Re: ethical problem? Some kind of problem, anyway...

Jocelyn Brown (jocelynb@mindspring.com)
Mon, 19 Apr 1999 10:27:46 -0500

>This being said, I am 31 and I have not signed up for cryonic suspension.
My rationalization for this act of pure laziness and/or stinginess is that according to the stats, if I die in the next two decades it is most likely to be something which leaves my brain in a useless state, and anything else that happens is likely to give me plenty of a heads up that I will have time to sign up for suspension before it kills me. Cryonics is a last ditch option, which IMHO is most likely to be used by the oldsters on the list than the youngsters. Caveat: I will probably sign up sometime in the next ten years anyways if I wind up having a wife and kids that will make it much more worthwhile to come back to.
>
>Now, if anyone can disabuse me of my current rationalizations...I would
appreciate it...

I was 13 years old when I was diagnosed with acute lympocytic leukemia. It can happen to anyone, at anytime. I am now 28, and have been signed up for suspension since I was 23 or so. My husband, Billy is also signed up (he's 32).

That being said, from what I know of medical statistics (which probably isn't as much as you know, Mike, since you know so much ;-)) what is most likely to kill you in the next couple of decades is heart disease. I don't see how this has to leave your brain in a useless state. Neither does prostate cancer, another killer of men.

I am not a member of Cryocare (I'm signed on with Alcor), but from my understanding their organization does not currently accept members above a certain age, so if you wanted to go with them you would have to do it soon (it may already be too late).

The more members a cryonics organization has, the stronger it is, and the more likely it will be that the organization will exist ten or twenty years from now when you need it.

A final reason to sign up now is that it doesn't cost that much money to be signed up, so you don't have much to lose. Weigh that against the fact that it might be harder for you to get life insurance to pay for suspension as you get older.

I, for one, would like to see you in the future:-)

Jocelyn Brown
jocelynb@mindspring.com

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