orthonormal comments on Taking Ideas Seriously - Less Wrong

51 Post author: Will_Newsome 13 August 2010 04:50PM

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Comment author: JanetK 13 August 2010 05:51:12PM 6 points [-]

I would not question what you are taking seriously and it seems fairly typical of the LW group.

On the other hand, I am surprised that climate change is rarely or never mentioned on LW. The lost of biodiversity and the rate of extinction - ditto. We are going through a biological crisis. It is bad enough that a 'world economic collapse' might even be a blessing in the long term.

You do not mention the neuroscience revolution but I am sure I have noticed some of the LW group taking it seriously.

This may be the place to mention cryonics without starting another riot. It is boring to me and I do not take it seriously - but I have reasons and I am not judging others who are not in my situation. (1) I had cancer when I was very young, in the olden days when all most everyone diedt. I waited for years for it to reappear. I got used to my mortality. Now I am 70 and quite comfortable with death within the next decade or two. (2) I am very poor, living in a small pension. I could not pay for it if I wanted to. (3) I don't believe that being brought back to life is a technical question only. I think that future generations will not actually value the preserved bodies because they will not value what these people know or can do. They may want some of the famous people alive today but they will not value someone as ordinary as myself. (4) I do not want to be without a body as some disembodied brain or be in a damaged body. I doubt that I would be happy as an immortal.

Comment author: orthonormal 13 August 2010 06:55:34PM *  3 points [-]

I doubt that I would be happy as an immortal.

If someone figured out today how to reverse and stave off aging, wouldn't you want to give it a try (and wait a while before deciding on mortality)? If so, this isn't a very good objection to cryonics.

Comment author: JanetK 13 August 2010 09:26:50PM 4 points [-]

If I have my own body and it was healthy with some time left, that would be fine. I suppose if we are imagining a surviving brain then what is the problem with getting a re-build to reverse age and whatever caused the death.

Comment author: Larks 24 August 2010 04:43:53AM 1 point [-]

Today, I wish to live one more day.

On any given day, I wish to live one more day.

Therefore, I wish to live forever, by induction on the positive integers.

-Eliezer, and Harry Potter.