Some people attach more value to nice sandwiches and movies and other people attach more value to being cryopreserved. If you value being cryopreserved more than nice sandwiches and movies, then if you decide spend more money on trying to save the world, obviously the first expenses that you should cut are nice sandwiches and movies.
The point of my post is that it’s inappropriate to characterize signing up for cryonics as something that one is doing to make the world a better place. I have no problem with people signing up for cryonics as long as they recognize that it’s something that they’re doing for themselves.
What’s weird is that people are driven to compare cryonics to charity in a way they’re not when it comes to other medical interventions, or theatre tickets. I think Katja Grace explains it plausibly.
I think you’re unfairly equating “signing up for cryonics” with “urging others to sign up for cryonics”. If I go see a movie, I do so because I personally want to enjoy it, not out of any concern for whether it promotes good in the wider world (maybe it does, but this isn’t my concern). I can later go on to recommend that movie to friends or to the internet in general, but that’s a separate act.
Maybe your particular reasons for signing up are at least partially for the greater good (perhaps so you can wake up and continue the work on FAI if it remains undone), but it seems likely that most people sign up because it’s something they want for themselves.
I think you’re unfairly equating “signing up for cryonics” with “urging others to sign up for cryonics”.
“Signing up for cryonics” (and talking about it) isn’t entirely separable from “urging others to sign up for cryonics,” because we are a species of monkeys. Monkey see, monkey do.
I disagree as more people signing up for cryonics makes cryonics more affordable (and thus evens out the unfairness of premature death) and also gives large numbers of people a vested interest in the future. Cryonics on a small scale has unfavorable features that it would lack on a larger scale, so you need to be careful not to conflate the two. Note that as far as PR for existential risk goes, you can’t beat cryonics for giving people a legitimate self-interested reason to care.
Some people attach more value to nice sandwiches and movies and other people attach more value to being cryopreserved. If you value being cryopreserved more than nice sandwiches and movies, then if you decide spend more money on trying to save the world, obviously the first expenses that you should cut are nice sandwiches and movies.
The point of my post is that it’s inappropriate to characterize signing up for cryonics as something that one is doing to make the world a better place. I have no problem with people signing up for cryonics as long as they recognize that it’s something that they’re doing for themselves.
What’s weird is that people are driven to compare cryonics to charity in a way they’re not when it comes to other medical interventions, or theatre tickets. I think Katja Grace explains it plausibly.
In your version of the story, what mistake am I making that causes me to go around urging other people to sign up for cryonics?
I think you’re unfairly equating “signing up for cryonics” with “urging others to sign up for cryonics”. If I go see a movie, I do so because I personally want to enjoy it, not out of any concern for whether it promotes good in the wider world (maybe it does, but this isn’t my concern). I can later go on to recommend that movie to friends or to the internet in general, but that’s a separate act.
Maybe your particular reasons for signing up are at least partially for the greater good (perhaps so you can wake up and continue the work on FAI if it remains undone), but it seems likely that most people sign up because it’s something they want for themselves.
“Signing up for cryonics” (and talking about it) isn’t entirely separable from “urging others to sign up for cryonics,” because we are a species of monkeys. Monkey see, monkey do.
I disagree as more people signing up for cryonics makes cryonics more affordable (and thus evens out the unfairness of premature death) and also gives large numbers of people a vested interest in the future. Cryonics on a small scale has unfavorable features that it would lack on a larger scale, so you need to be careful not to conflate the two. Note that as far as PR for existential risk goes, you can’t beat cryonics for giving people a legitimate self-interested reason to care.