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Gunnar_Zarncke comments on A defense of Senexism (Deathism) - Less Wrong Discussion

-5 Post author: Gunnar_Zarncke 16 February 2014 07:47PM

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Comment author: Gunnar_Zarncke 16 February 2014 08:21:53PM -2 points [-]

"if we're not dying, we're not trying hard enough"? ...

This is not an argument but a phrasing of the consequences I cited.

"being wary of death leads to mediocre living"?

This is no argument either but was explicitly relayed as a personal opinion.

"growing old is useful"?

This is objectively proven and thus no rationalization.

Neither of them seem to be solid arguments against the very simple statement: "every human should be able to live for as long as they want".

The latter is. It just doesn't cry out: "you selfish individual, how can you rob your tribe of the resources it needs to fight entropy as long as it can".

Death is bad. How is this not obvious?

It is non-obvious. You just fell into the many traps reflection on death poses that I explicitly mentioned.

Comment author: Ritalin 17 February 2014 01:13:50AM -1 points [-]

You just fell into the many traps reflection on death poses that I explicitly mentioned.

They all sounded to me like cases of "Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People". They all seemed completely irrelevant to the actual badness of death.

"you selfish individual, how can you rob your tribe of the resources it needs to fight entropy as long as it can"

We'll find a way around entropy too. We definitely have the time to try, once we start living forever. More importantly, the value of offsetting entropy versus demanding that individuals cease to exist over and over again is something that's for the tribe to figure out together, but from where I stand the solution also sounds pretty obvious, Kyuubei.

Comment author: Gunnar_Zarncke 17 February 2014 03:43:12PM 1 point [-]

We'll find a way around entropy too. We definitely have the time to try, once we start living forever.

Maybe it is quite the other way around. That we could rather find a way around entropy (not that I'd believe that) if we didn't live forever.

Comment author: Ritalin 18 February 2014 10:06:31PM -2 points [-]

How does that even begin to make sense?

Comment author: Gunnar_Zarncke 18 February 2014 10:18:45PM 1 point [-]

Finding solutions is a search process. A computation. It costs entropy (even if you apply reversible computations to a high degree). Entropy is used less efficiently by beings living longer than reproducing and dying beings. Thus our search would require more energy if we were immortal.

Maybe we have enough energy to spend. But maybe we don't.

On the other hand maybe we should differentiate between immortal knowledge and immortal indentity. I'd rather agree with some kind of the former (with cavats for reversible computing) than with the latter.

Comment author: Ritalin 19 February 2014 10:28:49PM -1 points [-]

You seem to be overlooking something. The entropic consumptions of sapient beings are negligible compared to those of stars, and so is the difference between in entropic consumption between immortality and torch-passing.

Comment author: Gunnar_Zarncke 20 February 2014 02:13:57PM 0 points [-]

You seem to be overlooking something. It may very well be that

a) living in space is inherently more difficult (read: energy-inefficient) that on earth

b) we are already using up earths ressources must faster than they renew

c) it is not in the least guaranteed that we can find energy sources that are significantly more efficient or opening new sources than those that we already have

d) in particular it may be quite impossible to use significant fractions of the energy of the stars

Just in case this comes across as technological pessimism: It isn't. I'm very well for technological progress. We will need all the progress we can get to optimize efficiency because if we don't start soon we my have lost more than we can regain later. It may not be true, but somebody has to go that way too. When so8res - knowing that he may be wrong goes int the compartment of (U)FAI, then I on the other hand go into efficiency - also knowing that I may be wrong.

Comment author: shminux 18 February 2014 10:33:03PM -1 points [-]

"Indefinite preservation of identity" is a less loaded term than immortality (applause light!) and probably should be used instead when implied in a given context.