Something deeper is involved. Otherwise they would just do the research required to figure out the answer (that it’s not a scam) and sign up.
Also, I’ve seen relatively high status people who have relevant background dismissing this in ridiculous ways (e.g. claiming it is no better than mummification, or “turning hamburger into a cow”). I don’t think they would risk their reputation without doing the research if there wasn’t some kind of serious curiosity-stopping bias going on.
Most people don’t have the scientific literacy to distinguish good science from bad with any amount of research, and know this. Even if you had some reason to think that this probably-a-scam thing had enough of a chance to be worth expending nontrivial effort to check out, it’s hard to distinguish a good scam from a weird truth.
Once someone’s decided (unconsciously, most likely) that they want to avoid cryonics because it seems sketchy, they will generate excuses to avoid it without having to actually say outright that they think it’s a scam, because accusing people without hard (scientific, not Bayesian) evidence of guilt is socially inappropriate.
I’m not sure about the high status people with relevant background information, though I do note that that demographic seems more likely per capita to actually sign up. However, I would speculate that academics may be leery of being seen to take seriously anything “fringy” that might damage their reputation, and will endorse any line of argument that appears to oppose it.
Something deeper is involved. Otherwise they would just do the research required to figure out the answer (that it’s not a scam) and sign up.
Also, I’ve seen relatively high status people who have relevant background dismissing this in ridiculous ways (e.g. claiming it is no better than mummification, or “turning hamburger into a cow”). I don’t think they would risk their reputation without doing the research if there wasn’t some kind of serious curiosity-stopping bias going on.
Most people don’t have the scientific literacy to distinguish good science from bad with any amount of research, and know this. Even if you had some reason to think that this probably-a-scam thing had enough of a chance to be worth expending nontrivial effort to check out, it’s hard to distinguish a good scam from a weird truth.
Once someone’s decided (unconsciously, most likely) that they want to avoid cryonics because it seems sketchy, they will generate excuses to avoid it without having to actually say outright that they think it’s a scam, because accusing people without hard (scientific, not Bayesian) evidence of guilt is socially inappropriate.
I’m not sure about the high status people with relevant background information, though I do note that that demographic seems more likely per capita to actually sign up. However, I would speculate that academics may be leery of being seen to take seriously anything “fringy” that might damage their reputation, and will endorse any line of argument that appears to oppose it.
It’s not just scientific literacy though: the “hamburger into a cow” line comes from Society for Cryobiology fellow Arthur W. Rowe.