This is the public group instrumental rationality diary for the week of September 3rd. It's a place to record and chat about it if you have done, or are actively doing, things like:
- Established a useful new habit
- Obtained new evidence that made you change your mind about some belief
- Decided to behave in a different way in some set of situations
- Optimized some part of a common routine or cached behavior
- Consciously changed your emotions or affect with respect to something
- Consciously pursued new valuable information about something that could make a big difference in your life
- Learned something new about your beliefs, behavior, or life that surprised you
- Tried doing any of the above and failed
Or anything else interesting which you want to share, so that other people can think about it, and perhaps be inspired to take action themselves. Try to include enough details so that everyone can use each other's experiences to learn about what tends to work out, and what doesn't tend to work out.
Thanks to everyone who contributes!
Engaged in a spirited debate with another individual about the consequences of our mortality.
The other individual pointed out that if we exist in a universe where death is completely permanent, with no afterlife or any ability to continue living after biological death, then rationally we should spend every waking moment working on a way to stave off this undesirable outcome. Merely trying to live to the next day isn't sufficient - around 100 billion humans have tried this strategy, and are all dead now.
The other individual thought that perhaps every waking moment should go to developing molecular nanotechnology in the basement or some other unlikely to succeed endeavor. I pointed out that to even touch the level of individual atoms requires on the order of a million dollars of equipment, and that developing productive nanosystems is an effort that would take the resources of an entire nation state or more. By analogy : plenty of individuals desire strongly to build nuclear weapons in their basement, but no group has succeeded without nation state level support. Self replicating nanosystems are more complicated than nuclear weapons, and might in fact require a larger investment in resources (time, equipment, etc) than was spent developing nuclear weapons.
This individual was unhappy with the cryonics mindset - basically, try to scrap together enough resources to preserve your remains post mortem so that there is a non zero chance of future survival. Pray that in the remaining decades of life an individual has (in my case, approximately 60 years), the preservation mechanisms will be better researched so the chance of ultimate survival is better. He thought that the only chance of avoiding death that has any plausible chance of success is to remain conscious and active the entire time.
Result towards self actualization : negative. Even considering how dim the olds of ultimate survival are is extremely depressing. I know the reality is that more than 100 billion individuals are dead, and no matter what choices I make, I may end up among that group. This is quite frightening, because the prospect of death makes pointless any event that happens in my life. It technically would not matter if I became a billionaire and explored the world and enjoyed a thousand beautiful women or was falsely convicted of a crime I did not commit and incarcerated for the next 60 years. Either life history becomes meaningless upon the moment of death.
There is more to life (extension) than cryonics and nanotechnology. You've overlooked the world of research going on in biology. That is where to focus your attention if you're interested in survival without suspension. Try on the outlook that total rejuvenation is possible using only biological means - stem cells, RNA nanodevices, an ecology of special bacteria in your body rather than a nanobotic immune system. Not only is that sort of research something you can engage with that's already happening on a huge scale - so you don't have to do the impossible... (read more)