MichaelGR comments on Normal Cryonics - Less Wrong

58 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 19 January 2010 07:08PM

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Comment author: MichaelGR 19 January 2010 10:46:02PM 2 points [-]

I don't know if I can be "fixed" without changing me to the point where I'm effectively somebody else.

I don't want to get into a whole other discussion here, but I think people change a lot throughout their lives - I know I sure did - and I'm not sure if this would be such a problem. Maybe it would be, but comparing the certainty of death to that potential problem, I know I'd take the risk.

Furthermore, if the future has to choose between resurrecting me and somebody raising a child from scratch, I prefer that somebody raise a child; I'd rather the future have someone better than "me" instead of someone that I would recognize as "me".

The cost of another individual might be so low in the future that there might not be a choice between you and someone else.

(Additionally, the argument you just made is also an argument for getting frozen right now instead of having to wait until you die a natural death before you get to be revived in a better future. "If the afterlife is so great, why not kill yourself and get there right now?")

For someone who doesn't want to live at all right now and would commit suicide anyway, then yes, I'd recommend getting cryo'ed instead.

But for someone who enjoys life, then no, I wouldn't recommend it because it might not work (though having that possibility is still better than the certainty of annihilation).

Life > Cryo uncertainty > Death

Comment author: dclayh 19 January 2010 11:04:16PM 4 points [-]

This leads directly into the morbid subject of "What is the optimal way to kill oneself, for purposes of cryo?"

Comment author: MichaelGR 20 January 2010 12:14:20AM *  4 points [-]

I've actually been thinking about something similar;

What if I find out I have an incurable degenerative brain disease. At which point would I decide to get vitrified to improve my chances of being successfully revived by keeping my brain in better condition at the time of my death?

Now that's a tough decision to make...

Comment author: AngryParsley 20 January 2010 01:01:37AM 4 points [-]

If you live in the US, make sure you have had life insurance for at least two years. Then move to Oregon or Washington.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 21 January 2010 06:26:58PM 3 points [-]

Suicide is automatic grounds for autopsy; if this is not true in the assisted-suicide states, I haven't heard about it.

Comment author: AngryParsley 21 January 2010 06:44:48PM 7 points [-]

Technically, neither state considers it suicide. I don't know if that rules out autopsy in practice though.

From the Oregon Death with Dignity Act:

Nothing in ORS 127.800 to 127.897 shall be construed to authorize a physician or any other person to end a patient's life by lethal injection, mercy killing or active euthanasia. Actions taken in accordance with ORS 127.800 to 127.897 shall not, for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing or homicide, under the law. [1995 c.3 s.3.14]

From Washington Initiative 1000:

Nothing in this chapter authorizes a physician or any other person to end a patient’ s life by lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia. Actions taken in accordance with this chapter do not, for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing, or homicide, under the law. State reports shall not refer to practice under this chapter as “suicide” or “assisted suicide.” Consistent with sections 1 (7), (11), and (12), 2(1), 4(1)(k), 6, 7, 9, 12 (1) and (2), 16 (1) and (2), 17, 19(1) (a) and (d), and 20(2) of this act, state reports shall refer to practice under this chapter as obtaining and self-administering life-ending medication.

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