Re: Risk vs. Payoff (was Re: Alcor on KRON)

From: Brian Atkins (brian@posthuman.com)
Date: Tue May 08 2001 - 12:24:50 MDT


If you are that optimistic re: the Singularity, then why worry about the
here and now at all? If you were 100% convinced that the Singularity can
be made to occur soon, AND that it will be a vastly beneficial Singularity,
then why aren't you cancelling your vacation trips and donating every
single spare DM you've got to SIAI or another organization that you think
will accelerate the arrival date?

The fact is, no one can be that certain. You have to have a backup plan
just in case.

Not to mention the fact that it would really suck to die in an accident
or other premature way right before the Singularity, and not make it to
it because you passed on cryonics.

Christian Szegedy wrote:
>
> I think, you forget an important point in this discussion:
>
> What if the singularity comes before I die, rendering the
> money I spent on cryonics useless?
>
> This changes the risk/payoff matrix this way:
>
> Not signed up Signed up
> Singularity occures
> before I die or
> cryonics doesn't A A-C
> work
>
> Singularity comes A A-C+L
> after I die and
> cryonics works
>
> So if you are optimistic enough, you don't sign up!
>
> Best regards, Christian Szegedy

-- 
Brian Atkins
Director, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.singinst.org/



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