X-Message-Number: 32589
Subject: Re: "Violating social norms" carries certain health risks
From: David Stodolsky <>
Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 21:32:52 +0200
References: <>

On 20 May 2010, at 11:00 AM, CryoNet wrote:

> The fact that this pattern showed up among married couples in Denmark,
> a developed, egalitarian country with universal health insurance,
> suggests that social and lifestyle factors overwhelm the alleged
> benefits of such insurance for morbidity and life expectancy.
> 
> 
>> The even worse news was that men involved with younger women tended to live
> longer.


You could only conclude this if the effect discussed was larger than the effect 
of universal healthcare (not insurance), which is unlikely. The study controlled
for all social and lifestyle factors, except the one tested, so they were 
eliminated from the analysis. 

> 
> 
> 
> Signing up for cryonic suspension, certainly "violates  social norms" and
> has its consequences, of which a shorter life span (if we take David's
> reference with an uncritical eye) is suggested. We obviously don't think so,
> perhaps by the semantic devise of re-defining "lifespan". It would be of
> minor interest to compare our first life cycle spans to an actuarial table,
> but I suspect that there are so many variables that such a comparison would
> be meaningless. 

The sample of cryonicists would probably be too small to show any effect.



The major point is that social factors are a major contributor to lifespan. 
Therefore, the failure to even investigate such factors by those who claim to be
'promoting life' creates a credibility gap. 


One way to reduce the stresses associated with violating social norms is to 
organize subcultural groups in which cryonics would be a norm. The need for 
local support has unfortunately been demonstrated repeatedly and resulted in 
delayed or cancelled suspensions. So, shortened lifespans due to aborting of a 
possible second life cycle is also clearly a risk of violating social norms.


dss

David Stodolsky
  Skype: davidstodolsky

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