If enough people sign up, cryonics can become a cost-effective way of saving lives. The only way to get there is to support cryonics.
In estimating cost-effectiveness of signing up, you have to take into account this positive externality. This was also an argument in Hanson’s Cryonics As Charity, which you didn’t properly discuss, instead citing current costs of cryonics.
As I said in my post, it may be possible to construct a good case for signing up for cryonics or supporting cryonics being comparable to donating to or supporting cost-effective charities. At present I think this is unlikely.
[...] there’s still the question of whether at the margin advocating for cryonics is a worthwhile endeavor. My intuition is that we’re so far away from having a population interested in signing up for cryonics (because of the multitude of irrational biases that people have against cryonics) that advocating for cryonics is a very inefficient way to work against existential risk.
The margin has to take into account all future consequences of the action as well, not just local consequences. Again, a concrete problem I have with your post is essential misrepresentation of Hanson’s post by quoting current costs of cryonics, and not mentioning the argument for lowering of costs. This you haven’t answered.
Yes, this is a good point. I have somewhere to go and so don’t have time to correct this point immediately, but for now I will add a link to your comments in my post. Thanks.
If enough people sign up, cryonics can become a cost-effective way of saving lives. The only way to get there is to support cryonics.
In estimating cost-effectiveness of signing up, you have to take into account this positive externality. This was also an argument in Hanson’s Cryonics As Charity, which you didn’t properly discuss, instead citing current costs of cryonics.
As I said in my post, it may be possible to construct a good case for signing up for cryonics or supporting cryonics being comparable to donating to or supporting cost-effective charities. At present I think this is unlikely.
In regard to your points, see the second half of my response to James_Miller’s comment.
The margin has to take into account all future consequences of the action as well, not just local consequences. Again, a concrete problem I have with your post is essential misrepresentation of Hanson’s post by quoting current costs of cryonics, and not mentioning the argument for lowering of costs. This you haven’t answered.
Yes, this is a good point. I have somewhere to go and so don’t have time to correct this point immediately, but for now I will add a link to your comments in my post. Thanks.