‘Ever’ is a terribly long time, Hallq. All sorts of things might be possible with enough time; I think the real question is whether we’ll see such a development in our lifetimes.
This isn’t a matter of taking on faith where an ambulance is going. We know hospitals exists, and that all sorts of injuries can be treated; we know that there are ambulance services which take people to hospitals.
We do not know that cryonic techniques are capable of preserving a person, most especially after their death, or that they are likely to be maintained for a long duration even if they function in theory. Neither do we know that revivification techniques will be developed within even the hypothetical storage times of cryonics, nor do we have strong arguments that people in the future would bother attempting such revivification.
Getting into an ambulance requires only the assumption that known, reliable principles will hold valid in our particular case. Trying cryonics requires a leap of faith straight into the unknown for a benefit with an unestimable likelihood.
It might be an interesting gamble for someone with resources to burn, but there are no grounds for arguing it is a rational strategy—there are simply too many unknowns for that.
‘Ever’ is a terribly long time, Hallq. All sorts of things might be possible with enough time; I think the real question is whether we’ll see such a development in our lifetimes.
This isn’t a matter of taking on faith where an ambulance is going. We know hospitals exists, and that all sorts of injuries can be treated; we know that there are ambulance services which take people to hospitals.
We do not know that cryonic techniques are capable of preserving a person, most especially after their death, or that they are likely to be maintained for a long duration even if they function in theory. Neither do we know that revivification techniques will be developed within even the hypothetical storage times of cryonics, nor do we have strong arguments that people in the future would bother attempting such revivification.
Getting into an ambulance requires only the assumption that known, reliable principles will hold valid in our particular case. Trying cryonics requires a leap of faith straight into the unknown for a benefit with an unestimable likelihood.
It might be an interesting gamble for someone with resources to burn, but there are no grounds for arguing it is a rational strategy—there are simply too many unknowns for that.