2 replies to this topic

[iambhall]

There is an "anti-cryonics" website at http://www.saveted.net. This site has been up, in various forms, since around 2002, when the Ted Williams story became news.

The site makes the claim that funding cryonics through life insurance is possibly illegal:

Another issue concerns the promotion of life insurance for use by
cryonics clients to finance the treatment process.  There appears to be
a potential conflict in purpose for such applications as outlined in the
article,"Vinny, Vidi, Vici," February 2005, posted on this website.

Investigation of this questionable insurance practice should be of interest
to national regulators and private policy providers.

In that regard, during April 2005, inquiry request memos were provided
to several federal agencies and a private regulatory group to determine
the validity of such practice.

In addition to enforcement of insurance regulations, Federal agencies can
utilize provisions of Ricco Statues.  Prima facia evidence was submitted.

I'm not sure what the author means by "private regulatory group". It could just mean himself and a friend. LOL.

It might be a good idea if Alcor's website included a brief rebuttal to this. Perhaps another entry under the "Misinformed Questions" would be appropriate?
http://alcor.org/FAQs/faq07.html

-Bryan Hall

[bgwowk]

Hi Bryan. I've seen this website, and the argument goes something like this: If cryonics intends to save people, then it's fraudulent to file for a life insurance death benefit on someone you believe is not dead. This is, of course, nonsense. To collect life insurance, all that legally matters is that a person meets the criteria for legal death *today*.

Even morally the argument doesn't hold water. One analogy I've seen is a widow who after the required waiting period collects life insurance on her missing-person husband, and then spends the proceeds to go looking for him in a South American jungle. There is nothing morally wrong with that, and that is what cryonics essentially is.

As to a rebuttal on Alcor's website, it's not worth the time.

---BrianW

[quadclops]

I have my cryonics contract with the Cryonics Institute funded through First Colony Life Insurance Company, which is a GE financial company. General Electric and it's insurance division has been around for a good number of years, so I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing. This Richard C. Jaffeson bozo at the site listed above just doesn't have a "legal" case to stand on.

What a crock this site is! [8)]

I love this bit.

One of the greatest baseball players who ever lived
currently remains frozen in two separate metal devices
at a laboratory in Arizona.  This disposition was not in
his 1996 Will, nor did he contract for such treatment.

Join these efforts to have him released so his remains
can be finally given the respect and dignity which he
so richly deserves.  Ted Williams is a national icon and
American baseball hero.  Your efforts can ensure that
he regains his rightful place in our hearts and memories.

HOW is it showing someone respect, and preserving their dignity to take a person you admire and dump them in a hole in the ground to rot like an old sack of garbage?!! [huh] [angry] Well actually, he alledgedly wanted to be cremated, not buried, but is that really any better? I mean shoving his beloved body into an oven and cooking him into a smoking pile of ash leaves him with more dignity? [huh]

"Your efforts can ensure that he regains his rightful place in our hearts and memories." This steaming pile of attitude just makes me sick! [sick] [angry]
This guy, and other fans like him who have spouted this same egotistic drivel, don't really give a rat's arse for Ted Williams or his supposedly shocking and dissapointing fate! To Hell with Ted Williams, it's really all about them! They want "closure!" They want a mausoleum somewhere that they can make pilgrimages to! They feel he's been stolen from them! Them, them, them, it's all about them!

From what little I've heard of the man, he sounded like a guy who lived his life on his own terms, and to hell with what other people expected of him. So, you'd think that thumbing his nose at Death, and grabbing ahold of another chance at life through cryonics, would be seen as a final act of the old Ted Williams self-determination! A final act of dignity!

You'd think the fans would be happy with that! No, no, it's all about them. They want a shrine they can cry and leave flowers at.