Putting a body in a sealed capsule in a vault requires no magical technology (not counting the time travel itself). Someone who has time travel but otherwise our present level of technology could rescue someone who is allowed to die using the vault method. (Although hopefully they do have better medical technology or rescuing the dying person wouldn’t do much good.)
It’s true, of course, that if the time travellers have other forms of advanced technology they might be able to rescue a wider range of people, but the safest way to go is to use my method. Note that time travel interacts with cryonics in the same way: perhaps you don’t need to freeze someone because a future person could time-travel and upload them from afar. Besides, why would you take the risk of the time travellers not being able to do this, considering that being put in a capsule for a few days is pretty cheap? You’re a lousy parent if you don’t sign your kids up for it....
Well, obviously here you run into your priors as to what sort of tech level is implied by time travel—much as discussions of cryonics run into the different intuitions people have about what a future where we can bring back the frozen will look like.
(“The only economic incentive for such an expensive project—except perhaps for a few lucky individuals who would be used as entertainment, like animals in a zoo—would be to use them as an enslaved labor force.”)
With that said …
… once time travel has come into play, surely all that matters is whether the magical technology in question will eventually be developed?
once time travel has come into play, surely all that matters is whether the magical technology in question will eventually be developed?
Not only do you need to have time travellers, you need to have time travellers who are interested in reviving you. The farther in the future you get the less the chance that any time travellers would want to revive you (although they might always want someone for historical interest so the chance might never go down to zero.) The more advanced the technology required, the longer it’ll be and the less the chance they’ll want to bother.
Perhaps you could go the cryonics-like route and have a foundation set up whose express purpose is to revive people some time in the future in exchange for payments now. While unlike cryonics there is no ongoing cost to keep you in a position where you can be saved, the cost to keep someone wanting to save you is still ongoing. This would still be subject to the same objections used for cryonics foundations. Of course, like cryonics, you can always hope that someone creates a friendly AI who wants to save as many people as it can.
There’s also the possibility that some technology simply will not be developed. Perhaps there are some fundamental quantum limits that prevent getting an accurate remote scan of you. Perhaps civilization has a 50% chance of dying out before they invent the magical technology.
Not only do you need to have time travellers, you need to have time travellers who are interested in reviving you. The farther in the future you get the less the chance that any time travellers would want to revive you (although they might always want someone for historical interest so the chance might never go down to zero.) The more advanced the technology required, the longer it’ll be and the less the chance they’ll want to bother.
Like I said, I guess this comes down to how you imagine such a future looking beyond “has time travel”. I tend to assume some sort of post-scarcity omnibenevolent utopia, myself …
There’s also the possibility that some technology simply will not be developed. Perhaps there are some fundamental quantum limits that prevent getting an accurate remote scan of you. Perhaps civilization has a 50% chance of dying out before they invent the magical technology.
Before they invent any magical technology, you mean. There’s more than one conceivable approach to such a last-second rescue.
What is your estimate of the ratio of the probability of my being “rescued” given a sealed capsule, to that of my being rescued absent a sealed capsule?
Why not? Just replace them with a remote-controlled clone, or upload them from afar (using magic, obviously), or rewrite everyone’s memories of you …
Putting a body in a sealed capsule in a vault requires no magical technology (not counting the time travel itself). Someone who has time travel but otherwise our present level of technology could rescue someone who is allowed to die using the vault method. (Although hopefully they do have better medical technology or rescuing the dying person wouldn’t do much good.)
It’s true, of course, that if the time travellers have other forms of advanced technology they might be able to rescue a wider range of people, but the safest way to go is to use my method. Note that time travel interacts with cryonics in the same way: perhaps you don’t need to freeze someone because a future person could time-travel and upload them from afar. Besides, why would you take the risk of the time travellers not being able to do this, considering that being put in a capsule for a few days is pretty cheap? You’re a lousy parent if you don’t sign your kids up for it....
Well, obviously here you run into your priors as to what sort of tech level is implied by time travel—much as discussions of cryonics run into the different intuitions people have about what a future where we can bring back the frozen will look like.
(“The only economic incentive for such an expensive project—except perhaps for a few lucky individuals who would be used as entertainment, like animals in a zoo—would be to use them as an enslaved labor force.”)
With that said …
… once time travel has come into play, surely all that matters is whether the magical technology in question will eventually be developed?
Not only do you need to have time travellers, you need to have time travellers who are interested in reviving you. The farther in the future you get the less the chance that any time travellers would want to revive you (although they might always want someone for historical interest so the chance might never go down to zero.) The more advanced the technology required, the longer it’ll be and the less the chance they’ll want to bother.
Perhaps you could go the cryonics-like route and have a foundation set up whose express purpose is to revive people some time in the future in exchange for payments now. While unlike cryonics there is no ongoing cost to keep you in a position where you can be saved, the cost to keep someone wanting to save you is still ongoing. This would still be subject to the same objections used for cryonics foundations. Of course, like cryonics, you can always hope that someone creates a friendly AI who wants to save as many people as it can.
There’s also the possibility that some technology simply will not be developed. Perhaps there are some fundamental quantum limits that prevent getting an accurate remote scan of you. Perhaps civilization has a 50% chance of dying out before they invent the magical technology.
Like I said, I guess this comes down to how you imagine such a future looking beyond “has time travel”. I tend to assume some sort of post-scarcity omnibenevolent utopia, myself …
Before they invent any magical technology, you mean. There’s more than one conceivable approach to such a last-second rescue.
What is your estimate of the ratio of the probability of my being “rescued” given a sealed capsule, to that of my being rescued absent a sealed capsule?
I have no idea. I’m sure I could come up with an estimate in a similar manner to how people make estimates for cryonics, though.