If you wanted to kill yourself you could satisfy the desires of quite a few fringe people at once: have a psychopath kill you, a necrophiliac rape you, and a cannibal eat you. Hell, if done under the right medical supervision it might even be possible to save the organs too (of course, if I were a cannibal I’d probably be bummed out if I didn’t get any liver).
I’ve heard that many deaths ruled suicide might be better classified as signaling botches. That is, the individual in question was doing something with the lowest available probability of actually killing them, which would still be recognized as a suicide attempt and thereby provoke reassurances. A multifetish scenario would be far enough outside societal norms to be unlikely to attract support, and virtually impossible to survive.
In other cases, it’s a matter of extreme altruism, not wanting to be a burden on others. That’s more compatible with the psychopath/necrophile/cannibal option, but, statistically speaking, so few people empathize with any of those demographics (let alone all three) that they aren’t common targets for even minor altruism, let alone literal self-sacrifice.
Liver grows back far more readily than any other organ. It might be possible to give the cannibal a slice and still use the rest. Of course, given the shortages of livers, it would probably be better to split it and graft into multiple people.
Eat your simulated body while you are in it (presumably with pain turned off or at least down?) or your original body (which you don’t have any use for anymore in the scenario?)?
Depends on my current state of wealth and the current meaning of “wealth” in the universe. I think if I uploaded I’d still prefer to be frozen/vitrified (or whatever the current state of the art with regards to that is), just in case I ever changed my mind. Also, I hold a bit of sentimental value towards my body, and if I could afford to keep it well preserved for an extremely long time, why not?
If, say, I could only afford to upload if I let someone eat my body and that paid better than medical research or donating my organs, sure, a cannibalism fetishist or super-hardcore foodie could eat my body.
No, but I’d remind them that if they uploaded they could simulate eating it as many times as they wanted. That could go badly if they wanted it as a token of friendship or intimacy, but in that case a too-casual agreement would be equally bad.
Hey, good idea. New question for getting evidence of rationality: “How do you feel about cannibalism? Not killing people, just the act of eating human meat. Imagine that the meat was vat-grown, or you’re a starving survivor of a plane crash, or something.”
I remember once reading Richard Stallman saying that when he dies, if his body cannot be used for medical research, he would want it to be used for cannibalism or necrophilia.
A rather weird thing to say, but on reflection, not quite as weird as people’s usual thoughts on death — “I want my body to be put into the ground so it can decompose” or “I want my body to be burned so it can be of no use to anybody” — right?
Well, along with medical research, organ donation and cryonics also probably exceed the expected utility of cannibalism or necrophilia.
That said, I’m not sure they would be mutually exclusive. My head for my future self, my innards for the sick, my penis and anus for lovers, and my arms and legs for the hungry.
Cryonics and organ donation is really a winning combination. It solves the organ donor’s worry that doctors might not take long shots at saving your life if they can harvest your organs instead.
This is correct but I imagine it could be bypassed, if you severed the head and used the carotid arteries / jugular veins. I imagine that’s much messier and more difficult than doing the whole body through one well-defined entry point, but may be possible.
I tried searching to find a citation for this and the most obvious keywords just take me here. 50 karma to anyone who has enough Google-fu to find me a citation.
I was thinking of the fourth post on this page. Looks like I misremembered, he didn’t mention cannibalism, but given the rest of that post, I’d bet money that he’d be fine with it (perhaps as a third choice).
It could be a good test of feeling rational, if the premises were defined clearly enough. Presumably, most of us would not object morally to the idea of eating human meat if we were certain that it had been vat-grown, and would not object practically if we were reasonably sure that it is safe, but I’d guess that many of us would have a cached disgust response anyway, which, under these circumstances, would not be rational (because the disgust emotion would be stopping us from doing something that does not oppose our goals or values). I have to admit I’d probably fall into that group, those people who would not morally object but would feel disgusted anyway (especially as I’m used to feeling disgusted by all meat).
ISTM that the most likely evolutionary origin of disgust is a warning sign of a high risk of infection or poisoning, which would be present in the plane crash scenario so I wouldn’t even necessarily call it an irrational feeling.
Moreover not being content with someone merely acting rationally when being confronted with a powerful impulse towards a certain reaction that in this particular situation happens to be irrational, but going so far as requiring that they not even feel this impulse in that situation seems to be asking a bit much. One might say that displaying this attitude towards humans is rather irrational.
“How do you feel about cannibalism? Not killing people, just the act of eating human meat. Imagine that the meat was vat-grown, or you’re a starving survivor of a plane crash, or something.”
Hey, good idea. New question for getting evidence of rationality: “How do you feel about cannibalism? Not killing people, just the act of eating human meat. Imagine that the meat was vat-grown, or you’re a starving survivor of a plane crash, or something.”
Vat-grown meat could still be a problem if it provided the real (killer) cannibals with camouflage.
Consuming human meat is generally disapproved of...
If you uploaded, would you be willing to let someone else eat your body if they were, y’know, into that sort of thing?
If you wanted to kill yourself you could satisfy the desires of quite a few fringe people at once: have a psychopath kill you, a necrophiliac rape you, and a cannibal eat you. Hell, if done under the right medical supervision it might even be possible to save the organs too (of course, if I were a cannibal I’d probably be bummed out if I didn’t get any liver).
