A few comments:
1) Sign up for cryonics now. Do not delay because you think “Plastination might be better someday in the future”.
No one is offering plastination now, and you can die now.
It’s not clear when, if ever, anyone is going to offer plastination.
It’s not clear that plastination, if actually offered, will actually be better than cryonics.
2) With chemical preservation, good vascular perfusion is critical. Brain tissue which is not perfused is lost.
3) With cryopreservation, good vascular perfusion results in excellent preservation by vitrification. Brain tissue which is not perfused is still preserved.
4) Most of the costs for neuropreservation are from the up-front logistical and surgical costs. If you want minimal ischemic time and good vascular perfusion for chemical preservation you’re still going to have to pay most if not all of those costs.
General advice: if you can afford it, sign up with Alcor. If you can’t, sign up with CI.
If you want more information, I’d recommend the Alcor FAQs.
I should provide some context for my comments on Alcor’s previous track record on creating endowments: we had just received a $7M bequest, had placed $3.5M into the Patient Care Trust Fund, and the Board had decided to put the other $3.5M into an Endowment and withdraw only 2% per annum, or about $70,000 per year, for Alcor’s operational needs. Some members were feeling quite euphoric and were proposing that we spend some significant amount of the principal on various worthy projects, including reduced dues for said members and increased spending on certain pet projects. It seemed advisable to inject a note of sobriety into the discussion and to somewhat deflate the expanding expectations. While helpful, this bequest did not free us from the constraints of fiscal responsibility, and explaining why the Board was being so parsimonious with this windfall seemed appropriate at the time.
Given this context, I wouldn’t interpret these comments as “disturbing”.