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Help mom, LessWrong is leaking and not just because of AI. No, don't worry, I love to see it. I love The Motte, but I wish it drifted more towards more central Rationalist pastures.
Anyway. I've been following this, and I'm somewhere between attentive and cautiously optimistic. The founders know their stuff, and have been quite upfront of what exactly they can offer and what it requires. The effective necessity of MAID doesn't bother me at all. If you die traumatically, the odds that standard approaches can preserve you enough to reconstruct with high fidelity is... low.
A decade ago, I would have told you I'd sign up for cryonics the first opportunity I got. But things have changed. AGI will either substantially change the trajectory of technological development in an upward direction, or kill us in a manner that precludes cryonics mattering. I assign rather little probability mass to things in between. It's not worth discussing rn, even if Things Continue As Usual is not impossible.
But now? If AGI doesn't show up within 10 years, I'll consider it again. Not in 20? I'll be signing up immediately. Right now, I have better things to do with my money, and that includes hedging for disruption in the near future. That includes most of my loved ones, even if my grandpa would never consent and it's not practical to do it in India. I regret this immensely.
I mean, I admire the attitude, but I do think that immortality doesn't necessarily involve killing ourselves to attain. "Mere" biological mortality is a possibility. I say this, while being willing to destructively scan my brain and upload my mind into a computer the moment it's viable, validated and safe. Whatever, it's my sense of identity and willingness to subscribe to substrate-independent theories of consciousness. I would prefer non-destructive scans if they were an option, and might even wait if I didn't expect to die before it was a reality.
Have you heard of the Sparks Brain preservation organization (Formerly Oregon Cryonics）？ I've been following them for a while and they offer a similar service to Nectome and are also based in Oregon.
https://sparksbrain.org/https://sparksbrain.org/
Not as familiar with them as I am with Alcor and now Nectome, but I've heard of them. It's just good to have legitimate options other than Alcor, albeit the options are scantier in the UK and nonexistent in India. I keep a finger on the pulse, cryonics is great for those at serious risk of death in a decade or two, just less pressing for me
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Yeah, I don't reckon you need to buy a bridge if you're swimming across.
I'll be erring on the side of patience as a virtue irrespective of any other considerations, thank you very much. Sense of identity maybe not so much, but my willingness can change in a traffic jam.
Did I infer correctly that Nectome's crosslinking method is intended for the simulator end game, and fundamentally further or mutually exclusive with the "maybe someday medicine gets really good" revival hope of traditional cryo? The LW discussion didn't seem to talk about it as a pivot. I guess if you're in the market for cryo it's more like hedging and that's why it is presented and discussed this way.
This was in part a bait post for the thoughts of local enthusiast and medicine man, cheers!
Very good bait. Reminds me of the time this hot Romanian chick slept with me so that her brothers could rob my house. It was so convincing I succumbed to impulse on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I keep her on speed dial just in case I need some decluterring. Please keep baiting me, some fish are hungry and never learn, and the bait is often delicious.
Eh, personal identity is, as the name suggests, highly personal. I'm just not particularly wedded to my human body, it's nice, but could do with a few million upgrades. If biological immortality is an option, I wouldn't be too averse to staying recognizably human for a while, even if it's not my ultimate preference.
It's an open question. It really depends on the state of medicine and chemistry when there's any scope for a revival. I suspect that it will be incredibly difficult to undo the changes at a molecular/cellular level while also regenerating tissue. I'd be so bold as to say that scanning and uploading might even be an easier or an earlier option, but don't mistake my take for an authoritative one. I would be happy with either option, they both beat being dead by a margin large enough to pass for infinity.
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