fee
schedules, which are hopelessly unrealistic anyway--a pure piece of
fiction. Instead, so long as cryonics is clearly unprofitable, we should
finance ourselves in the same way that successful charities operate. This
means, ideally, TITHING. 

I suggested this to a couple of people in CryoCare recently. To me, it
makes perfect sense, because it creates a pricing system that accurately
reflects reality. But the people I spoke to recoiled in horror. "That
would make it like a religion!" one of them exclaimed. 

Well, guess what! Cryonics IS like a religion! The only people who 
dispute this are the people who have signed up, who hate the idea that 
there could be any similarity between RATIONAL cryonics and IRRATIONAL 
religion. Well, I don't like the comparison either, but the similarities 
are unavoidable.

Another person I spoke to complained that tithing would be like taxation. 
Exactly right! Where I live, I pay property taxes in proportion (roughly)
with the value of my house; and the small community where the house is
located uses the money to provide essential services. If property taxes 
were identical for every house, the taxes would have to be lowered to 
enable the poorest people to pay. At that point we would have to ask the 
richest people to make donations (which they would be unwilling to do), 
and town employees would have to work for free. The idea is ludicrous, 
but this is exactly the situation in cryonics.

Many, or most, cryonicists are libertarians. They believe in business. I
share this outlook myself--but we're making a big mistake if we try to
force reality to conform with our ideological dreams. If cryonics is not
potentially profitable, at this point in time, it cannot be run
successfully as a business. Period! 

I note that the Libertarian Party charges extremely low membership dues, 
tries to make up the shortfall by appealing for donations, and is always 
in financial difficulties. Hm. Maybe they should try tithing, too.

Personally, I'm sick of trying to maintain a pretense that we're offering
a professional service that people pay for, when the money that they pay
does not remotely cover the real costs. Merely the labor that I have
donated over the years would come to at least $200,000 at my usual
billable hourly rate. And I'm not one of the most active people in
cryonics! We've received several million dollars in donated time from some
people, so far as I can tell. Meanwhile, the wealthy cryonics members whom
Dave mentions are benefiting from this huge donation of labor, because
they were given the impression that cryonics is a service like any other. 
We have only ourselves to blame for this.

If we introduced a system of tithing, whereby there would be NO fixed fees
(other than cryopreservation minimums) and everyone would pay a percentage
of their net income (or they could donate their labor instead if they
wished), this would have three big advantages: 

1. It would be honest. We wouldn't be fooling ourselves, or other people.

2. We would raise more money.

3. People would be forced to face the fact that at this stage in its
evolution, cryonics can't support those who are not willing to be at least
somewhat involved as participants, rather than customers. 

One last point. For years I have been hearing people say, "The Cryonics 
Institute doesn't charge enough for its services. They'll run into 
financial trouble one of these days."

Very funny! In fact CI has become the most financially stable
organization, with a huge war chest. How did this happen? Why, through
bequests and donations, of course. Thus, knowingly or unknowingly, CI was
run more like a religion, less like a business. And it has done much
better, financially, than its business-oriented rivals. 

I doubt anyone would let me move CryoCare to a tithing model. But I 
would, if I could. I think it would solve a whole lot of problems.

--Charles Platt

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