(Note: I found this old thread after Eliezer recently shared this Wait But Why post on his Facebook:
Why Cryonics Makes Sense)
“I’m so afraid of dying and believe in cyronics so much that signing up for cryonics would end many of my worries and let me be far more productive”
I don’t find this argument humorous, but I do see it as perhaps the most plausible argument defending cryonics from an EA perspective.
That said, I don’t think the argument succeeds for myself or (I would presume) a large majority of other people.
(It seems to me that the exceptions that may exist would tend to be the people who are very high producers (such that even a very small percentage increase in their good-production would outweigh the cost of their signing up for cryonics) rather than people who are exceptionally afraid of death and love the idea of possibly waking up in the distant future and living longer so much to the point that not signing up for cryonics would be debilitating to them and a sufficiently large hindrance on their productivity (e.g. due to feeling depressed and being unable to concentrate on EA work, knowing that this cryonics option exists that would give them hope) to outweigh the cost of signing up for cryonics.)
So I don’t see cryonics as being very defensible from an EA perspective.
(Note: I found this old thread after Eliezer recently shared this Wait But Why post on his Facebook: Why Cryonics Makes Sense)
I don’t find this argument humorous, but I do see it as perhaps the most plausible argument defending cryonics from an EA perspective.
That said, I don’t think the argument succeeds for myself or (I would presume) a large majority of other people.
(It seems to me that the exceptions that may exist would tend to be the people who are very high producers (such that even a very small percentage increase in their good-production would outweigh the cost of their signing up for cryonics) rather than people who are exceptionally afraid of death and love the idea of possibly waking up in the distant future and living longer so much to the point that not signing up for cryonics would be debilitating to them and a sufficiently large hindrance on their productivity (e.g. due to feeling depressed and being unable to concentrate on EA work, knowing that this cryonics option exists that would give them hope) to outweigh the cost of signing up for cryonics.)
So I don’t see cryonics as being very defensible from an EA perspective.