I think my main reasoning for doing this is a core belief that aging and death are a disease, just like tuberculosis or smallpox, etc. I don't think it's "the way it's supposed to be". It's something that affects us that can be beaten if not eliminated. My contract w/ Alcor tells me that if an accident should happen or I should not make it long enough to see that day...I can still wait for it the best way I know how. I love life and the adventure of seeing another day. Like dag, I will take a million to one odds over none.
I don't necessarily want to be immortal as a human (because I don't know what else is out there yet), I just want to opt out when I am good and ready to do so. Ha!
I am 30 y/o in good health (so far) by the way, which made the life insurance premium which pays for this procedure practically negligible in terms of it being a hardship to afford. My husband, on the other hand, is much older than me making his more of an issue. The issue of when to sign up in my mind is the only financial consideration... but where there is a will, there is a way. We could easily be spending the money we are spending on cryonics on monthly cable, extra phones, car payments & misc. bills (none of which we have). The whole thing is just so interesting and ... deep ...

There are some animals that can survive freezing, such as the Weta, but they are highly different to mammals in terms of physiology and can only survive to -10°C. Human brain cells will begin to permanently degrade with less than 5 minutes of cerebral hypoxia, and it didn't look like they were able to freeze faster than that safely. Even if the cells could eventually be repaired, it's the complex millions of neural connections that make you you that are lost forever.

Speaking philosophically, I am a survivor of cancer and chronic kidney failure and now have a transplant. So I have confronted my own mortality more than most. Yet I still find the fear of death I see in the people in this program surprising. For me death is just another part of the journey, and would much rather try and live the best life I can now that spend tens of thousands on an untested idea.
But this is only my personal opinion, and if the members get some sort of peace of mind from this then I hope it's worth the money.

But seriously, it's only a matter of time before Alcor starts selling Soylent Green.

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Great post. I've been following Alcor for years. If you don't mind me asking- did you go for the Neuro-suspension, or full-body?

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I'm hoping for aliens, sentient robots or an escape hatch.

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I'm planning on living forever. I'll go for the neuro-suspension in liquid nitrogen at Alcor:
http://www.alcor.org/