Thanks Andy for writing this up! I have two comments:
1. For those interested in a longer yet accessible treatment of this topic written for a general audience, I’ve got a book coming out on this in November—The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death. It covers much of the medicine, neuroscience, philosophy, and economics that Andy already touched on in this post, plus more besides.
2. One thing Andy didn’t touch on and that I don’t cover in my book is that the ethical imperative of brain preservation seems to be very different based on whether one holds a ‘total hedonic’ view or a ‘person-affecting’ view of utilitarianism. In a total view, the particular individuals having the happy experiences don’t matter, just that there are happy experiences being had. In the person-affecting view, one cares more that particular people have happy experiences, and it would be bad if everyone on Earth suddenly ceased to exist and were switched out for completely new people of equal or greater total happiness. I think “normal” people tend towards a person-affecting view, while effective altruists typically tend towards a total view. I’d be curious to see a formal analysis of how brain preservation fits into these views though.
Thanks Andy for writing this up! I have two comments:
1. For those interested in a longer yet accessible treatment of this topic written for a general audience, I’ve got a book coming out on this in November—The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death. It covers much of the medicine, neuroscience, philosophy, and economics that Andy already touched on in this post, plus more besides.
2. One thing Andy didn’t touch on and that I don’t cover in my book is that the ethical imperative of brain preservation seems to be very different based on whether one holds a ‘total hedonic’ view or a ‘person-affecting’ view of utilitarianism. In a total view, the particular individuals having the happy experiences don’t matter, just that there are happy experiences being had. In the person-affecting view, one cares more that particular people have happy experiences, and it would be bad if everyone on Earth suddenly ceased to exist and were switched out for completely new people of equal or greater total happiness. I think “normal” people tend towards a person-affecting view, while effective altruists typically tend towards a total view. I’d be curious to see a formal analysis of how brain preservation fits into these views though.