Honestly, I would say all (or almost all; extremes tend to be tricky) discussion of “why cryonics” is just incentivizing seeing the future contrasted with the disadvantages of signing up or not signing up. So far as I can think, any reason given for signing up, no matter how trite, involves an incentive to see the future.
Want to be cured from a disease (be it AIDS or death)? See the future. Want to experience a post-Singularity world? See the future. Want to not be utterly annihilated for eternity? See the future.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying your point is bad. I think we should take time, when discussing cryonics, to emphasize the good reasons for sticking around for the future. Most of us probably aren’t signing up just cause we’re afraid of death and we want a teddy bear to hold when we die. Cryonics isn’t just an alternative to believing in an afterlife, and treating it as such is fatal. So, I think we should discuss the incentives for seeing the future. We already do that around here quite a bit.
Honestly, I would say all (or almost all; extremes tend to be tricky) discussion of “why cryonics” is just incentivizing seeing the future contrasted with the disadvantages of signing up or not signing up. So far as I can think, any reason given for signing up, no matter how trite, involves an incentive to see the future.
Want to be cured from a disease (be it AIDS or death)? See the future. Want to experience a post-Singularity world? See the future. Want to not be utterly annihilated for eternity? See the future.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying your point is bad. I think we should take time, when discussing cryonics, to emphasize the good reasons for sticking around for the future. Most of us probably aren’t signing up just cause we’re afraid of death and we want a teddy bear to hold when we die. Cryonics isn’t just an alternative to believing in an afterlife, and treating it as such is fatal. So, I think we should discuss the incentives for seeing the future. We already do that around here quite a bit.
I think cryonics as highest-probability afterlife is the biggest reason. That does dwarf everything else.