Consider Eliezer’s “proof” that he wants to live forever: “I want to live one more day. Tomorrow I will still want to live one more day. Therefore I want to live forever, proof by induction on the positive integers.”
The breakdown, of course, is the belief that all tomorrows are the same. Some people realise that youth is temporary, and so don’t look forward too much to being 70, because as infirmities crop up life gets less pleasant until they could take it or leave it. So, they like life- when life is good, and realize that life won’t always be good. They also view life extension in terms of time-discounted pleasure, and so if they have to regularly starve themselves in order to live longer when they’re 70, they won’t because overall life pleasure will be lower.
I suspect that when I am 70, I will feel like I’ve lived a complete life, and it’s now more important for other people to be happier than for me to survive longer.
Consider Eliezer’s “proof” that he wants to live forever: “I want to live one more day. Tomorrow I will still want to live one more day. Therefore I want to live forever, proof by induction on the positive integers.”
The breakdown, of course, is the belief that all tomorrows are the same. Some people realise that youth is temporary, and so don’t look forward too much to being 70, because as infirmities crop up life gets less pleasant until they could take it or leave it. So, they like life- when life is good, and realize that life won’t always be good. They also view life extension in terms of time-discounted pleasure, and so if they have to regularly starve themselves in order to live longer when they’re 70, they won’t because overall life pleasure will be lower.
As a young person, I am shocked and horrified by the idea of being 70.
Yet I suspect that when I am 70, I will want to live one more day.
I suspect that when I am 70, I will feel like I’ve lived a complete life, and it’s now more important for other people to be happier than for me to survive longer.
Personally, I will relish the day when I can pass off being a curmudgeon and telling people to sit-and-spin as dementia.
And if, by the grace of medical advance, I cannot, I don’t see why I’d have much problem with the loss of my excuse.