X-Message-Number: 30541 From: David Stodolsky <> Subject: Economism is a threat to cryonics Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:27:41 +0100 I am going to outline my argument in as simple terms as possible. This may oversimplify, but complications can be discussed later. The basic idea is that an ideological position held by many cryonicists is incompatible with the success of the movement and may actually contribute to their own destruction. Probably the clearest expression of this was a comment on the List about a person who was so concerned about preserving his money, that this appeared to surpass his concern about preserving his body. Another was someone who stated that they had no interest in waking up in the future, if they could not practice their ideology, in this case, Libertarianism. Such views appear to play the same role that religion plays in the recent results from the reanalysis of Badger (1998). It causes avoidance of any information that could be inconsistent with the preexisting beliefs, making them difficult if not impossible to change. However, I will primarily be considering the organizational implications of such beliefs. A Definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economism Economism is a term used to criticize economic reductionism, that is the reduction of all social facts to economical dimensions. It is also used to criticize economics as an ideology, in which supply and demand are the only important factors in decisions, and literally outstrip or permit ignoring all other factors. A Theoretical Framework: The overall theoretical framework I use for this analysis is an extremely well documented finding: http://www.rmt.ucla.edu/ Relational models theory posits that people use four elementary models to generate, interpret, coordinate, contest, plan, remember, evaluate, and think about most aspects of most social interaction in all societies. These models are Communal Sharing, Authority Ranking, Equality Matching, and Market Pricing. Scores of studies have demonstrated that people in all cultures use these models to organize much of their everyday social cognition. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/376805 Trying to use a relational model where it doesn't fit, leads to problems like " triggered distress and erratically high dollar valuations. " A. Peter McGraw; Philip E. Tetlock; Orie V. Kristel. (September 2003). The Limits of Fungibility: Relational Schemata and the Value of Things. JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Vol. 30. The argument here is that the Market Pricing relational model has been expanded inappropriately, crowding out much more appropriate relational models, due to economistic beliefs. Some Examples: In a podcast from the recent AAAS meeting, there was a result presented on the use of market mechanisms to reduce tardiness of public school pupils. A fine was imposed with the objective of improving on-time arrivals. However, parents thought it indicated that arriving late was acceptable, and found it more convenient to come late and pay the fine. The result was increased tardiness after the economic incentive was imposed. I have occasionally characterized believers as 'free market fundamentalists', however, such tendencies were also apparent in the Soviet Union, where their was no market. For example, massive fines were imposed upon companies that polluted the environment. However, since this generated funds for the government, it was allowed to continue unhindered, leading to some of the most hazardous to health sites in the world. Economism in Cryonics: The center of these tendencies within cryonics has been among those involved with ALCOR. In the recently presented growth analysis (msg=30326), it was clear that ALCOR's growth was not accellerating as fast as CI's. The even more clear difference, however, was that the growth rates in ALCOR did not follow a smooth curve as did CI's. The ALCOR growth appeared to occur in spurts, followed by plateaus. There was even a drop in the number of members from 1980 to 1981 and from 1993 to 1994. This later loss of members appears to be related to the start of the CryoCare Foundation and its associated organizations. These organizations formed an optimal, according to economic rationality, organizational ecosystem designed to maximize performance and suspendee safety. This effort was shut down after substantial efforts and funds had been expended. It appears the initiative was based on what is defined above as Economism, and did not take into account a range of psychological, social, political, and practical questions. Let's contrast this with an attempt at change in cryonics based upon a more pragmatic approach. Badger commented that "nursing homes can generate profits for the investing firm" in a suggestion for improving suspensions (msg=9406). This message included several other suggestions concerning promotion of cryonics based upon psychological understandings. "I think a cryonics trade association would involve itself in if such an organization existed (hint, hint)" was included in another message on promotion (msg=10296). Almost all of these suggestions have come up again. This last one, in consequence of an abuse which could have been avoided, if his original suggestion had been heeded. While many complaints about the methodology in Badger (1998) can be voice, the published conclusions of his survey analysis were adequate to point out the direction to go in order to improve the promotion of cryonics. We now know that this was pathbreaking research in the social sciences. However, both the his results and his suggestions were ignored, as far as I can determine. While economism as an ideology is the most destructive of effective promotion of cryonics, there is also what can be called passive acceptance. This is characterized as ignoring alternative approaches prematurely. For example, by declaring there is no way to analyze what makes people signup. This is often associated with the idea that 'psychology is obvious'. Unfortunately, these views are based upon inappropriate methods, such as application of marketing methods to the current 'package'. It is precisely the inappropriate packaging which appears to lead to the failure of such methods. On the other hand, it is required that economic arrangements be in order, thus ensuring that an appropriate level of expertise is applied in the economic area. The often stated goal of the cryonics movement is to extend life. However, it ignores the best documented approaches to do this. There is a vast body of research on the social factors that lead to extended life. By expanding the package to include these, many benefits could be achieved. First, a direct benefit to members as a result of social support. This could come from changing life style factors as well as the psychological effects of social support on stress, etc. Then, there is an indirect financial benefit of living longer. Appropriately structured, this would be a benefit to both the individual and the organization. Finally, the movement could gain open representation in scientific societies concerned with gerontology broadly , thus gaining a credibility that it has been excluded from on the cryobiology side. Acceptance within the mainline of science would do much to protect against government interference and political attacks. The typical objection to these types of suggestions is that since cryonicists are spread so thinly across the population geographically, such schemes are impractical. However, there has never been an attempt to package cryonics with a comprehensive range of current benefits that would make it attractive to a broader customer base. Even the obvious first step in achieving consumer acceptability, effective marketing, and political influence, creation of a industry trade association, has yet to be achieved. The political factor was ignored until a crisis arose, which required judicial rule making to resolve. This is the most expensive, both financially and in terms of credibility, of achieving political change. Similarly, effective marketing and widespread acceptance requires a range of initiatives that can sense opposition activities and take effective counter actions before they become a major problem that can drain scarce resources. The reanalysis of Badger (1998) clearly shows that psychological barriers are inhibiting the growth of the movement. It also shows that the much sought after goal of revival of a human being is unlikely to have much effect on peoples' attitudes toward cryonics. While this is a highly counter intuitive result for anyone already within the movement, it must be accepted before effective promotion of cryonics can take place. Continued focus on the problem thru the economistic lens, that sees only individual economic actors, which has been the norm, will certainly lead to suboptimal results and may lead to the destruction of the movement by socio-political forces. The cryonics movement was launched as a technical advance that would be seen by all as an obvious improvement to current practices. This naive view has been shown to be faulty. However, the implications of this fault have yet to lead to more than a reactive approach to incidents. A mature view requires and enables a proactive approach. dss David Stodolsky Skype: davidstodolsky Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=30541