Does this criteria apply to present-day questions that are in vaguely the same ballpark? That is, do you choose who to help based on whether or not you can force them to pay you?
Good point here—I don’t usually have any mechanism to force people to pay me. I usually to help based on how likely I think it I am to get what I want out of it. A few examples:
I help my employer accomplish their goals very often, because I think they will pay me.
I help my friends with things because so far they have cooperated and helped me things in return.
Sometimes I help strangers with their problems with no expectation to get anything back from them. When I do, it’s usually because we’re part of a shared community and I am looking after my reputation.
If it costs me close enough to nothing, I try to help other people so I can maintain a positive self image.
You seem to be assuming that immediate economic value is the only value worth considering; was this your intent?
I’m not sure what you mean by economic value. If you mean money, no. I think that humans value many things. I could certainly see a respected artist being revived even if the reviver could not directly tax the artist’s production.
If I may ask, are you yourself a cryonicist who might end up facing the question from either side?
I’m not a cryonicist at this time. I do think there’s a pretty good chance that either cryonics, brain uploading, or something similar will see some people from my lifetime recreated in a form after their deaths.
Good point here—I don’t usually have any mechanism to force people to pay me. I usually to help based on how likely I think it I am to get what I want out of it. A few examples:
I help my employer accomplish their goals very often, because I think they will pay me.
I help my friends with things because so far they have cooperated and helped me things in return.
Sometimes I help strangers with their problems with no expectation to get anything back from them. When I do, it’s usually because we’re part of a shared community and I am looking after my reputation.
If it costs me close enough to nothing, I try to help other people so I can maintain a positive self image.
I’m not sure what you mean by economic value. If you mean money, no. I think that humans value many things. I could certainly see a respected artist being revived even if the reviver could not directly tax the artist’s production.
I’m not a cryonicist at this time. I do think there’s a pretty good chance that either cryonics, brain uploading, or something similar will see some people from my lifetime recreated in a form after their deaths.