I am constantly amazed by the number of people who commit suicide without getting on the evening news.
I’ve heard that many deaths ruled suicide might be better classified as signaling botches. That is, the individual in question was doing something with the lowest available probability of actually killing them, which would still be recognized as a suicide attempt and thereby provoke reassurances. A multifetish scenario would be far enough outside societal norms to be unlikely to attract support, and virtually impossible to survive.
In other cases, it’s a matter of extreme altruism, not wanting to be a burden on others. That’s more compatible with the psychopath/necrophile/cannibal option, but, statistically speaking, so few people empathize with any of those demographics (let alone all three) that they aren’t common targets for even minor altruism, let alone literal self-sacrifice.
Wait, is it rape if you give pre-mortem consent?
Liver grows back far more readily than any other organ. It might be possible to give the cannibal a slice and still use the rest. Of course, given the shortages of livers, it would probably be better to split it and graft into multiple people.
Eat your simulated body while you are in it (presumably with pain turned off or at least down?) or your original body (which you don’t have any use for anymore in the scenario?)?
Depends on my current state of wealth and the current meaning of “wealth” in the universe. I think if I uploaded I’d still prefer to be frozen/vitrified (or whatever the current state of the art with regards to that is), just in case I ever changed my mind. Also, I hold a bit of sentimental value towards my body, and if I could afford to keep it well preserved for an extremely long time, why not?
If, say, I could only afford to upload if I let someone eat my body and that paid better than medical research or donating my organs, sure, a cannibalism fetishist or super-hardcore foodie could eat my body.
No, but I’d remind them that if they uploaded they could simulate eating it as many times as they wanted. That could go badly if they wanted it as a token of friendship or intimacy, but in that case a too-casual agreement would be equally bad.
Are you talking about vore in general, or snuffie?
Hey, good idea. New question for getting evidence of rationality: “How do you feel about cannibalism? Not killing people, just the act of eating human meat. Imagine that the meat was vat-grown, or you’re a starving survivor of a plane crash, or something.”
I remember once reading Richard Stallman saying that when he dies, if his body cannot be used for medical research, he would want it to be used for cannibalism or necrophilia.
A rather weird thing to say, but on reflection, not quite as weird as people’s usual thoughts on death — “I want my body to be put into the ground so it can decompose” or “I want my body to be burned so it can be of no use to anybody” — right?
Well, along with medical research, organ donation and cryonics also probably exceed the expected utility of cannibalism or necrophilia.
That said, I’m not sure they would be mutually exclusive. My head for my future self, my innards for the sick, my penis and anus for lovers, and my arms and legs for the hungry.
NEW UTILITARIAN LITMUS TEST
Perhaps a slightly more poetic phrasing like “My head for myself, my organs for the sick, my crotch for the horny, and my limbs for the hungry.”
(Of course the most tasty meat is on the torso, at least in cows...)
Cryonics and organ donation is really a winning combination. It solves the organ donor’s worry that doctors might not take long shots at saving your life if they can harvest your organs instead.
As I understand, current cryo practices use your circulatory system to get cryopreservant into your brain, and this leaves your organs useless.
Is this wrong?
This is correct but I imagine it could be bypassed, if you severed the head and used the carotid arteries / jugular veins. I imagine that’s much messier and more difficult than doing the whole body through one well-defined entry point, but may be possible.
shit
I tried searching to find a citation for this and the most obvious keywords just take me here. 50 karma to anyone who has enough Google-fu to find me a citation.
I was thinking of the fourth post on this page. Looks like I misremembered, he didn’t mention cannibalism, but given the rest of that post, I’d bet money that he’d be fine with it (perhaps as a third choice).
Here.
Command-F “corpse”.
In context and reading quickly, I thought you were suggesting a macro in Emacs.
I think disgust is the normal reaction and doesn’t tell anything about rationality so you’d need to ask about the ethics of eating human meat.
It could be a good test of feeling rational, if the premises were defined clearly enough. Presumably, most of us would not object morally to the idea of eating human meat if we were certain that it had been vat-grown, and would not object practically if we were reasonably sure that it is safe, but I’d guess that many of us would have a cached disgust response anyway, which, under these circumstances, would not be rational (because the disgust emotion would be stopping us from doing something that does not oppose our goals or values). I have to admit I’d probably fall into that group, those people who would not morally object but would feel disgusted anyway (especially as I’m used to feeling disgusted by all meat).
ISTM that the most likely evolutionary origin of disgust is a warning sign of a high risk of infection or poisoning, which would be present in the plane crash scenario so I wouldn’t even necessarily call it an irrational feeling.
Moreover not being content with someone merely acting rationally when being confronted with a powerful impulse towards a certain reaction that in this particular situation happens to be irrational, but going so far as requiring that they not even feel this impulse in that situation seems to be asking a bit much. One might say that displaying this attitude towards humans is rather irrational.
Dunno, I’ve never tasted it.
If your main decision criterion is the taste of the meat, then you have already given your answer.
(I hear it tastes more or less like pork, in case you were wondering.)
Vat-grown meat could still be a problem if it provided the real (killer) cannibals with camouflage.