David Laws responded:
>Hmm, how about an 'insurance' company set up that takes in payments on a
>timed basis (say, quarterly). This money is used for research with enough
>investment to provide payments. The members designees are given a payment
>if a life extension mechanism is not developed prior to the members death
>AND the member does not die of a cause (such as traumatic accident) that
>the life extension mechanism could [not?] help.
Some problems with this:
1. Contracts would need to define "development of life extension".
2. People who don't buy this insurance still benefit from development.
3. Research takes time. Insurance companies need something like
long-term contracts to care about long-term results.
Robin D. Hanson hanson@hss.caltech.edu http://hss.caltech.edu/~hanson/