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scotherns comments on Costs to (potentially) eternal life - Less Wrong
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I would be interested to hear from those who are actually signed up for cryonics. In what ways, if any, have you changed your willingness to undertake risks?
For example, when flying, do you research the safety records of the airlines that you might travel with, and always choose the best? Do you ride a motorbike? Would you go skydiving or mountaineering? Do you cross the road more carefully since discovering that you might live a very long time? Do you research diet, exercise, and other health matters? Do you always have at the back of your mind the thought: if I had a heart attack right now, what plans are in place for a controlled deanimation? And so on.
The same question applies to those who, whether or not they take cryonics seriously, do take seriously the possibility of radical life-extension coming soon enough to radically extend their own lives. How strenuously are you trying to stay alive and healthy long enough for your fragile vessel to reach the promised land?
ETA: bgrah449 writes in a comment below:
Someone who takes cryonics seriously and is signed up, already believes their life expectancy has gone up drastically. Or at least, drastically*probability of revival.
I haven't significantly changed my willingness to take risks, but then again I have always been very risk averse.
I would never ride a motorbike or go mountaineering etc. I eat well, don't smoke, try to avoid stress and exercise regularly.
I did all these things even before I took cryonics seriously . This is because it was obvious that being alive is better than being dead, and these things seemed like obvious ways in which to preserve my life as long as possible.
If I found out tomorrow that cryonics was proven to NOT work, I'd still continue crossing the road very carefully.
That matches my intuition, which I'd express as: it's a particular disposition toward life risks that makes someone interested in cryonics, rather than signing up for cryonics which makes someone more prudent. (Just a hunch, I'm not saying I've thought this through.)
There are some activities I like which seem riskier than they are, such as treetop courses; the equipment makes them perfectly safe but I enjoy the adrenalin rush. When I travel by plane I enjoy takeoff and landing for similar reasons, and flying in general whenever there is a clear view of land. (Not everything abouf flying is enjoyable.)