What are your exact (or, I suppose, approximated) probabilities
I'd estimate around a 5% chance for cryonics to work in some form, and a 1% chance of a Singularity-type event, broadly construed, in the next 40 years.
The best analogy to the point I'd like to make would be abortion. Similar to fetuses, human moral systems do not view corpsicles as "lives".
Huh? Many moral systems do see fetuses as lives. That's part of why abortion is so controversial. Moreover, what matters is not whether those systems normally see cryonics patients as alive, but that they have a general rule about saving lives. So if one takes one of those systems and then expands the set of people considered having moral weight to include the cryopatients, then the result follows. One should't be surprised if here where a lot of people take cryonics seriously, they will have modified pre-existing moral systems to give weight to those already cryonicly preserved.
Huh? Many moral systems do see fetuses as lives.
I don't think many moral systems truly see them as lives on the same level that adult humans are. And some don't see them as lives at all.
One should't be surprised if here where a lot of people take cryonics seriously, they will have modified pre-existing moral systems to give weight to those already cryonicly preserved.
Well, of course. I'm not saying one should be. But you're offering "many moral systems" like the populous at large is any real expert on morality. You're appealing to the authority of the populous, which is an authority that many of us think is, well... pretty dumb.
Check out the latest episode of Castle (Headcase) to see Cryonics covered in mainstream fiction in a not entirely terrible manner. The details are not exactly accurate but probably not more inaccurate than similar fictionalised coverage of most other industries. In fact there is one obvious implementation difference that the company in Castle uses which is how things clearly ought to be:
Amulets of Immortality
It is not uncommon for cryonics enthusiasts to make 'immortality' jokes about their ALCOR necklaces but the equivalent on the show make the obvious practical next step. The patients have heart rate monitors with GPS signalers that signal the cryonics company as soon as the patient flatlines. This is just obviously the way things should be and it is regrettable that the market is not yet broad enough for 'obvious' to have been translated into common practice.
Other things to watch out for: