Perplexed comments on Cryonics Questions - Less Wrong

9 Post author: James_Miller 26 August 2010 11:19PM

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Comment author: Perplexed 27 August 2010 04:40:49PM *  4 points [-]

Very interesting topic. People with a low uploaded run speed should be more willing to lend money (at sidereally calculated interest rates) and less willing to borrow than people with high uploaded run speeds. So people who run fast will probably be in hock to the people who run slow. But that is ok because they can probably earn more income. They can afford to make the interest payments.

Physical mankind, being subjectively slower than uploaded mankind and the pure AIs, will not be able to compete intellectually, but will survive by collecting interest payments from the more productive members of this thoroughly mixed economy.

But even without considering AIs and uploading, there is enough variation in discount rates between people here on earth to make a difference - a difference that may be more important to relative success than is the difference in IQs. People with low discount rates, that is people with a high tolerance for delayed gratification, are naturally seen as more trustworthy than are their more short-term-focused compatriots. People with high discount rates tend to max out their credit cards, and inevitably find themselves in debt to those with low discount rates.

One could write several top level posts on this general subject area.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 28 August 2010 12:25:39AM 1 point [-]

I don't think there will be lending directly between entities with very different run speeds. If you're much slower, you can't keep track of who's worth lending to, and if you're much faster, you don't have the patience for slow deliberation. There might well be layers of lenders transferring money(?) between speed zones.

Almost on topic:Slow Tuesday Night by R.A. Lafferty. Recommended if you'd like a little light-hearted transhumanism with casual world-building.