Ordinary people don’t want to sign up for cryonics, while they do want to go to movies and get heart transplants. So if multifoliaterose tells people, “Instead of signing up for cryonics, send money to Africa,” he’s much more likely to be successful than if he tells people, “Instead of going to the movies, send money to Africa.”
So yes, if you want to call this “unfair discrimination,” you can, but his whole point is to get people to engage in certain charities, and it seems he is just using a more effective means rather than a less effective one.
Easy way for multi to provide an iota of evidence that what he’s doing is effective: Find at least one person who says they canceled a cryo subscription and started sending an exactly corresponding amount of money to the Singularity Institute. If you just start sending an equal amount of money to the Singularity Institute, without canceling the cryo, then it doesn’t count as evidence in his favor, of course; and that is just what I would recommend anyone feeling guilty actually do. And if anyone actually sends the money to Africa instead, I am entirely unimpressed, and I suggest that they go outside and look up at the night sky for a while and remember what this is actually about.
Even less than signing up for cryonics do most people want to murder their children. Do expect that telling them “Instead of murdering your children, send aid to Africa (or SIAI)” will increase the amount they send to Africa/SIAI?
I think it does, since you’ll probably want to buy weapons, hire an assassin, hire a lawyer, etc. But you can change the example to “Send money to al-Qaeda” if you prefer.
I’m willing to bet that the number of LW readers seriously considering cryonics greatly outweighs the number seriously considering murdering their kids OR funding al-Qaeda. For the general population this might not be so, but as a LW wrong post it seems more than reasonable to contrast with cryonics rather than terrorism.
Ordinary people don’t want to sign up for cryonics, while they do want to go to movies and get heart transplants. So if multifoliaterose tells people, “Instead of signing up for cryonics, send money to Africa,” he’s much more likely to be successful than if he tells people, “Instead of going to the movies, send money to Africa.”
So yes, if you want to call this “unfair discrimination,” you can, but his whole point is to get people to engage in certain charities, and it seems he is just using a more effective means rather than a less effective one.
I’m saying he’ll get them to do neither.
Easy way for multi to provide an iota of evidence that what he’s doing is effective: Find at least one person who says they canceled a cryo subscription and started sending an exactly corresponding amount of money to the Singularity Institute. If you just start sending an equal amount of money to the Singularity Institute, without canceling the cryo, then it doesn’t count as evidence in his favor, of course; and that is just what I would recommend anyone feeling guilty actually do. And if anyone actually sends the money to Africa instead, I am entirely unimpressed, and I suggest that they go outside and look up at the night sky for a while and remember what this is actually about.
Even less than signing up for cryonics do most people want to murder their children. Do expect that telling them “Instead of murdering your children, send aid to Africa (or SIAI)” will increase the amount they send to Africa/SIAI?
That isn’t relevant because murdering your children doesn’t cost money.
I think it does, since you’ll probably want to buy weapons, hire an assassin, hire a lawyer, etc. But you can change the example to “Send money to al-Qaeda” if you prefer.
I’m willing to bet that the number of LW readers seriously considering cryonics greatly outweighs the number seriously considering murdering their kids OR funding al-Qaeda. For the general population this might not be so, but as a LW wrong post it seems more than reasonable to contrast with cryonics rather than terrorism.