On 21 Dec 2014, at 05:45, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On Sunday, December 21, 2014, Bruce Kellett
<[email protected]> wrote:
John Clark wrote:
Somebody said that they didn't want to sign up for Cryonics because
they were worried about ending up as a brain in a vat, and in any
case they believed in Everett's Many Worlds so it is unnecessary.
Well, if Everett is correct then you've already signed up for
Cryonics in some universe and you are going to end up as a brain in
a vat regardless, so that eliminates that objection for taking
action now in this universe. So if there is no reason (other than
economics) for not doing it is there any positive reason for
actually doing it? I believe there is.
Consider the possibility that Everett is not correct, or at least
not 100% correct in the way you think, then Cryonics could literally
be the difference between life and death, between consciousness and
oblivion. In my opinion Many Worlds is the best interpretation of
Quantum Mechanics that has so far been found, but I'm not willing to
bet my life that a even better one won't be found someday.
John K Clark
What's wrong with oblivion?
Most legal systems punish murder more than any other crime, and
those that have the death penalty reserve it for the worst
offenders. Most criminals know that if they threaten a person with
death they are more likely to comply than with other threats. Most
religions, in the absence of any evidence, promise an afterlife. I
think this all supports the fact that it is a common human trait to
fear oblivion, even if as John says it's just a matter of taste.
There is a difference between fearing oblivion, and fearing having a
too much short life. That is why we find the death of our parents very
sad but somehow acceptable, and we find unbearable and unconsolable
with the death of a child.
In the fear of death, they might be, or not, a fear of oblivion. Death
means the end of your (present) life. It is sad, as an ending, but not
necessarily as a "possible state for which no experience is possible",
or any image we could (not) make of oblivion, if that exists.
For some suffering people death is a hope. As much as I am against
death penalty, I am against normative rules in the domain of health,
physical and spiritual. It is not the business of any organizations,
although it should be a right to trust diverse organizations, (if
diverse enough), but beware the con shaman/doctors which can only
pullulate if the "diverse" criteria is too low.
I don't think it is a matter of taste. It is our basic program: eat
and mate as much as possible, as long as you can, ... and then the
humans/Löbian infer infinity.
Bruno
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Stathis Papaioannou
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