X-Message-Number: 14840
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2000 06:51:48 -0500
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: foreigners members of Alcor

Hi everyone!

This message will (hopefully) be a short reply to Dave Pizer.

As a US citizen who has lived overseas for some time, and come to 
understand well how at least one foreign country works, Dave Pizer's
comments seem to me to do no more than show his ignorance. In what
way will a foreign life insurance company risk not paying off? The
existence of life insurance companies which DO risk not paying off
occurs both in the US and in foreign countries. I see no special
reason why a foreign life insurance company will be more risky than
a US one. I must point out also that a variety of countries use
English as their standard language, so that even the problem of 
language need not arise.

Again, in terms of treatment, Dave seems to believe that treatment
must NECESSARILY occur with no warning at all. This happens despite
what often happens in the US: someone is known to be so gravely ill
that they might "die", and a cryonics team comes to wait. That can
easily happen outside the US also, and the only requirement for the
team is to organize the required visas before any problem occurs.
Yes, someone living overseas MIGHT be found dead in their apartment,
but that is far from the only way suspension can happen. If that
happens, the patient may well be in worse shape than if they were
found in the US, but the really important factor is that of just
how fast their condition is discovered. 

So far Alcor has had TWO Australian patients. In one case, the 
patient was already known to be dying, and came up to the US for
suspension. In the second case, the patient was treated by a largely
American team, which came to Australia for that reason.

Why is it that after all the years in which foreign members were
accepted, Alcor has now decided against it? Or is Alcor aiming only
not to accept FURTHER foreign patients? Even if a suspension has
failed for a foreign patient, and Alcor has not told its members
about that incident, in what way is that failure more likely than
with those living in the US? (Not to mention that Alcor would now 
be remiss in not telling its members of this failure). 

Finally, it should be clear to everyone that founding a cryonics
society is far from easy. It requires more people than are available
in some countries, and so long as the US has the main societies,
then it's logical for others to try to join them. In terms of policy,
Alcor should try to get independent abilities elsewhere, if only 
to protect its own members against problems that may arise with
Alcor Central... but that is quite different from policies which make
it far harder for foreigners to join Alcor.

			Best wishes and long long life for all,

				Thomas Donaldson

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