I feel like you’ve hit upon a significant, salient objection with the whole “bereft of community” factor, but
One possible alternative approach might be to take the thought experiment—what if we could revive someone from cryo not next century, or next decade… but tomorrow. What could we do to help them integrate into modern life, instead of merely waking up in a hospital bed with the day’s newspaper and being shown the door?
...So: If someone was revived from cryonics tomorrow, would you be willing to at least let them crash on your couch for a few weeks?
I think the “community” that many people are worried about losing is something beyond that which you’re addressing here. People want a community that values and relates to them, not just one that accommodates them.
Framing it in terms of debt, as per the opening of your post, what they have is a relationship where others are indebted to them as well as their being indebted to others, and individuals account for themselves within the community and have opportunity to feel valued because of it. What they’d be getting upon arrival is a community which sustained their very existence without receiving compensation from them, for decades, where they’re effectively being supported and acculturated into their new environment as an act of charity.
Beyond the issue of debt though, communities tend to be bound together by shared values and norms. Think of the mass immigration to America around the Industrial Revolution; immigrants tended to live in enclaves among other immigrants. Suppose you were an Italian immigrating to America, but there were almost no other Italian immigrants, so few you would probably never meet one. Suppose further that there were also so few Catholics in America that there would be no church groups you could integrate into without outright changing religions. The immigration officials might say “sure, we’ll take you,” but you wouldn’t be able to surround yourself with people you knew you shared cultural norms with. You might find acceptance, and maybe if you’re lucky, people who value your contributions to society, but you’d have a damn hard time finding people who relate to you as an Italian Catholic immigrant, and you might have to change yourself in ways you’re not necessarily comfortable changing in order to fit in.
Re-reading my post, I think part of what I was trying to express with the ‘couch crash’ question is that, at present, there aren’t any preparations to even let a cryonics revivee couch-surf amongst other cryo enthusiasts, let alone try to help them join the more full-fledged sorts of shared-values communities you describe.
I feel like you’ve hit upon a significant, salient objection with the whole “bereft of community” factor, but
I think the “community” that many people are worried about losing is something beyond that which you’re addressing here. People want a community that values and relates to them, not just one that accommodates them.
Framing it in terms of debt, as per the opening of your post, what they have is a relationship where others are indebted to them as well as their being indebted to others, and individuals account for themselves within the community and have opportunity to feel valued because of it. What they’d be getting upon arrival is a community which sustained their very existence without receiving compensation from them, for decades, where they’re effectively being supported and acculturated into their new environment as an act of charity.
Beyond the issue of debt though, communities tend to be bound together by shared values and norms. Think of the mass immigration to America around the Industrial Revolution; immigrants tended to live in enclaves among other immigrants. Suppose you were an Italian immigrating to America, but there were almost no other Italian immigrants, so few you would probably never meet one. Suppose further that there were also so few Catholics in America that there would be no church groups you could integrate into without outright changing religions. The immigration officials might say “sure, we’ll take you,” but you wouldn’t be able to surround yourself with people you knew you shared cultural norms with. You might find acceptance, and maybe if you’re lucky, people who value your contributions to society, but you’d have a damn hard time finding people who relate to you as an Italian Catholic immigrant, and you might have to change yourself in ways you’re not necessarily comfortable changing in order to fit in.
You’ve hit a few nails right on the head.
Re-reading my post, I think part of what I was trying to express with the ‘couch crash’ question is that, at present, there aren’t any preparations to even let a cryonics revivee couch-surf amongst other cryo enthusiasts, let alone try to help them join the more full-fledged sorts of shared-values communities you describe.