An interesting comparison I mentioned previously: the cost to Alcor of preserving one human (full-body) is $150,000. The recent full annual budget of SIAI is on the order of (edit:) $500,000.
Cryonics Institute is a factor of 5 cheaper than that, the SIAI budget is larger than that, and SIAI cannot be funded through life insurance while cryonics can. And most people who read this aren’t actually substantial SIAI donors.
You can’t assign a life insurance policy to a non-profit organization?
Is the long-term viability of low-cost cryonics a known quantity? Is it noticeably similar to the viability of high-cost cryonics?
Did Michael Anissimov, Media Director for SIAI, when citing specific financial data available on Guidestar, lie about SIAI’s budget in the linked blog post?
Do people who aren’t donors not want to know potential cost ratios regarding the arguments specifically made by the top level post?
“You can’t assign a life insurance policy to a non-profit organization?”
You can, but it probably won’t pay out until relatively far into the future, and because of SIAI’s high discount rate, money in the far future isn’t worth much.
“Is the long-term viability of low-cost cryonics a known quantity? Is it noticeably similar to the viability of high-cost cryonics?”
Yes. The Cryonics Institute has been in operation since 1976 (35 years) and is very financially stable.
“Did Michael Anissimov, Media Director for SIAI, when citing specific financial data available on Guidestar, lie about SIAI’s budget in the linked blog post?”
Probably not, he just wasn’t being precise. SIAI’s financial data for 2008 is available here (guidestar.org) for anyone who doesn’t believe me.
The Cryonics Institute has been in operation since 1976 (35 years) and is very financially stable.
Please provide evidence for this claim. I’ve heard contradictory statements to the effect that even $150,000 likely isn’t enough for long term viability.
Probably not, he just wasn’t being precise.
I’m curious how the statement, “our annual budget is in the $200,000/year range”, may be considered “imprecise” rather than outright false when compared with data from the source he cited.
I sent Anissimov an email asking him to clarify. He may have been netting out Summit expenses (matching cost of venue, speaker arrangements, etc against tickets to net things out). Also note that 2008 was followed by a turnover of all the SIAI staff except Eliezer Yudkowsky, and Michael Vassar then cut costs.
I was completely wrong on my budget estimate, I apologize. I wasn’t including the Summit, and I was just estimating the cost on my understanding of salaries + misc. expenses. I should have checked Guidestar. My view of the budget also seems to have been slightly skewed because I frequently check the SIAI Paypal account, which many people use to donate, but I never see the incoming checks, which are rarer but sometimes make up a large portion of total donations. My underestimate of money in contributing to my underestimating monies out.
Again, I’m sorry, I was not lying, just a little confused and a few years out of date on my estimate. I will search over my blog to modify any incorrect numbers I can find.
That’s a very good point. It seems there is some dispute about the numbers but the general point is that it would be a lot cheaper to fund SIAI which may save the world than to cryogenically freeze even a small fraction of the world’s population.
The point about life insurance is moot. Life insurance companies make a profit so having SIAI as your beneficiary upon death wouldn’t even make that much sense. If you just give whatever you’d be paying in life insurance premiums directly to SIAI, you’re probably doing much more overall good than paying for a cryonics policy.
An interesting comparison I mentioned previously: the cost to Alcor of preserving one human (full-body) is $150,000. The recent full annual budget of SIAI is on the order of (edit:) $500,000.
Cryonics Institute is a factor of 5 cheaper than that, the SIAI budget is larger than that, and SIAI cannot be funded through life insurance while cryonics can. And most people who read this aren’t actually substantial SIAI donors.
You can’t assign a life insurance policy to a non-profit organization?
Is the long-term viability of low-cost cryonics a known quantity? Is it noticeably similar to the viability of high-cost cryonics?
Did Michael Anissimov, Media Director for SIAI, when citing specific financial data available on Guidestar, lie about SIAI’s budget in the linked blog post?
Do people who aren’t donors not want to know potential cost ratios regarding the arguments specifically made by the top level post?
“You can’t assign a life insurance policy to a non-profit organization?”
You can, but it probably won’t pay out until relatively far into the future, and because of SIAI’s high discount rate, money in the far future isn’t worth much.
“Is the long-term viability of low-cost cryonics a known quantity? Is it noticeably similar to the viability of high-cost cryonics?”
Yes. The Cryonics Institute has been in operation since 1976 (35 years) and is very financially stable.
“Did Michael Anissimov, Media Director for SIAI, when citing specific financial data available on Guidestar, lie about SIAI’s budget in the linked blog post?”
Probably not, he just wasn’t being precise. SIAI’s financial data for 2008 is available here (guidestar.org) for anyone who doesn’t believe me.
Please provide evidence for this claim. I’ve heard contradictory statements to the effect that even $150,000 likely isn’t enough for long term viability.
I’m curious how the statement, “our annual budget is in the $200,000/year range”, may be considered “imprecise” rather than outright false when compared with data from the source he cited.
SIAI Total Expenses (IRS form 990, line 17):
2006: $395,567
2007: $306,499
2008: $614,822
I sent Anissimov an email asking him to clarify. He may have been netting out Summit expenses (matching cost of venue, speaker arrangements, etc against tickets to net things out). Also note that 2008 was followed by a turnover of all the SIAI staff except Eliezer Yudkowsky, and Michael Vassar then cut costs.
Hi all,
I was completely wrong on my budget estimate, I apologize. I wasn’t including the Summit, and I was just estimating the cost on my understanding of salaries + misc. expenses. I should have checked Guidestar. My view of the budget also seems to have been slightly skewed because I frequently check the SIAI Paypal account, which many people use to donate, but I never see the incoming checks, which are rarer but sometimes make up a large portion of total donations. My underestimate of money in contributing to my underestimating monies out.
Again, I’m sorry, I was not lying, just a little confused and a few years out of date on my estimate. I will search over my blog to modify any incorrect numbers I can find.
Thank you for the correction.
You could fund SIAI through life insurance if you list them as a beneficiary just as you would with cryonics.
That’s a very good point. It seems there is some dispute about the numbers but the general point is that it would be a lot cheaper to fund SIAI which may save the world than to cryogenically freeze even a small fraction of the world’s population.
The point about life insurance is moot. Life insurance companies make a profit so having SIAI as your beneficiary upon death wouldn’t even make that much sense. If you just give whatever you’d be paying in life insurance premiums directly to SIAI, you’re probably doing much more overall good than paying for a cryonics policy.
CI costs $30K, and you only have to pay about 9K if you’re young, and not up front—you just pay your insurance premiums.