Re: Who Should Live?

J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Wed, 17 Mar 1999 02:55:47 -0800

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote,
>Dear J.R. Molloy: I'm more talented and gifted than you are. Please
>shoot yourself.

That makes you sound neither talented nor gifted, but rather childish and self-absorbed.

>A sufficiently altruistic Extropian might decide that investing $100K in
>Cycorp and/or Zyvex takes precedence over cryonic preservation.
>Consoling ourselves by saying cryonics isn't important is silly. It's
>not all-important. It might be unnecessary or undesirable. There still
>exists a significant probability that it is important, necessary and
desirable.

Consoling yourself that cryonics makes sense doesn't make it so. Unimportant, unnecessary, and undesirable don't add up to much, true enough. If you'd gamble on such probabilities, your $100K would help to build a nice casino... for someone else.

>Information must never be destroyed. It's a simple precaution.

You can't destroy information, you can only change it into other forms of information or disinformation. A "precaution" against destroying information seems simple indeed.

Namaste,

--J. R.

"Live dangerously. It's the only time you live at all." --Friedrich Nietzsche