FAQ
FAQs specific to Southern Cryonics (SC)
When will the facility open?
The Stasis Systems Australia Ltd t/a Southern Cryonics (SC) facility opened beginning February 2023 after many delays mainly due to Covid. SC is currently only sharing the news within our network of cryonics related contacts. We are equipped to provide services, though we are continually improving our procedures. A formal launch with public announcement is planned for early 2nd Quarter at the Facility Commencement Date.
Steps in Joining
There are essentially be 3 steps:
- The first step is to become a subscriber/associate member of Southern Cryonics. This will be a simple membership form, and a cost of $350 / year.
- This second step is the big one. Complete the agreement for future suspension. Obtain life insurance or organize other payment methods. As well as the agreement, complete the next-of-kin, informed consent, and religious objection to autopsy documents. This step is only available to subscribers/associate members. We will of course assist with all the requirements of this step
- And the third step is to plan the standby, stabilization and transportation (SST) typically through CryoPath, but you may use the organization of your choice. Checkout CryoPath.
All this sounds a lot, but we will help you through it all. It follows a logical order and is fairly typical with all major Cryonics organizations.
What will it cost?
The cost is $150K plus a yearly subscription fee of about $350. This $150K however, is payable at the time of the suspension, perhaps many years in the future, but also could be subject to cost related increases. Usually the $150K is paid through life insurance. If you are insurable the cost plus membership will be something like $60 a month (about $2/day) at about age 40. If you are not insurable we have other methods of payment tailored to the individual.
If life insurance does not apply, the following may be right for you:
The facility will be able to store up to 40 patients. If there are already 35 Founding investors does that mean that at most 5 other patients will be able to be stored?
The current stage 1 facility has room for about 40 patients. If we go by the current mortality tables and the expected number of members, it will take about 30 years to fill the 40 spots. That is in the stage 1 warehouse of 100 sqM. The land is 3300sqM and we have built this stage 1 to be easily scalable. i.e. we keep adding 100sqM or greater lots of warehouse space as we need it. The land can take about 600 patients which is forecast to be reached in 100 years. That is if we build the same way as we do now. We may then go underground/second story/ new adjacent land which makes the numbers we can store even greater.
For Founding and Full members what does the $50,000 for Founding Member, $70,000 for Full Members or $150,000 for Subsciber/Associate Members cover? Will it include standby, stabilization and transportation (SST)?
All these memberships fees will only cover the suspension and long term storage at the site. SC do not handle standby, stabilization and transportation (SST). Other organizations like CryoPath handle SST. They will cover major cities/towns in Australia. The cost is currently estimated to be about $10,000 to $50,000 depending on where the patient is in Australia and the type of SST they want.
What is Southern Cryonics refund policy?
Stasis Systems Australia Ltd t/a Southern Cryonics (SC) is a public company limited by guarantee. It is a non profit and according to ASIC rules and our Constitution there will be no refund of funds deposited. In all of these type of ventures there is always some business risk. Please be very aware of that. We are trying to minimise it by firstly, being very prudent how we manage the project and long term activities and secondly, making sure we have adequate financing. You may remember that we needed at least 16 Founding Members to have a viable long term operation. With the current 27 we believe we are more than adequately financed. If however, you join later as a client, the $150K is not payable by you until the time you are suspended.
How will I survive in the future if I am revived?
Of course, no one precisely knows the answer to this. We can however speculate based on the developments in science and medicine going on now and expected to “snowball” into the future.
Many anticipate that revival, if possible, will be a two step process. We have prepared the following video giving some background and explaining this.
General FAQs
What is cryonics?
Find out here. Another excellent place to start is the chapter on cryonics from Eric Drexler’s The Engines of Creation, available in full online.
What other organisations are offering cryonic suspensions?
The significant cryonics organisations wordwide are Alcor (US), The Cryonics Institute (US), KrioRus (Russia), and Oregon Cryonics (US).
Don’t ice crystals form during freezing and damage all the cells?
Modern methods of cryonic suspension involve using protective solutions that prevent the formation of ice crystals and result in vitrification, of the tissues. This has been shown to preserve cell and tissue structure very well. Even in older methods, ice crystals don’t generally puncture cells as they form, they dehydrate the cells and make them shrivel up. This damage should also be eventually repairable.
How much does it cost to be preserved?
The authoritative sources for current cost structures are the Alcor membership page and the Cryonics Institute membership page.
Currently, Alcor charges US$200,000 and CI charges US$35,000 for whole-body suspension. Alcor also offers head-only suspension (called a neurocryopreservation) for US$80,000. For Australians and others living outside the US, additional funds must be set aside to pay for preparation and transport of the patient to the US after the pronouncement of legal death. This costs on the order of $50,000 Australian.
Southern Cryonics plans to offer whole-body suspensions for approximately $150,000 Australian. This includes the process of bringing the patient to liquid nitrogen temperatures and long term storage.
Isn’t that expensive?
It’s a significant amount of money, yes, but you are buying an experimental lifesaving treatment, not an expensive funeral. The bulk of the funds are put in trust to provide interest to pay for ongoing storage costs such as liquid nitrogen. Please also remember that most cryonics suspensions are funded from life insurance which at about age 40 costs about $500 a year.
It sounds like a scam. Who’s getting rich?
The majority of people working in cryonics organisations around the world are volunteers, and certainly nobody is getting rich. The initial investors in Southern Cryonics are not expecting any financial return – we are “building our own lifeboat” and funding our own suspensions.
I’d prefer to leave my money to my children.
If cryonics had no chance of working, so would we. But if you think about a cryonic suspension as a lifesaving treatment, consider whether your children would prefer you to save your own life or die and leave them some extra money. Most cryonicists try to persuade their parents to sign up for cryonic suspensions, because very few people want to see their parents die if there’s any other choice.
I have more questions.
For a more extensive cryonics FAQ by former Cryonics Institute president Ben Best, go here, or feel free to contact us.