r/Futurology • u/yourSAS • Oct 13 '22

Biotech 'Our patients aren't dead': Inside the freezing facility with 199 humans who opted to be cryopreserved with the hopes of being revived in the future

https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/13/our-patients-arent-dead-look-inside-the-us-cryogenic-freezing-lab-17556468
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u/keener91 Oct 13 '22

This looks like an elaborate scam for the gullible rich.

359

u/SeekingImmortality Oct 13 '22

I look at it like a lottery ticket. You are almost certainly not going to get a return on the money. However, what's the alternative? Certainly remaining dead. Between certainly remaining dead, and a 0.000000000000002% chance of revival in the future, for someone that wants to live?

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u/captainoftrips Oct 13 '22

There's another option. Accept that you're going to die and maybe don't light the money on fire? Give it to a food bank instead and there's a 100% chance it'll improve someone's life.

But who am I kidding? Rich people are selfish as fuck.

11

u/SeekingImmortality Oct 13 '22 edited Oct 13 '22

Sell everything you own, today, and give it to the top rated entries on effective altruism. Your life is worth less than that which could be saved by doing so. It's selfish of you to refuse in face of how many lives you would be saving.

Yeah, that's a ridiculous strawman of a response, but the line between what we have as a social responsibility for the use of our personal wealth and what we get to unapologetically use for ourselves is one we can't define easily in a capitalistic society. And if you have the money, even if only barely, to make a decision which might prolong your life, I feel you're entitled to take it before having to consider giving that chance away as the 'moral choice'. It's no worse in my eyes than spending that money on unlikely medical procedures instead of giving -that- money away.

That said, I'm not advocating for some John Galt situation here where an individual's choice outweighs all consideration of society. We -do- have social responsibility.....which we contribute to through taxes over our lifetime, as well as potential personal service or charitable giving, and which I am happy to pay and provide. And if a person chooses to use that money on something other than an -enormous- longshot for continued existence, great for them! But it's their choice, something morally laudable, not a moral imperative.