Comments on: We Agree: Get Froze

By: Jai_C

Jai_C — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:37:02 +0000

re. Fork
“he knows there will be two people, one of whom is an upload that remembers being him, and the other a physical person who remembers being him.”

The upload and the physical person in addition to remembering being him, will each also have the memory of the original thinking or knowing there may be 2 of him in the future, ie. they will know about a probable existence of another copy, they will know of a possible fork.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:25:00 +0000

I actually started the process of signing up for cryonics but the insurance requirements have changed recently and it’s no longer possible to do any of the labwork outside of the United States (or even within NY apparently). I guess this will have to wait until the next time I cross the pond.

By: Manon de Gaillande

Manon de Gaillande — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:50:00 +0000

homunq: Most of this falls into two standard patterns with standard answers , “We should spend resources on something less selfish.” – we should start by cutting on luxuries like going to the cinema and buying new clothes before vital expenses – and “I want to die at some point for reason X.” – why in a few decades instead of in a million years or tomorrow? Life expectancy is not optimized for Fun, just for genetic fitness. “Death ends selfishness” is a good argument, though; it’s a benefit of death we can’t emulate without dying (because of akrasia). Still, if it justifies not signing up for cryonics, then it justifies killing yourself right now.

By: homunq

homunq — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:06:00 +0000

Is there really nobody here taking the position that the deal we get without cryogenics (a lifetime, then we are survived by our works and descendents, physical and intellectual) is not so bad? I understand that such a position is suspect because of stockholm-syndrome like biases, but there are also biases at least as large and silly for me-me-me-me-me.

I think about it this way: let me just consider the utility of the last millenium with or without reincarnation having some truth. I get almost exactly the same number, in fact slightly less for reincarnation. I think I would even get the same number if I'd been born at the start of it, and was facing the prospect of either a millenium of people I don't know, or one of myself and those I love constantly being reborn in new situations. (I focus on the last millenium to avoid unimaginable near-infinities. I'm actually seriously skeptical about a singularity or any very strong transhumanism, but that's not the point at debate, so 1000-2000 is a good slice.)

So that's my objection. Sure, it'd be fun to resurrect, for me, but is that the best use of those resources? (Even in a singularity, resources only multiply unimaginably, they are not infinite.) I doubt it. And the nice thing about death is it lets me stop being so selfish, so I can really worry about the resources and the fun, and not about me.

By: Uploaded Corpsicles Corporation

Uploaded Corpsicles Corporation — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:50:00 +0000

You either turn to digital dust or you turn to dust.

By: b421u3q

b421u3q — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:38:00 +0000

"What I wonder about cryonics is the pickup process. I don't suppose that Alcor has agents at every hospital in America. I'll skip over all the ways to die where they can't hope to get to you before you rot."

This confuses me as well. Do people signed up for cryonics worry about the circumstances of their death? I read on Alcor's website that the company encourages terminally ill patients to relocate close to their Arizona headquarters. On the other hand, not everyone gets advanced warning of his or her impending death. Suppose you die peacefully in your sleep, and no one notices for several hours. Then, are you just out of luck? I suppose you could have a device that constantly measures your heart rate and notifies Alcor (or another cryonics organization) in the event of cardiac arrest. Do cryonics organizations encourage any such thing? Are cryonics patients occasionally "lost" in this way?

By: liam

liam — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:23:00 +0000

This is not a debate about ethics as it should be a debate about the possibility of this scientific method. To me, i value life more than anything as should everyone and i can hardly see why someone would want to die. Think about it, 3 choices, rot, burn, or get frozen with the possibility of living life as it was before. This at least gives people hope and hope is something that need be much desired in this world. I give you my words and hopefully you can take a liking to them.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:47:00 +0000

You are, of course, even righter than you let on.

By: Hopefully Anonymous

Hopefully Anonymous — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:59:00 +0000

Robin, I think you miss my point that you don’t seem to care much about whether an em would conserve my subjective conscious experience (you just seem to assume it does). I think that’s because you care much less about persistance than you do about bringing cool sci fi into reality, it seems to me.

By: Robin Hanson

Robin Hanson — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:55:00 +0000

Hopefully, I based my cryonics argument on ems because we have a clearer argument that ems will be possible soon than that typical freezing and other damage can be repaired soon.

Richard, I'll respond soon.