X-Message-Number: 9377 From: Olaf Henny <> Subject: Message #9367 from Dave Pizer Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 21:27:06 -0800 In Message #9367 Dave Pizer wrote: >Pizer adds to Ettinger's comments. (deleted) >One trend that I have noticed in the last couple of years, is the >high rate of people cancelling their memberships (not switching - just >dropping out). So if 6 people sign up world wide in a month, and 5 people >drop out, the net gain is not much. Certainly the growth >rate of net gain is dropping. Why? > >One explanation is that a while ago, a lot of people funded their >suspensions with term insurance. When it comes up for renewal years later, >and they are older, the premiums are a lot higher than they had thought >(and/or could afford). But I suspect that is not the main reason. I don't >know what it is. It just doesn't make sense that a person would do all the >work of filling out the paper work, getting funding in place, and the other >work, and then change their minds several years later. I think I can supply another, very strong reason, why people tend to drop out, particularly when they get close to the end: When we are completely exhausted, as we all will be just before we die a "natural death" most of us do not care if we live or die. We most of all want to be left alone and not bother. I had a very interesting experience years ago when I went rock climbing in the Austrian Alps with a group. We started out on a very warm afternoon (approx. 30C or mid eighties). On our way back we took a wrong turn and ended up on the top of a vertical drop, which was too high for repelling with the lengths of the ropes we were carrying. To make a long story short, we were delayed, fog moved in, it first started to drizzle at dusk, then freezing rain, which covered the rock with ice, followed by snow. Although we were experienced enough to carry parkas, we had stashed our sweaters on the way up, and the wind blew into the bottoms of our parkas and out through the top or vice versa. By 3:00 am we were all suffering from hypothermia. I remember loosing my grip on the ice covered rock and falling straight down, in that foggy night I had no idea if the drop was 5 feet or 50 (it must have been about 8' or 10'). Under normal conditions that would have scared the hell out of me, but in my exhausted state I did not feel the slightest jolt of fear. I just got up and scampered on. Due to the conditions that night, we could not see each other at all, so it took some time before one of us noticed, that we had not heard Axel's voice for awhile. It turned out, that he had quietly given up. He responded to our calls, but told us to leave him alone. I went back and actually had to grab his boot and place it into the next foothold and yell at him to get a grip of himself, before he after a few minutes snapped out of it and tuckered along under his own steam. Each and everyone of us acted irrationally at some time during that trip, not just Axel, but it taught me, that when we are utterly exhausted, death is not frightening any more, as a matter of fact, 'slipping away' can be rather tempting. Now take a person who has signed up for cryopreservation in his/her last weeks of a terminal illness, with a whole bunch of friends and relatives berating him to forget about that cockeyed idea of having him-/herself frozen. This individual does not have the energy to listen to these people, let alone to defend his/her position. He/she just wants to be left alone: Yeah, okay I'll cancel it (if that gives me some peace & quiet). A lot of those, who are gung-ho on cryonics may not see an extended lifespan as such a price anymore when they are mortally tired. It is important, that we guard ourselves against an onslaught of contrary opinions, when we are at our weakest. I would expect, that what I described above had a lot to do with Timothy Leary's backing out of cryopreservation, not that some organization or other "fumbled the ball". Now please, let us *not* start *that* discussion again [I am allowed to mention it in a neutral manner, because I was not involved. :)] >Perhaps we (the hard-core cryonicists) should do more work in member >retention than getting new members? Good idea! Best, Olaf Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9377