Yeah, as wedrifid pointed out in a sibling post, I think Eliezer and I have different conceptions of what it means for cryonics to “work”. I was defining “works” as a having a thawing process that doesn’t kill you, but has the risk of disability. Eliezer, I now realize, has a much more stringent definition of the term.
Now, one more question, if you will humor me. What sort of incentives can we use to ensure that we are not used as guinea pigs for an experimental thawing process? For example, our descendants may want us thawed as soon as possible, even when the thawing process may not have been made sufficiently safe by our own criteria. How can we set up the incentives so that our descendants don’t thaw us using a procedure that we consider unnecessarily risky?
Only a much wealthier, more technologically advanced society would unfreeze corpses. Less technologically advanced societies couldn’t do it, and poorer societies wouldn’t bother.
Over time, wealth eventually causes the cultural changes we call “moral progress”.
Almost all bad scenarios lead to cryopreserved people never being revived. They either become “gray goo”, are eaten by roving bands of cannibals, are converted into paperclips, etc.
So anyway, I think in most scenarios reanimation will be better than death.
Over time, wealth eventually causes the cultural changes we call “moral progress”.
This seems a non-sequitur to me. There are a number of examples where wealth and moral progress are found together, but there are also examples where they are not. China and oil-rich Arab states come to mind.
Culture changes slowly, but economic growth can happen quickly. China is still quite poor, first of all, but it still seems that significant moral progress has occurred in China, and in only 30 years or so.
The wealthier Arab states are still pretty regressive, but we must consider how bad they used to be. For instance, as recently as the 1950s, 20% of the population of Saudi Arabia were slaves.
Alcor’s patient care trust board is composed of people who are signed up for cryonics. A majority of members on the board must have a cryopreserved relative or significant other. They could try to use people they don’t care about as guinea pigs, but there are also bylaws about ethically reviving people.
How can we set up the incentives so that our descendants don’t thaw us using a procedure that we consider unnecessarily risky?
I suppose extend whichever incentives that we use to make our descendants even bother with us at all. (Outside my field too I am afraid. I’m more of a ‘take direct action myself’ kind of guy than a ‘find some way to make people do stuff even when I am dead’ kind of guy.)
Yeah, as wedrifid pointed out in a sibling post, I think Eliezer and I have different conceptions of what it means for cryonics to “work”. I was defining “works” as a having a thawing process that doesn’t kill you, but has the risk of disability. Eliezer, I now realize, has a much more stringent definition of the term.
Now, one more question, if you will humor me. What sort of incentives can we use to ensure that we are not used as guinea pigs for an experimental thawing process? For example, our descendants may want us thawed as soon as possible, even when the thawing process may not have been made sufficiently safe by our own criteria. How can we set up the incentives so that our descendants don’t thaw us using a procedure that we consider unnecessarily risky?
Only a much wealthier, more technologically advanced society would unfreeze corpses. Less technologically advanced societies couldn’t do it, and poorer societies wouldn’t bother.
Over time, wealth eventually causes the cultural changes we call “moral progress”.
Almost all bad scenarios lead to cryopreserved people never being revived. They either become “gray goo”, are eaten by roving bands of cannibals, are converted into paperclips, etc.
So anyway, I think in most scenarios reanimation will be better than death.
This seems a non-sequitur to me. There are a number of examples where wealth and moral progress are found together, but there are also examples where they are not. China and oil-rich Arab states come to mind.
Culture changes slowly, but economic growth can happen quickly. China is still quite poor, first of all, but it still seems that significant moral progress has occurred in China, and in only 30 years or so.
The wealthier Arab states are still pretty regressive, but we must consider how bad they used to be. For instance, as recently as the 1950s, 20% of the population of Saudi Arabia were slaves.
Alcor’s patient care trust board is composed of people who are signed up for cryonics. A majority of members on the board must have a cryopreserved relative or significant other. They could try to use people they don’t care about as guinea pigs, but there are also bylaws about ethically reviving people.
Dammit quanticle, I’m an engineer/biochemist/statistician, not an economist!
I suppose extend whichever incentives that we use to make our descendants even bother with us at all. (Outside my field too I am afraid. I’m more of a ‘take direct action myself’ kind of guy than a ‘find some way to make people do stuff even when I am dead’ kind of guy.)