I've finally decided to take the plunge and make the arrangements for my eventual cryonic preservation. To help myself make sure that I actually follow through with everything necessary, I'm publicly pre-committing myself here to accomplish that.
As initial evidence that I'm actually serious about doing this, I've sent an email to The Cryonics Institute today, whose contents were as follows:
I have decided to finally stop procrastinating and make the necessary arrangements for my eventual cryonic preservation, and I have chosen CI to make those arrangements with.
I have looked through your membership pages and online sample forms, and I believe that I can work through my end of the paperwork without any real trouble, although I would still appreciate any advice you have to offer. For example, I live in Canada, about an hour's drive from Toronto, which might affect which forms are necessary.
Before I send my initial payment, I would at least like to confirm the basic details, and let you know who the money is coming from. It appears that, to start things off, I can Paypal you USD $110, for the yearly membership fee plus the first quarter's dues; after which I would mail you a physical, signed copy of the yearly membership application. After that, there will be a variety of documents to sign and have witnessed; and the insurance plan to arrange for. Is that a reasonable summary?
For the life insurance, I am thinking of a 20-year term policy with RBC (Royal Bank of Canada). Have you had any dealings with them previously, to know whether or not there will be any problems in setting the Cryonics Institute as the beneficiary? Do you have any recommendations about how large a benefit in excess of the basic USD $35,000 amount the policy should pay out, such as to cover currency-exchange fluctuations or the 'local help' rider?
Is there anything else you would recommend be discussed before I make that initial payment and set the ball in motion?
For some time, I've been reading through an EPUB of the Sequences (and am currently 47% of the way through), which has generally kept LW-style thoughts high in my mental queue.
For about three and a half months, I've been aiming for writing near-daily chapters of a rationalist fan-fiction, which has pushed me to thinking even deeper about such matters.
Last month, my uncle had a heart attack, which required him to be revived five times before we even found out about it; since he got out of the hospital, we've been trying to help him adjust his lifestyle.
A few days ago, an article appeared in my newsfeeds about a woman with cancer receiving donations to fund her cryo-preservation. This prompted me to do some browsing on cryonics, which I've done before; this time, though, I actually comparison-shopped between the providers, looking at what it would take to make the arrangements, and how much it would cost.
I found out that arrangements could be made for under $30 per month. I'm on a fixed income, but there's enough slack in my budget that even I can afford that if I wanted to make it a higher priority than, say, a monthly movie-and-a-restaurant indulgence.
I subscribed to a few cryo mailing lists, mentioning in one subscription request that I was looking into this and leaning more towards CI than Alcor.
I finally decided that, if I was going to go for cryo, I'd go for CI over Alcor.
I sent an email to CI, asking for further info on some details.
I still hadn't fully committed, so I recalled a suggestion or two I'd heard on making decisions you've been pushing off making - and posted here, making a public commitment to arranging cryo. No forms have been signed, no money has been sent to CI or the insurance company - but I now consider it only a matter of time until all that is done. Before I made the post, I was still hedging my bets and getting ready to back out if I changed my mind; but now I'm weighing all my decisions with the assumption that it's only a matter of time before it's all official.
I've finally decided to take the plunge and make the arrangements for my eventual cryonic preservation. To help myself make sure that I actually follow through with everything necessary, I'm publicly pre-committing myself here to accomplish that.
As initial evidence that I'm actually serious about doing this, I've sent an email to The Cryonics Institute today, whose contents were as follows:
I have decided to finally stop procrastinating and make the necessary arrangements for my eventual cryonic preservation, and I have chosen CI to make those arrangements with.
I have looked through your membership pages and online sample forms, and I believe that I can work through my end of the paperwork without any real trouble, although I would still appreciate any advice you have to offer. For example, I live in Canada, about an hour's drive from Toronto, which might affect which forms are necessary.
Before I send my initial payment, I would at least like to confirm the basic details, and let you know who the money is coming from. It appears that, to start things off, I can Paypal you USD $110, for the yearly membership fee plus the first quarter's dues; after which I would mail you a physical, signed copy of the yearly membership application. After that, there will be a variety of documents to sign and have witnessed; and the insurance plan to arrange for. Is that a reasonable summary?
For the life insurance, I am thinking of a 20-year term policy with RBC (Royal Bank of Canada). Have you had any dealings with them previously, to know whether or not there will be any problems in setting the Cryonics Institute as the beneficiary? Do you have any recommendations about how large a benefit in excess of the basic USD $35,000 amount the policy should pay out, such as to cover currency-exchange fluctuations or the 'local help' rider?
Is there anything else you would recommend be discussed before I make that initial payment and set the ball in motion?