[LINK] Why Cryonics Makes Sense - Wait But Why

Apparently you were right.

From Alcor:

"Some of you may be already be familiar with Tim Urban’s remarkable blog, Wait But Why. You might be among the 336,693 subscribers to Tim’s blog, or you might just have come across one of his stunning detailed and clever posts, such as on procrastination, the genius of Elon Musk, The AI Revolution, or Putting Time in Perspective.

A few days ago, Tim posted what is possibly the single best piece ever written on cryonics. Warning: It is long and, once you start reading it, you will find it hard to stop. Please use it to persuade your non-cryonicist friends and relatives! The blog post has already generated a surge in visits to Alcor.org and in people engaging Marji in online chat, and in serious requests for membership information packets. You can find it Wait But Why, Why Cryonics Makes Sense."

Me too. I feel like more people will sign up after that article.

I don't believe in nested simulverse etc

You mean none of what I mentioned? Why not?

but I feel I should point out that even if some of those things were true waking up one way does not preclude waking up one or more of the other ways in addition to that.

You're right. I should have said "make it more likely", not "make sure".

By "the preface" do you mean the "memetic hazard warnings"?

Yes.

I don't think that is claiming that it is a rational response to claims about the word.

I don't get this. I see a very straightforward claim that cryonics is a rational response. What do you mean?

This is a quantum immortality argument. If you actually believe in quantum immortality, you have bigger problems. Here is Eliezer offering cryonics as a solution to those, too.

I've read that as well. It's the same argument, essentially (quantum immortality doesn't actually have much to do with MWI in particular). Basically, Eliezer is saying that quantum immortality is probably true, it could be very bad, and we should sign up for cryonics as a precaution.

Tegmark 4 is not related to quantum physics. Quantum physics does not give an avenue for rescue simulations; in fact, it makes them harder.

As a simulationist, you can somewhat salvage traditional notions of fear if you retreat into a full-on absurdist framework where the point of your existence is to give a good showing to the simulating universes; alternately, risk avoidance is a good Schelling point for a high score. Furthermore, no matter how much utility you will be able to attain in Simulationist Heaven, this is your single shot to attain utility on Earth, and you shouldn't waste it.

It does take the sting off death though, and may well be maladaptive in that sense. That said - it seems plausible a lot of simulating universes would end up with a "don't rescue suicides" policy, purely out of a TDT desire to avoid the infinite-suicidal-regress loop.

I am continuously amused how catholic this cosmology ends up by sheer logic.

Why would someone make major decisions based on metaphysical interpretations of quantum physics that are lacking experimental verifiability?

As opposed to the usual "I've had a few beers and it seemed like a good idea at the time"..? X-)

Perhaps you shouldn't. That said, it is recommended by Eliezer Yudkowsky, and his words often weigh quite heavily here.

I don't necessarily agree that lacking experimental verifiability means that we shouldn't take something into account when making decisions, if we have enough reasons to think that it's true nevertheless.

I think maybe we just interpreted it differently. That reads to me like someone on the outside coming in, not someone on the inside going out.