X-Message-Number: 9398
Subject: Cryonics: Business or Religion?
Date: Fri, 03 Apr 1998 11:02:07 -0500
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <>

> From: Charles Platt <>
> Subject: Cryonics: Business or Religion?
> 
> When CryoCare was formed, there was a lot of internal debate about 
> whether it should be for-profit or nonprofit. At the time I argued that 
> the debate was pointless, since there was no way we were CAPABLE of 
> making a profit. At the time, I was criticized for being negative and 
> insufficiently growth-oriented. But all you have to do is look at the 
> numbers, to see that even if cryonics grew at five times its current 
> rate, STILL it would not be profitable, at least in the near term.

I pushed rather hard for Cryocare to be operated, to the greatest
extent possible, be unbunded and operated for profit. To a large
extent this was NOT done -- the unbundling of sales/signup services
was, unfortunately, not handled this way. What happened was more or
less what I predicted -- we didn't get lots of people trying to sell
services, because they weren't going to make their living doing so.

Saying "Cryocare would not be profitable as currently run, therefore
the business model won't work" is like saying "The U.S. Government is
horribly inefficient, therefore, if we were to privatize its
functions, they would be horribly inefficient."

> My conclusion, from this, is that we should forget about our fee
> schedules, which are hopelessly unrealistic anyway--a pure piece of
> fiction. Instead, so long as cryonics is clearly unprofitable, we should
> finance ourselves in the same way that successful charities operate. This
> means, ideally, TITHING. 

I think that will largely doom the whole thing.

If we want to get serious about expanding cryonics, people are going
to have to forget a bit about their morals and start selling services
agressively, and for a profit. I personally have no stomach for that,
so I do not wish to get into that business. However, I don't have the
stomach for selling real estate or life insurance either, but that
does not mean that others don't have the mental outlook for doing such 
things.

You mention that millions of people have heard about cryonics and yet
few people are signed up. Well, just knowing about something doesn't
sell people. How many people would buy cars if they had to spend
months searching to find a car dealer, instead of being bombarded with 
ads telling them where to find one? Why do you think insurance
companies, car dealers, real estate brokers and even laundry detergent 
companies advertise and agressively market their services? Because
they think the ads are aesthetically pleasing, or because they know
that if people aren't agressively sought out and practically lead by
the nose to a product they won't buy it?

If people want to see cryonics expand rapidly, they are going to have
to start treating this like a business and try to make money off of
it. There is no other way.

Perry

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