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ChristianKl comments on You have a set amount of "weirdness points". Spend them wisely. - Less Wrong
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I have actually thought of that, but in relation to a different problem: not that of seeming less "weird", but that of convincing someone of an unpopular idea. It seems like the best way to convince people of something is to act like you're still in the process of being convinced yourself; for instance, I don't remember where, but I do remember reading an anecdote on how someone was able to convince his girlfriend of atheism while in a genuine crisis of faith himself. Incidentally, I should emphasize that his crisis of faith was genuine at the time--but it should work even if it's not genuine, as long as the facade is convincing. I theorize that this may be due to in-group affiliation, i.e. if you're already sure of something and trying to convince me, then you're an outsider pushing an agenda, but if you yourself are unsure and are coming to me for advice, you're on "my side", etc. It's easy to become entangled in just-so stories, so obviously take all of this speculation with a generous helping of salt, but it seems at least worth a try. (I do agree, however, that this seems borderline Dark Arts, so maybe not that great of an idea, especially if you value your relationship with that person enough to care if you're found out.)
Most people are not able to have the kind of strength of emotions that come with a genuine crisis of faith via conscious choice. Pretending to have them might come of as creepy even if the other person can't exactly pinpoint what's wrong.
Fair enough. Are there any subjects about which there might not be as high an emotional backlash? Cryonics, maybe? Start off acting unconvinced and then visibly think about it over a period of time, coming to accept it later on. That doesn't seem like a lot of emotion is involved; it seems entirely intellectual, and the main factor against cryonics is the "weirdness factor", so if there's someone alongside you getting convinced, it might make it easier, especially due to conformity effects.
The topic of cryonics is about dealing with death. There a lot of emotion involved for most people.
It's true that cryonics is about death, but I don't think that necessarily means there's "a lot of emotion involved". Most forms of rejection to cryonics that I've seen seem to be pretty intellectual, actually; there's a bunch of things like cost-benefit analysis and probability estimates going on, etc. I personally think it's likely that there is some motivated cognition going on, but I don't think it's due to heavy emotions. As I said in my earlier comment, I think that the main factor against cryonics is the fact that it seems "weird", and therefore the people who are signed up for it also seem "weird". If that's the case, then it may be to the advantage of cryonics advocates to place themselves in the "normal" category first by acting skeptical of a crankish-sounding idea, before slowly getting "convinced". Compare that approach to the usual approach: "Hey, death sucks, wanna sign up to get your head frozen so you'll have a chance at getting thawed in the future?" Comparatively speaking, I think that the "usual" approach is significantly more likely to get you landed in the "crackpot" category.
That's really not how most people make their decisions.
There are plenty of ways to tell someone about cryonics that don't involve a direct plea for them to take action.
Maybe it's not how most people make their decisions, but I have seen a significant number of people who do reject cryonics on a firmly intellectual basis, both online and in real life. I suppose you could argue that it's not their true rejection (in fact, it almost certainly isn't), but even so, that's evidence against heavy emotions playing a significant part in their decision process.
Yes, but most of them still suffer from the "weirdness factor".