Cessation of Existence is incompatible with the leading models of "standard physics" as presented at the level of core grad school physics classes. [...] the information that was "you" (using the model that seems standard on LW that 'you' are a collection of organized data) should, in theory, persist indefinitely into the future. [...] Now, whether that distributed information is 'experiencing' anything is arguable,
As far as I know, the latter is what people are worrying about when they worry about ceasing to exist. While it's true that their information would be still out there somewhere (so they still exist in that sense), they'd no longer be/have a conscious mind within any given branch (assuming MWI). Even if universal information obliteration is incompatible with physics, minds turning into non-minds is very much compatible with physics, and the latter is quite sufficient to disturb people. (Which is presumably a reason why your comment's been downvoted a bunch; most readers would see it as missing the point.)
Edit: on reflection, "within any given branch" is too strong. Substitute "within almost any given branch" — I think my point still goes through.
Now, whether that distributed information is 'experiencing' anything is arguable,
As far as I know, the latter is what people are worrying about when they worry about ceasing to exist.
Ahhh... that never occurred to me. I was thinking entirely in terms of risk of data loss.
(Which is presumably a reason why your comment's been downvoted a bunch; most readers would see it as missing the point.)
I don't understand the voting rules or customs. Downvoting people who see things from a different perspective is... a custom designed to keep out the undesir...
To break up the awkward silence at the start of a recent Overcoming Bias meetup, I asked everyone present to tell their rationalist origin story - a key event or fact that played a role in their first beginning to aspire to rationality. This worked surprisingly well (and I would recommend it for future meetups).
I think I've already told enough of my own origin story on Overcoming Bias: how I was digging in my parents' yard as a kid and found a tarnished silver amulet inscribed with Bayes's Theorem, and how I wore it to bed that night and dreamed of a woman in white, holding an ancient leather-bound book called Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases (eds. D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, and A. Tversky, 1982)... but there's no need to go into that again.
So, seriously... how did you originally go down that road?
Added: For some odd reason, many of the commenters here seem to have had a single experience in common - namely, at some point, encountering Overcoming Bias... But I'm especially interested in what it takes to get the transition started - crossing the first divide. This would be very valuable knowledge if it can be generalized. If that did happen at OB, please try to specify what was the crucial "Aha!" insight (down to the specific post if possible).