I know from personal experience how hard it is to actually go through the final process to sign up for cryonics—no matter how theoretically in favour one is. For me, it was Robin Hanson’s offer of an hour of chat that sealed the deal—it seemed much easier to focus on getting to that interview, than on potentially saving the whole of my future :-)
Anyway, I’m offering my services to help out others who might want to get that final push over the line. What am I offering? Well, the opportunity to send me money! Simply pledge something like “if I don’t get signed up for cryonics by such and such a date, I will send Stuart Armstrong $X”.
This sounds incredibly mercenary—I’m offering you the possibility of sending me money? This seems to be a misunderstanding of the whole meaning of the word “offering”. Well, for a start, I’m certain that I will never receive that money—if someone pledges “in a year’s time, I will have signed up for cryonics, or I will send Stuart Armstrong $200″, then I read that as “in a year’s time, I will have signed up for cryonics”. Because no-one likes losing money they could keep by doing something they want to (want to) do. So what I’m offering is the possibility to make yourself sign up for cryonics.
In fact, I’ll do it this way: if I ever get any money from such a pledge, I’ll redistribute that money to other people who took the pledge and did sign up. If it’s not too many people, I can probably offer one hour chats as well, for those interested.
Of course, this works just as well if you pledge to give money to someone else, not just me, so I encourage you to pledge to whoever you like! Just make sure that:
You don’t pledge the money to a charity you approve of—you should have no justification for avoiding signing up. Failure is a failure, not an act of generosity.
You pledge the money to someone who will take the money from you if you fail—or else the whole thing doesn’t work at all. I promise to do so!
You bear in mind that these things take longer than you expect (planning fallacy and all that). Pledge a year, aim to have it done in six months.
I already have one person pledged for £100 in a year’s time, and I’m fully confident they’ll be signed up before that. If I have their permission, I’ll let you know as soon as it happens.
Cryocrastinating? Send me (or someone else) money!
I know from personal experience how hard it is to actually go through the final process to sign up for cryonics—no matter how theoretically in favour one is. For me, it was Robin Hanson’s offer of an hour of chat that sealed the deal—it seemed much easier to focus on getting to that interview, than on potentially saving the whole of my future :-)
Anyway, I’m offering my services to help out others who might want to get that final push over the line. What am I offering? Well, the opportunity to send me money! Simply pledge something like “if I don’t get signed up for cryonics by such and such a date, I will send Stuart Armstrong $X”.
This sounds incredibly mercenary—I’m offering you the possibility of sending me money? This seems to be a misunderstanding of the whole meaning of the word “offering”. Well, for a start, I’m certain that I will never receive that money—if someone pledges “in a year’s time, I will have signed up for cryonics, or I will send Stuart Armstrong $200″, then I read that as “in a year’s time, I will have signed up for cryonics”. Because no-one likes losing money they could keep by doing something they want to (want to) do. So what I’m offering is the possibility to make yourself sign up for cryonics.
In fact, I’ll do it this way: if I ever get any money from such a pledge, I’ll redistribute that money to other people who took the pledge and did sign up. If it’s not too many people, I can probably offer one hour chats as well, for those interested.
Of course, this works just as well if you pledge to give money to someone else, not just me, so I encourage you to pledge to whoever you like! Just make sure that:
You don’t pledge the money to a charity you approve of—you should have no justification for avoiding signing up. Failure is a failure, not an act of generosity.
You pledge the money to someone who will take the money from you if you fail—or else the whole thing doesn’t work at all. I promise to do so!
You bear in mind that these things take longer than you expect (planning fallacy and all that). Pledge a year, aim to have it done in six months.
I already have one person pledged for £100 in a year’s time, and I’m fully confident they’ll be signed up before that. If I have their permission, I’ll let you know as soon as it happens.