Cryonics? 2020-03-04T02:40:59.791Z

Comment by kinchen on Coronavirus: Justified Practical Advice Thread · 2020-03-04T02:12:48.755Z · LW · GW

(Meta: unsure if it's ok to post an on-topic RFC here. Apologies in advance)

Should I sign up for cryonics ASAP?

Background: 23 y/o male in NYC. No known pre-existing health conditions. Mild -> moderate interest in cryonics; in a world without ncov, etc. would probably have a 30-60% chance of signing up.

Comment by kinchen on What will be the big-picture implications of the coronavirus, assuming it eventually infects >10% of the world? · 2020-03-02T19:23:10.229Z · LW · GW

I’m very interested in seeing how the Diamond Princess plays out. On feb 20, some half of the cases were asymptomatic. Wikipedia hasn’t been updated with any data since then. This bit feels cruxy to me.

Comment by kinchen on What will be the big-picture implications of the coronavirus, assuming it eventually infects >10% of the world? · 2020-03-02T17:55:28.626Z · LW · GW

The WHO report said some 90% of people had fever. Maybe the tests have a significant false neg rate, or theyre not testing enough people, but I am worried that few mild cases are being missed.

Comment by kinchen on Coronavirus: Justified Practical Advice Thread · 2020-03-01T22:31:11.942Z · LW · GW

our risk tolerance is much lower

and

1⁄16 still isn’t great.

Yep, sounds right. :)

trust to be asymptomatic

Also right. Do you have any good pointers re: how much asymptomatic transfer there is? I've seen two things of note:

1. CDC director comment:

In other words, Redfield said that an infected person not showing symptoms could still transmit the virus to someone else based on information from his colleagues in China.

https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-13-20-intl-hnk/h_8d935a8b6df385aba0cbfdb30cd3aeac

2. Two cases mentioned here: https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-asymptomatic-transmission-chinese-woman-relatives-2020-2

Part of me is surprised about how little evidence there is of asymptomatic transfer. Either it's not frequent, evidence is hard to gather, it's not worth mentioning/publishing after a certain point, something else?

Comment by kinchen on Coronavirus: Justified Practical Advice Thread · 2020-03-01T15:03:30.377Z · LW · GW

If it spreads like the common cold, how worried should I be about kissing people? Reason:

Kissing does not efficiently spread cold infection ... Of 16 susceptible recipients, only one became infected by a one or one-and-a-half minute kiss with an infectious donor.

Source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014556139407300906

Comment by kinchen on Introducing the Longevity Research Institute · 2019-04-28T18:39:15.570Z · LW · GW

From the website:

We reverse the usual grant-giving process: we seek out top researchers and offer them grants to run lifespan studies of the most promising drugs.

Is anyone doing something analogous for AI safety? I.e., contacting academics and asking (paying) them to do AI safety.