How hard do we really want to sell cryonics?

I don't think death is an appropriate punishment for being victimized by predatory memes.

About as much as I agree that the weak deserve to be dominated by the strong and that the sick deserve to suffer.

If someone who is mentally ill wishes to hurt themselves, do we, as a society, feel that it is alright to let them do so? No! As a matter of fact, medical professionals are required by law to restrain the suicidal, because intervention can often help.

Self-damaging virulent memes hijacking your brain do not make you a bad person, only a confused one, and confusion does not make death more justifiable. I would be happy to see someone who is pro-death become less confused and then become anti-death, but I would be sad to see someone who is pro-death die.

The problem isn't (only) that people who's memes keep them away from cryonics are going to die, its also that those people's memes make even more people die, even if they'd otherwise do cryonics.

A first pass at a script with the requested topics covered; may or may not be doable in under a minute but should be shy of 90 seconds. Not really aimed at people who've never heard of cryo before - couldn't fit that in with the rest of it. I could do more of these covering different subtopics/different audiences if that would be worthwhile.

[Scene: An office of some sort. Two women in business casual wear are talking.]

NADIA: So, how do you hold up with the ice crystals in your body? [cut to a cartoon of cells methodically sliced up by a diamond-shaped crystal expanding.] Voiceover: Won't they do damage, even if everything else works?

JOICE: Well, they're not going to drop me in a vat without some prep work. They have chemicals called cryoprotectants [fluid pours into the cartoon, wearing the crystal into a harmless little ball] that reduce the ice crystals. It's almost like what goes in ice cream [closeup of cartoon ice cream cone] to keep it smooth.

NADIA: Ice cream. [Zoom out from ice cream to show cartoon Nadia holding it, and looking at it skeptically.]

[Cut back to office scene.

JOICE: You know what I mean.

NADIA: Sure. But I looked at that website, and it costs thousands of dollars [cut to cartoon Benjamins piling up] to get preserved. Where'd you get that kind of money? [cartoon vignette of Joice wearing a ski mask holding a bag marked $ and posing evilly.]

JOICE: I didn't get that kind of money. [Ski mask and bag of $ disappear; cartoon Joice is wearing her normal clothes and shaking hands with a dude in a suit, who then departs.] Life insurance pays out when you're legally done for, [cartoon Joice keels over; cartoon doctor and cartoon lawyer with a briefcase appear on the scene and gesture energetically] but not too late for cryonics to step in [team of cryo folk troop in and carry cartoon Joice off in a stretcher]. I have my insurance set up to pay the cryonics organization. [Dude in suit shakes hands with one of the cryo folks] It costs me less than my phone plan! [Scale, with a phone weighing more than a snowflake]

NADIA: Not nothing, though. [Phone is replaced with a feather, scale tips] You'll feel silly if astronomers find, say, an asteroid on its way to destroy civilization. [Cut to asteroid, on its way to destroy civilization. Asteroid cackles evilly. Cartoon Joice smacks herself in the forehead.]

JOICE: I'd feel sillier about buying a house [zoom out from cartoon Joice with her hand on her forehead to show a house], if that happened. But in the real world, [asteroid goes poof] I need a house to live in [Joice in her house, smiling] - and cryonics to have the best shot at living.

Any specs for who the characters should be or what characteristics they should exhibit via dialogue beyond pro-cryo/not-yet-pro-cryo?

Edit: In particular, to what extent should I be leaning on storyish tropes? e.g. "Remember that time when [allegorical event] happened? You did [sensible thing] which is analogous to cryo!" I know fiction writing, but I'm not versed in the ways of marketing...

While I've never managed to get an exact figure from someone who is signed up

I just e-mailed my life insurance guy to check. This July I need to send them a check for $401.70. This will cover me for the subsequent year. The payment may become less over the years as complicated financial things happen, I am informed. I went with a whole-life policy so I don't have to deal with the headache of obtaining insurance more than once over my lifetime, so this is probably more expensive than what people with more headache-tolerance will be able to get.

Edit: Oh, and I'm young, and while I am not exactly the picture of health, I'm not unusually unwell in any of the ways they tend to check for, so this may be cheaper than what someone older or otherwise actuarially disadvantaged might get.

Perhaps I should clarify my interest. Why isn't making cryonics affordable for as many people as possible the priority, rather than focusing on marketing to people most similar to oneself? Looks an awful lot like tribalism.

I've signed up with CI and I am paying for it with life insurance. I am 24 and in perfect health, so I was able to get a Universal Life insurance for $72.50 a month. It's locked into this rate for the rest of my life.

Alcor recently raised their suspension minimum to $200k for full body. CI only charges $28k. There are complex reasons for this difference, including that CI does not consider it their responsibility to provide standby-stabilization, and Alcor uses a more expensive preservation solution (the one used for vitrifying a rabbit kidney). Both of these figures are the amounts you would pay from your life insurance. They both also have ongoing membership costs. (IIRC Alcor charges $600 and CI $120, but there are discounts for couples and maybe students.)