Blueberry comments on Normal Cryonics - Less Wrong

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

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Comment author: Blueberry 21 January 2010 11:36:05PM 6 points [-]

there’s still the problem that you have to think about your own physical mortality in a very concrete way. A way which requires choices, for hours and perhaps even days.

I'm baffled that this is the stumbling block for so many people. I can understand being worried about the cost/uncertainty trade-off, but I really don't understand why it's any less troublesome than buying life insurance, planning a funeral, picking a cemetery plot, writing a will, or planning for cremation. People make choices that involve contemplating their death all the time, and people make choices about unpleasant-sounding medical treatments all the time.

Is it not less gruesome than the alternatives of skeletonizing in a flame, or by slow decay? No. But the average person manages to mostly avoid thinking of the alternatives, and the funeral industry helps them do it.

Well, maybe more people would sign up if Alcor's process didn't involve as much thinking about the alternatives? I had thought that the process was just signing papers and arranging life insurance. But if Alcor's process is turning people away, maybe that needs to change.

Maybe I'm just deluding myself: I'm not in a financial position to sign up yet, and I plan on signing up when I am. But I can't see the "creep factor" being an issue for me at all. I have no idea what that would feel like.

Comment author: Technologos 22 January 2010 03:40:41PM 5 points [-]

buying life insurance

For what it's worth, I've heard people initially had many of the same hangups about life insurance, saying that they didn't want to gamble on death. The way that salespeople got around that was by emphasizing that the contracts would protect the family in event of the breadwinner's death, and thus making it less of a selfish thing.

I wonder if cryo needs a similar marketing parallel. "Don't you want to see your parents again?"

Comment author: Dustin 27 January 2010 01:08:32AM 1 point [-]

I have no idea what that would feel like.

This is the exact sentence that crossed my mind upon reading the original comment.

I often find that my reactions and feelings are completely different from other people's, though.

Comment author: Zian 11 August 2013 08:23:39PM *  0 points [-]

so much thinking about alternatives

Speaking as someone who tried getting a concrete price estimate, the process can stand to be much improved. I had/will have to (if I follow through):

  1. Get convinced that cryo is worth digging into (maybe call this step "0").
  2. Figure out where to get price info (this took another chunk of time until I ran across some useful Less Wrong posts) for life insurance related stuff.
  3. Contact a life insurance person (as a cold call)
  4. Hand over some personal info.

  5. Get a pile of PDFs in return along with finding out that I still have to...

  6. Decide between different cryo organizations. 6 a) Find out info about the organizations' recurring fees. 6 b) Do research into each organization

  7. Decide which cryo approach to take.
  8. Read over all the stuff from step 5.
  9. Talk to the organization from step 6 about the physical logistics such as the wrist band thingy.
  10. Make a final Y/N decision
  11. Hunt down notary(ies) and witness(es) (?) 11 a) Make appointments with everyone
  12. Fill out the papers from the life insurance people
  13. Fill out the papers from the cryo organization.
  14. Sign stuff.
  15. Sign more stuff.
  16. Mail everything

At any time between steps 1 and 16, the process can fall completely apart.

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