Physically, I hate aging, and I've thought about it ever since I was young. I don't want to become slow, fat, weak, ugly, and then die. I'll make the best of it, but I will hate it. I am also terrified of possible late-life mental degradation because most of my self and much of what I value is in my mind. Dementia would be the worst because it would erase my memories, dismantle my rational faculties, and send me on wild flights of intuition. I hope that Architect is right--that the Singularity will come to rescue me from the decaying corpse that I will doubtless one day inhabit.
Otherwise, I have six principal fears:
1.) Accident. Death by accident is almost inescapable and cruelly ironic.
2.) Homicide. Death by homicide is only almost entirely preventable even when uploaded.
3.) Neurological disease. I most likely am a brain (electronic or squishy) and therefore need to ensure its function in order to continue existing in any capacity.
4.) Psychic degradation. Even if I upload my consciousness, becoming jaded and bored would make having a functioning brain almost useless.
5.) Cardiovascular disease. Unpredictable, horrifically injurious within seconds, and deadly within minutes. If I'm going to survive for longer than a few decades, then I need to get out of this body.
6.) Cancer. Rogue cells revolt, potentially metastasizing within days. As aforementioned, the human body is a death trap from which I must escape post haste.
If safe, reliable, long-term suspended animation becomes available, then I'll jump into a tank until safe, reliable, long-term mind uploading becomes possible; at that point, I will with frosty nose step into the uploading station.
-Duxwing
