shminux comments on Cryonics without freezers: resurrection possibilities in a Big World - Less Wrong
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First, I wish people stopped using this untestable Big World nonsense in their arguments.
For things to "add up to normality", your decisions should not be affected by a particular interpretation of QM, and so you should arrive to the same ones by sticking to the orthodox interpretation (or any other). If your argument fails without invoking a version of the MWI, it is not a sound argument, period. Similarly, your belief that in a galaxy far far away you are a three-eyed Pope named LeBron should not affect your decision of whether to sign-up for cryonics here and now.
Your other point is eminently worthwhile: since the cryonic resurrection is manifestly not exact, how much deviation from the original are you prepared to allow while still considering the resurrected object to be you for practical purposes? The answer is not objective in any way. For some losing a single memory is enough to say No, for others retaining even a small fraction of memories is enough for a Yes. The acceptable range on emotions, volitions and physical makeup can also vary widely.
Big World theories are derived from existing theories of mainstream physics, which are not generally considered untestable.
You are using the world "derived" rather loosely.
There are untested but suggestive speculations in the string theory (which in itself is not what one would call a sound physical model), and most models of the universe being significantly larger than some 10^15 light years in whichever direction are also speculative. Certainly there are no indication of a size large enough to duplicate our corner of it in any kind of detail.
Hmm. I was under the impression that Big World theories would be relatively accepted. At least Bostrom and Tegmark seem to argue as if they were:
Self-Locating Belief in Big Worlds: Cosmology’s Missing Link to Observation (Bostrom 2002):
Parallel Universes (Tegmark 2003):
Though those papers are from 2002 and 2003 - have the theories in question been disproven since then? If so, I'd be curious to read about it.
It is accepted that the Universe is likely much bigger than what is visible. There are no indications that it is infinite or even large enough to ensure the Big Worlds-type recurrence. My point is that your decision of whether to sign up for cryonics now should not depend on whether the universe is 10^10 (not big enough for recurrence) or 10^10^10 times larger than what we can presently see.