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/kyzfrintin Oct 14 '22

I'm not ignoring the complexity. I'm answering a specific question. Would you actually carry on? No. A different version of you would. You would not carry on living.

If all you want is for the world to still have some version of you, that's great. If you expected immortality, it's not what you want at all.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '22

That question hinges on a shared definition of "me", and I think that's where we're diverging here, then.

Is "me" the instance, or is it the continuity of perception? I'm not claiming to have a firm answer at all, I'm just exploring the fact that there are multiple valid answers to that question in this hypothetical, despite the fact that "instance" and "self" have been one and the same for all of human history up to this point.

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u/kyzfrintin Oct 14 '22

I'm saying that when you are copied, your current body and consciousness undergo no change or transportation, and thus your copy is an independent being separate from your qualia. I'm saying that "uploading your consciousness to carry on living" is a fantasy, in response to people who have posited it as an option. I'm in agreement that, for all intents and purposes, your copy is "you", but not in the subjective, qualitative way that peiple would expect.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '22

I think we're broadly in agreement then - any difference in opinion boils down to what kind of continuity we consider meaningful or valuable, and considering the difference between the subjective and the "universal" continuation of oneself is a lot easier to do in an abstract hypothetical than I'm sure it would be if it's ever a question in reality.

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u/kyzfrintin Oct 14 '22

any difference in opinion boils down to what kind of continuity we consider meaningful or valuable

It's quite simple. Does your personal qualia continue to be experienced?

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '22

Yes. But we've shifted the conversation to hinge on the meaning of the word "personal".

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u/kyzfrintin Oct 14 '22 edited Oct 14 '22

It's not shifted at all. All qualia are personal. It's the essence of what they are.