Open Thread, November 15-22, 2013

drethelin

If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

That's...that's terrible. That it would feel worse to have a chance of resurrection than to have closure. It sounds depressingly plausible that that's people's true rejection, but I hope it's not.

Religion doesn't have the same problem, and in my experience it's because of the certainty. People believe themselves to be absolutely certain in their belief in the afterlife. So there's no closure problem, because they simply know that they'll see the person again. If you could convince people that cryonics would definitely result in them being resurrected together with their loved ones, then I'd expect this particular problem to go away.

That's...that's terrible. That it would feel worse to have a chance of resurrection than to have closure.

That would depend on how high the chance of resurrection is. Closure is relatively certain.

8Brillyant13y

In my experience, people holding on to very, very small probabilites can be unhealthy. Misplaced hope can be harmful. [...] I don't think it is quite this cut and dry. Religious people will assert they are certain, but I think there is a significant level of doubt there. People do use heaven as a way to cope with the loss of a loved one -- it is perfectly understandable, but I think it ultimately often prevents them from grieving and acheiving healthy and proper closure.

0Viliam_Bur13y

Religious people also believe that after they are resurrected (assuming it will be in heaven), all their problems will be magically fixed. So there is nothing to worry about (besides getting to the heaven).