From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Wed Jan 23 2002 - 16:07:25 MST
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> Mike Lorrey wrote,
> > But at what cost, Harvey? Because medical care costs money, every dollar
> > spent is x.xx hours of someone's life spent laboring for themselves or
> > for the government. Why slave away x hours of your life when you are
> > only going to get a fraction of that back in increased life span?
>
> Because I value my lifespan more than money. I want to live longer and keep
> working if I can. Why die early to save a little dough?
What is money? Money is time, time out of a person's life spent laboring
away at something to earn a buck, half of which gets confiscated by the
tax man. If you are spending more money per hour of life at the end of
life than you earned per hour, then your net lifespan is shortening, not
lengthening. Time to put yourself on ice...
>
> I also believe that even small increments of lifespan let you live longer
> into the future where better life-extending techniques will be available. A
> few measly years might let me reach some new longevity breakthrough. I
> rather have a chance at immortality rather than saving a few bucks.
>
> > Increased life span from health care is only cost effective when the
> > cost of every hour of additional life is less than the average amortized
> > hourly wage of the individual. Only then is health care actually having
> > a positive impact on society.
>
> By whose calculation? My life is worth much more than that! :-)
No, actually, it's not. Not when it comes to the economic arena and life
span.
Now, wasting 90% of your wealth to lengthen your life one additional
year (wealth that takes, typically 30-50 years to accumulate) may be
your choice, and it's certainly better, relatively speaking, than
spending in on things which will shorten your life (smoking, drugs,
unprotected sex, etc etc etc), but it's still a waste when you have
cryonic suspension as an alternative to death. I'd rather blow my life
savings on a full body suspension job than spend the same amount on
geriatric care in my last years. The risk is slightly higher, but the
payoff is guaranteed to be far greater. After all, what does one year of
life as a bed ridden alheimers patient compare to living forever in a
young body?
>
> Seriously, you can use those calculations to limit healthcare spending by
> the government for other people, if you want. But personally, I want to
> spend lots of money on keeping me alive. If I ever have a choice between
> dying and spending money, I'll spend the money. I can't imagine ever
> keeping my money because life-extension is not cost-effective. What good
> will the extra money do me if I die early?
Get suspended, of course.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 13:37:36 MST