ciphergoth comments on Open Thread: July 2010 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: komponisto 01 July 2010 09:20PM

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Comment author: ciphergoth 09 July 2010 11:58:49AM 2 points [-]

One big barrier I hit in talking to some of those close to me about this is that I can't seem to explain the distinction between wanting the feeling of hope that I might live a very long time, and actually wanting to live a long time. Lots of people just say "if you want to believe in life after death, why not just go to church? It's cheaper".

Comment author: Nisan 09 July 2010 01:47:36PM 2 points [-]

Lots of people just say "if you want to believe in life after death, why not just go to church? It's cheaper".

I could see people saying that if they don't believe that cryonics has any chance at all of working. It might be hard to tell. If I told people "there's a good chance that cryonics will enable me to live for hundreds of years", I'm sure many would respond by nodding, the same way they'd nod if I told them that "there's a good chance that I'll go to Valhalla after I die". Sometimes respect looks like credulity, you know? Do you think that's what's happening here?

Comment author: ciphergoth 09 July 2010 01:56:17PM *  5 points [-]

Yes. I'm happy that people respect my choices, but when they "respect my beliefs" it strikes me as incredibly disrespectful.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 09 July 2010 01:42:41PM 2 points [-]

And if you reply "I only want to believe in things that are true?"

Comment author: ciphergoth 09 July 2010 01:55:07PM 2 points [-]

Apply the same transformation to my words that is causing me problems to that reply, and you get "I only want to believe in things that I believe are true".

Comment author: Sniffnoy 09 July 2010 12:26:08PM 0 points [-]

That's a bit scary.