Affluent individuals are asking their attorneys to create trusts that will be available hundreds of years from now should they decide to cryogenically freeze themselves. According to Bloomberg, this is an emerging trend in the estate law field and is even being discussed at prominent legal conferences.
“The idea of cryopreservation has gone from crackpot to merely eccentric,” said Mark House, an estate lawyer at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.
Alcor, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is one of the world’s largest cryonics facilities, counting some 1,400 members and 230 people frozen so far. “Now that it’s eccentric, it’s kind of in vogue to be interested in it,” House added.
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An estimated 5,500 people intend to get cryogenically preserved. House, a lawyer in a brand new field, believes he has worked with about 100 already. Questions he is forced to answer for the first time in human history include, Can a bank account exist indefinitely? What is the legal death status of someone who is cryogenically preserved? Have you been brought back to life if only your brain has been preserved? Are you the same person?
One person Bloomberg contacted, Steve Lebel, will be putting $100,000 in a “revival trust.”
“I really want to figure out a solution, otherwise I’ll be in there with my fingers crossed, hoping there’s money left over, 200 years from now, to pay for the resurrection process,” LeBel said.
“I believe the aging process is going to be cured,” LeBel added. “It’s a disease. The technology isn’t there yet, but I can bridge that time gap with cryonics.”
Titans of tech like Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Larry Page, and Larry Ellison have already dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars toward efforts to unlock human immortality. One such venture is Cradle Healthcare Co., a startup with $48 million in capital. Helmed by investor Laura Deming, the company aims to help discover “longevity” and is already adding credibility to the field, according to observers.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
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