Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on Irrationality Game II - Less Wrong

13 [deleted] 03 July 2012 06:50PM

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Comment author: woodside 06 July 2012 05:33:23PM 10 points [-]

Irrationality Game:

These claims assume MWI is true.

Claim #1: Given that MWI is true, a sentient individual will be subjectively immortal. This is motivated by the idea that branches in which death occurs can be ignored and that there are always enough branches for some form of subjective consciousness to continue.

Claim #2: The vast majority of the long-term states a person will experience will be so radically different than the normal human experience that they are akin to perpetual torture.

P(Claim #1) = 60%

P(Claim #2 | Claim #1) = 99%

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 09 July 2012 06:31:43PM 6 points [-]

Given these beliefs, you should buy cryonics at almost any price, including prices at which I would no longer personally sign up and prices at which I would no longer advocate that other people sign up. Are you signed up? If not, then I upvote the above comment because I don't believe you believe it. :)

Comment author: woodside 10 July 2012 07:11:05AM 1 point [-]

Well, I agree with you that I should buy cryonics at very high prices and I plan on doing so. For the last few years I've spent the majority of my time in places where being signed up for cryonics wouldn't make a difference (9 months out of the year on a submarine, and now overseas in a place where there aren't any cryonics companies set up).

You should probably still upvote because the < 1/4 of the time I've spent in situations where it would matter still more than justify it. I should also never eat an icecream snickers again. I'll be the first to admit I don't behave perfectly rationally. :)

Comment author: MatthewBaker 11 July 2012 11:22:36PM 0 points [-]

more people have died from cryocrastinating than cryonics ;)

Comment author: komponisto 09 July 2012 10:55:20PM 1 point [-]

The person may not believe that MWI is true; the beliefs were stated as being conditional.

Nevertheless, your argument does apply to me, since I have similar beliefs (or at least worries), and I also for the most part buy your arguments on MWI. I do plan to sign up for cryonics within the next year or so, but not at any price. This is because I don"t expect to die soon enough for my short-term motivational system to be affected.