Several years ago I took this type of argument very seriously. Specifically, I thought that our expected lifespan might be practically infinite (given a small chance of “immortality”). My conclusion was that I should keep more careful care of my brain’s health, while caring somewhat less about other physical issues, because I expect medicine to more easily solve other problems and that if there would be cause for prioritization among sick people I’d probably expect there to be an advantage to people with good neurological health. That mostly changed my diet to avoid refined carbs and helped motivate me to do more exercise—I wasn’t convinced about anything else.
In recent years I noticed that my thinking about this changed. First, I care a lot less about my personal preservation as I’ve started feeling more compassion toward others in a similar amount to my future self, and have taken more seriously thought experiments and buddhist-like ideas around the self as an illusion. Secondly, my self-care priorities were about more immediate mental health issues.
Several years ago I took this type of argument very seriously. Specifically, I thought that our expected lifespan might be practically infinite (given a small chance of “immortality”). My conclusion was that I should keep more careful care of my brain’s health, while caring somewhat less about other physical issues, because I expect medicine to more easily solve other problems and that if there would be cause for prioritization among sick people I’d probably expect there to be an advantage to people with good neurological health. That mostly changed my diet to avoid refined carbs and helped motivate me to do more exercise—I wasn’t convinced about anything else.
In recent years I noticed that my thinking about this changed. First, I care a lot less about my personal preservation as I’ve started feeling more compassion toward others in a similar amount to my future self, and have taken more seriously thought experiments and buddhist-like ideas around the self as an illusion. Secondly, my self-care priorities were about more immediate mental health issues.