lsparrish comments on Bitcoin Cryonics Fund - Less Wrong

7 Post author: lsparrish 14 April 2013 05:59AM

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Comment author: lsparrish 15 April 2013 01:56:13AM 0 points [-]

Even if the value of investing in bitcoin has been underestimated in the past, it doesn't follow that the value of cryonics has been underestimated.

Not what I was trying to get at, sorry for the confusion. My aim is to boost cryonics reputation, and my concern was that e.g. associating it with bitcoin could harm it if bitcoin becomes devalued. (Actually a fairly minor concern, since cryonics already has a lot of early-adopter types.)

Why should we assume that?

Learning from experience. I had 400 bitcoins at one time. Had I held them, they would be worth $40k at $100 each today. This is roughly what I would have predicted at the time, too. I let short-term fluctuations ruin my confidence despite knowing the technology was good.

Beware of the hindsight fallacy.

Yeah. But I have to update based on evidence.

Beware of the conjunction fallacy.

Success of cryonics and success of bitcoin aren't necessarily independent variables. Holding some bitcoins for cryonics could boost the chance of e.g. having assets needed for cryonics research, or having the ability to get people signed up to take advantage of cryonics.