> There’s been an explosion in the engine, and the plane is going to crash in 15 minutes. There’s no chance of survival. There is a potential way out—the plane

> There’s been an explosion in the engine, and the plane is going to crash in 15 minutes. There’s no chance of survival. There is a potential way out—the plane happens to be transferring a shipment of parachutes, and anyone who would like to use one to escape the plane may do so. But I must warn you—the parachutes are experimental and completely untested, with no guarantee to work. We also have no idea what the terrain will be like down below. Please line up in the aisle if you’d like a parachute, and the flight attendants will give you one, show you how to use it and usher you to the emergency exit where you can jump. Those who choose not to take that option, please remain in your seat—this will be over soon, and you will feel no pain. This analogy is used to obscure rather than to clarify. Preserving someone's body and hoping that they can be resurrected in the far future is something that anyone can understand. So why do we need an analogy? The article makes many comparisons between medical intervention and cryonics. When considering a medical intervention, one has to consider the likelihood of the intervention's success. My opinion is that there's roughly zero chance that people being preserved will ever be resurrected. I think it's dumb to spend large amounts of money on medical interventions with roughly zero chance of success. This is what it comes down to: people who pay for cryonics think that there is significantly greater than zero chance that they will be resurrected. I support their right to make that gamble but I think it's a bad gamble. I think that it's a waste of money, that it's selfish, and that people who make that gamble will tend to be people who have led unfulfilling lives because they've been unable to accept things that they can't control. Maybe I'm wrong. Only with the passage of time we will know whether these people will be resurrected or not. As I said, I'm betting on "no chance in hell". If you like Don DeLillo, Zero K is an excellent criticism of cryonics.