I wrote Signing up your relatives to help cryonicists do exactly that.
Towards the end of the article it says:
Well, you’ve tried all the soft sell approaches. You’ve used all the rational arguments. You’ve pointed out all the simple, easy, straightforward reasons why Pat should choose cryonics. They haven’t worked. It’s time to try something with a bit more punch:
“How would you feel if I put a shotgun in my mouth and blew out my brains?”
“What?”
Pat might well try to evade answering the question. The obvious counter to any attempt at evasion is to simply repeat the question (possibly in shortened form or possibly after acknowledging Pat’s attempted counter but then saying that doesn’t answer the question):
“How would you feel if I put a shotgun in my mouth and blew out my brains?”
It seems unlikely that Pat would feel at all good in response to your hypothetical action, so we can reasonably assume that Pat eventually provides some variant of the following answer:
“Terrible!”
At which point you can say:
“That’s how I feel about what you’re doing. Look, it’s easy for you to say you don’t want cryonics. You won’t have to grieve over your own death – but I will. Remember when died? Remember how you felt? Well, that’s how I’m going to feel if you aren’t cryopreserved. And I’m going to keep grieving for you for the rest of my life. Is that what you want to leave me, a lifetime of grief?”
If Pat has conceded that cryonics has some chance of working you can make an even stronger argument: “Even worse, think about what happens if cryonics is successful and I’m revived and rejuvenated: the rest of my life could be thousands of years or even longer. I’m scared I’ll never stop thinking about you and wishing you were with me, going over this conversation we’re having right now again and again in my mind, and blaming myself for not being more persuasive, for not trying harder, and for eventually giving up.”
The last quote is from Jim Halperin who said "This is the exact argument that finally convinced my dad earlier this year after countless unsuccessful attempts over the previous 15 years.”
Ralph
I expect to have a conversation soon with my parents about cryonics. My parents are both professional scientists, but are vaguely religious. They certainly aren't fundamentalists; they are pro-choice, pro-gay rights, think "intelligent design" is nuts, etc. My father is less religious than my mother, the best description I can give is probably Deism. Doesn't believe in miracles, prayer, etc, but considers an afterlife likely. My mother is slightly more religious: in the past, she's prayed for help and things have worked out (positive bias). However, even she is far more skeptical than most theists. I remember one conversation as a kid in which she that she thought Jesus' resurrection was a metaphor. One one occasion, when I was in middle school, I asked her why she believed in God, and she replied that it was the only good explanation she could come up with for why there was good and evil in the world. She once quoted John Lennon, I think, talking about God as simply a personification of Good. She also believes in an afterlife.
Both of them I think would be very reluctant to engage in an open discussion about religion. In addition, both are intelligent enough, and have heard enough arguments, to make it enormously difficult to get them to change their minds, especially since the idea of an afterlife is a comforting thought for their own grandparents.
I would like to, if possible, avoid the discussion of religion, and instead simply persuade them to sign up for cryonics, without trying to force them to give up their belief in an afterlife. I've spent some time thinking about this, and have come up with some arguments. I do not want my parents to die. If there is any way I can be more persuasive, I have to find it, and I have to try it. So I am appealing to the collective brainstorming power of LW. If there is any argument you can think of that I can use, let me know.