[ExI] New York Times piece on cryonics, featuring Robin Hanson & Peggy

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2010/7/12 Michael D <michaelfd1976 at gmail.com>:
> Advocates of socialized medicine who are aslo cryonicists would do well to
> take note of the following comments in this NYT article
>
>
> "The United States is not necessarily an easy place to take up the banner of
> letting go; we’re likely to call it “giving up,” and there is of course no
> purer expression of this attitude than the pursuit of cryonics."
>
> "Robin’s expertise extends to the economics of health care, a domain in
> which enormous amounts of money are spent on experimental procedures with
> only a small chance of extending life."
>
> "His students rarely accept this framing. “We spend most of the semester
> talking about how people are obsessed with taking any small chance at living
> longer,” Robin says. “And then when we get to cryonics, it’s: Well, who
> needs to live longer? What’s the point of living anyway? Why can’t we solve
> global hunger?”
>
>
> As well as a recent Yahoo news article which basically villifies America for
> trying too hard to save lives, criticizing procedures that are extremely
> expensive and have little chance of success.
>
>
> Americans are treated, and overtreated, to death
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100628/ap_on_he_me/us_med_overtreated_final_days
>
> - Michael F Dickey

At some point the entire GDP of a country would be consumed by
offering every possible medical treatment to anyone who asked for it.
Some expensive medical procedures - not necessarily cryonics - would
therefore not be covered by socialised medicine. But the same applies
to private health insurance: if you want cosmetic surgery, for
example, you have to pay for it.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou