Wednesday, October 13, 2010

EUCRIO, Cryonics UK and Ben Best

Ben Best writes:
"David Styles announce the beginning of Eucrio, an organization intended to give Suspended Animation, Inc -like standby/stabilization services to all the countries in the European Union, plus Norway..."

That should scare the hell out of cryonicists across the pond! Suspended Animation has an established history of sending laymen to attempt to perform, (and miserably botch!) advanced medical procedures.
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/09/partial-review-of-suspended-animations.html
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/09/catherine-baldwin-just-another.html

"...David has a lot of energy, intelligence, and determination, so if anyone can make this project work, he is one of the few..."
http://www.depressedmetabolism.com/2010/10/11/october-2010-cryonics-symposium-in-germany/

Ben Best has also been a staunch advocate of Suspended Animation, even when others at Cryonics Institute felt he was grossly misrepresenting SA's capabilities, on CI's website.
Styles claims to have medical professionals, ready to perform cryonics procedures, all across Europe, but I've seen NO evidence of that. He certainly is living up to Ben's description as being "Suspended Animation, Inc-like"!
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/10/impersonating-physician.html
Cryonics Quackery
http://cryomedical.blogspot.com/2010/09/cryonics-quackery-vs-valid-speculation.html

In response to Styles announcement of EUCRIO, one cryonics enthusiast writes:
"Dear David,
I have always been interested in cryonics, so when I read that a new cryonics service provider had been born in Europe I greeted the news with enthusiasm. Then I went to your website and read this:


EUCRIO charges a membership fee of €35/month, and then an extra fee per service, which each will run into the tens of thousands of euros.

Really? Have you done your maths/market research correctly? Let me help you out:

assuming an average remaining lifespan of 50 years (I am 32), my membership expenses will come up to 21,000 euros PLUS "an extra fee per service, which each will run into the tens of thousands of euros". So, say, 30-40000 euros to have someone chop my head off, wrap it in dry ice, and post it to the US, where the storage facility will charge me an additional 80000 dollars to perfuse and store my head. Oh wait, since I won't have been paying my Alcor membership religiously for the previous 50 years (because I was paying EUCRIO's), that's another 25000 dollars 'last minute' fee. Thus, the total price for my suspension will be: 80000 + 25000 + 55000 USD (=40000 euros) = 160000 USD!
You've gotta be kidding.


1) your service is MUCH MORE expensive than Alcor's, which charges 25000 USD for its international stand by/recovery option. Why would anyone choose you, then? If I am run over by a bus, do you really think that my chances of being resucitated will be much higer after my brain has been at room temperature for, say, 5 hours (time that it will take you to fly to where I am in Europe) than 12 hours (time that it will take Alcor to fly to where I am in Europe)?

2) while Alcor have been seen to do what they promise and haggle corpses with hospitals in a few occasions, where's the guarantee that you won't just pack up and disappear? The fact that you mention having at your disposal doctors, technicians, and specialists of all sorts without identifying anyone able to vouch for you, as well as your complete lack of investment in infrastructures (at least Alcor have spent some money on its facilities and equipment) smacks of SCAM SCAM SCAM.

Seriously, do you think people are idiots? Who is your target audience, rational individuals who see potential in the progress of scientific knowledge or impressionalble cult followers?

And even the latter can probably do simple arithmetics and figure out quickly that you are unbelievably expensive (way more than any other provider on the market) and have no credentials whatsoever. You are doing the cryonics movement a disservice and I sincerely hope that you will be exposed soon.
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,64749,page=50 (Emphasis added.)

Recent cryonics activities do appear more "cult-like" and "scam-like," than ever before. I hate to say this, but Ben Best seems to be somewhere near the center of some very questionable marketing efforts.


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