[ExI] [ZS] [cryo] Nick Bostrom, Anders Sandberg, Stuart Armstrong to be frozen after death

[Eugen Leitl]

On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 04:54:24PM +0200, Florent Berthet wrote:
> Guys, I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm asking for answers because I want to
> know how it's the best way to spend money, on an utilitarian point of view. If

Nobody can tell you the best way to spend your money since
that would mean future has no surprises.

> our main goal is to mitigate x-risks (as explained in Bostrom's

The global death rate is 100% over sufficiently long run.
I would say that definitely qualifies as existential risk.

> astronomical waste argument), it would seem to me that any amount of money
> would be better spent directly on research rather than on cryopreservation. The

Guess what: some of us do research in cryopreservation.

> articles says that it costs between £16,500 and £125,000 to be
> cryopreserved. That could pay a researcher full time. If I had that much
> money, wouldn't you prefer me to give it to the FHI rather than on my own
> cryopreservation? Sure I can do whatever I want with my money, but that
> doesn't mean any decision is equally good.

What do you want to do? We cannot decide that for you. It depends on
how much you value your life versus everything else.
 
> Again, I'm not saying it's illegal or that it shouldn't be allowed, and
> there are far worse ways to spend money than cryonics (wars for example),
> but coming from guys who want to do the most positive impact they can, I

I happen to think that validating solid state hypothermia is about the
most positive impact you can have -- save of preventing us from falling
off the net energy cliff (the reasoning is obvious: starving people
couldn't hardly care less about keeping dewars topped off).

> find it surprising. One explanation may be that such moves can make other
> people interested in these issues, which could bring in more funding. I'm
> not sure that's the reason they chose that option though. That's what I'm
> asking.
> 
> Giulio, if I don't buy food, I won't be able to do any long term good. The
> mathematics are pretty straightforward on this one.

Are you really sure about that? Most people are net consumers, not producers.
Careful going down that road. That's no longer millihitler country.