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zero_call comments on A survey of anti-cryonics writing - Less Wrong
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I'd just like to point out that the people who don't believe in cryonics aren't the ones asking for money. The burden of proof should be on the organizations like Alcor because they are the ones trying to sell you an actual product. Without a stringent burden of proof they are just snake-oil salesmen.
From a starting point of ignorance, this would be a reasonable stance. However, as a response to ciphergoth's claim that Alcor's case "is enough to shift the burden of proof" (that is, Alcor has met their burden of proof, and it is now up to the detractors to provide a rebuttal), it does not make sense.
You've misread my wording. I'm saying that the burden of proof should stay on Alcor because they are the ones trying to make money. They should do more than just show something "might work" if they are trying to charge you for services which they claim "will work".
Alcor and CI are non-profits.
Epistemological conclusions shouldn't be based on fear of being scammed. Alcor's motivation should be taken into account Bayesianically, but argument screens off motivation (limited of course by dependence on unchecked facts).
From the Alcor FAQ: "Is cryonics guaranteed to work? No."
So no matter what Alcor or CI write or what evidence they produce, the burden of proof is still on them and their critics need not say or write a word to justify being dismissive of what they do?
If the cryonics organizations (or the scientific community) found strong evidence, then the critics would certainly have to justify themselves strongly. The current state of the evidence I would not call strong -- but others on LW seem to disagree. After discussing this semi-extensively on prior Less Wrong threads, the confusion seems to arise due to a blog philosophy of evidence as a "Bayesian entity" (I quote this because I haven't studied Bayesian statistics so I'm not quite sure what it's all about) whereas the general scientific community views evidence most strongly as a physical entity (i.e., established through direct tests, polls, experiments, theoretical results, and so on) -- I tend to take the latter viewpoint more seriously.
Then you should learn. Start here, or if you already have some experience applying Bayes' Theorem, start here.
They make no such claim, so they do not bear that burden.