It seems to me that my death is most likely to come from one of 2 scenarios:
1) I become fatally ill with some disease (e.g. cancer) and, after a period of time, succumb to it.
2) I die suddenly as a result of great physical trauma (e.g. car accident)
Obviously other scenarios are possible, but I think these are the most likely. In case 1 I have plenty of time to sign up for cryonics (and could possibly pay for it with a “settlement” of some sort on my life insurance). In case 2, my body and brain suffer massive physical damage, and the cryonics company probably doesn’t get involved until there’s nothing left to salvage.
In either case, no great harm befalls me for waiting—over time the process will become more plausible (or possibly even proven), or maybe it’ll be disproven, and in any event the costs will likely come down as my income and net worth rise… so what’s the rush?
True, but I’ve got life insurance already—this would just be a matter of “re-purposing” a small percentage of it. Or maybe I’ll just pay it out of my pocket after I get sick—the insurance isn’t really a critical part of the plan.
P.S. does anyone know the legalities of cryonics? For example, suppose I pay for it with cash advances on all my credit cards, and then “die”. Many years later I’m somehow brought back to life… do I still have that debt (plus interest and penalties, of course), or has it been wiped out? Maybe it depends on how I’m brought back: if my physical body were to be brought back, I think most people would expect the debt to stick with me (after all, I didn’t really die—I just took a long nap)… but if I’m reincarnated as a computer program, it might be a little murkier...
P.S. does anyone know the legalities of cryonics? For example, suppose I pay for it with cash advances on all my credit cards, and then “die”. Many years later I’m somehow brought back to life… do I still have that debt (plus interest and penalties, of course), or has it been wiped out?
Legally, you’re just dead. Your life insurance gets paid out as specified, your assets get sold off and dispersed, your creditors take what they can, and after a while, the files are finally closed. What happens to your corpse is a private detail.
There are cases of people returning long after being declared dead, but from what I remember, they usually got very little back. The law doesn’t like loose threads; eg. statute of limitations.
(And seriously—interest? What’s the point of charging a returnee a few centuries of interest? If the relevant currencies, sovereignties, and entities even exist, compounded interest could be in the billions.)
Did you read his original post? Sudden death for an otherwise healthy adult is likely to involve severe physical trauma (car accident) or require an autopsy (unexpected deaths of healthy adults generally do) and so greatly lower your chances of being successfully preserved.
This is one of the reasons I don’t think cryonics is a good investment for me in my current situation—based on what I’ve been able to glean from mortality statistics there is a fairly narrow range of circumstances where I might die in the next 20 years and be in a good state for successful preservation.
Alcor/CI will dispense with the money according to your instructions if there’s no chance of cryopreservation. The only difference between relying on this and re-purposing in time is that if you do die young in a cryopreservable way, you get the wrong outcome.
Also, sorting out cryonics is hard enough when you’re not terminally ill.
(I can’t remember if we actually know CaptainOblivious2′s gender—am following your example)
True, but I’ve got life insurance already—this would just be a matter of “re-purposing” a small percentage of it. Or maybe I’ll just pay it out of my pocket after I get sick—the insurance isn’t really a critical part of the plan.
Oh, and I’d point out that you may have issues renewing your insurance if you get a terminal disease. I don’t know the ins-and-outs but it wouldn’t surprise me terribly if term insurance might be hard to get if you outlive a particular time period. (‘Why yes, we’d be glad to renew your term insurance policy Mr. Oblivious2; there’s just the small matter of your health records...’)
It seems to me that my death is most likely to come from one of 2 scenarios:
1) I become fatally ill with some disease (e.g. cancer) and, after a period of time, succumb to it.
2) I die suddenly as a result of great physical trauma (e.g. car accident)
Obviously other scenarios are possible, but I think these are the most likely. In case 1 I have plenty of time to sign up for cryonics (and could possibly pay for it with a “settlement” of some sort on my life insurance). In case 2, my body and brain suffer massive physical damage, and the cryonics company probably doesn’t get involved until there’s nothing left to salvage.
In either case, no great harm befalls me for waiting—over time the process will become more plausible (or possibly even proven), or maybe it’ll be disproven, and in any event the costs will likely come down as my income and net worth rise… so what’s the rush?
Life insurance will become more expensive after you are diagnosed with a terminal illness.
True, but I’ve got life insurance already—this would just be a matter of “re-purposing” a small percentage of it. Or maybe I’ll just pay it out of my pocket after I get sick—the insurance isn’t really a critical part of the plan.
P.S. does anyone know the legalities of cryonics? For example, suppose I pay for it with cash advances on all my credit cards, and then “die”. Many years later I’m somehow brought back to life… do I still have that debt (plus interest and penalties, of course), or has it been wiped out? Maybe it depends on how I’m brought back: if my physical body were to be brought back, I think most people would expect the debt to stick with me (after all, I didn’t really die—I just took a long nap)… but if I’m reincarnated as a computer program, it might be a little murkier...
Legally, you’re just dead. Your life insurance gets paid out as specified, your assets get sold off and dispersed, your creditors take what they can, and after a while, the files are finally closed. What happens to your corpse is a private detail.
There are cases of people returning long after being declared dead, but from what I remember, they usually got very little back. The law doesn’t like loose threads; eg. statute of limitations.
(And seriously—interest? What’s the point of charging a returnee a few centuries of interest? If the relevant currencies, sovereignties, and entities even exist, compounded interest could be in the billions.)
Why do you want to be frozen only when your death is long anticipated? Why would you prefer not to be frozen if your death was sudden?
Or is there some advantage you get from waiting I’m not seeing?
(Death meaning of course legal death here)
Did you read his original post? Sudden death for an otherwise healthy adult is likely to involve severe physical trauma (car accident) or require an autopsy (unexpected deaths of healthy adults generally do) and so greatly lower your chances of being successfully preserved.
This is one of the reasons I don’t think cryonics is a good investment for me in my current situation—based on what I’ve been able to glean from mortality statistics there is a fairly narrow range of circumstances where I might die in the next 20 years and be in a good state for successful preservation.
Alcor/CI will dispense with the money according to your instructions if there’s no chance of cryopreservation. The only difference between relying on this and re-purposing in time is that if you do die young in a cryopreservable way, you get the wrong outcome.
Also, sorting out cryonics is hard enough when you’re not terminally ill.
(I can’t remember if we actually know CaptainOblivious2′s gender—am following your example)
Oh, and I’d point out that you may have issues renewing your insurance if you get a terminal disease. I don’t know the ins-and-outs but it wouldn’t surprise me terribly if term insurance might be hard to get if you outlive a particular time period. (‘Why yes, we’d be glad to renew your term insurance policy Mr. Oblivious2; there’s just the small matter of your health records...’)