I sometimes worry about a scenario where Sam Altman’s kid gets cancer or Xi Jinping gets AGI-pilled right before getting a terminal prognosis. What might someone in power do, if they thought that short-term recklessness was the only path of hope?
Well, the MIT TR article directly mentions that Sam Altman himself is one of the first 25 donors to Nectome (paid $10,000), and quoted saying “I assume my brain will be uploaded to the cloud”. So in that scenario perhaps it would lead to the opposite outcome, with him suddenly investing a lot in cryo and being more long-term-focused.
> Nectome wants $20k upfront, and they’re basically accepting a $230k shortfall should anyone die in the interim. This would make anyone skeptical that they really have any intention of following through. Malice or incompetence, the numbers don’t add up!
This is incorrect, you should read more about the numbers here, it’s not the way you described them, but rather:
pay $250k, and they will handle you immediately
pay $100k upfront (during this discount period), and they will handle you if you die at any point
pay $20k upfront (during this discount period), and they will handle you if you die more than 10 years from now; but if you die within the next 10 years, instead you will get a 10%-90% discount based on how many years have passed.
Max Harms’ post here includes some approximate calculations that show Nectome’s own internal cost for the service is around $80k, so they get a good positive margin either way, and will definitely not experience a $230k shortfall.