RE: We disagree on masks and vaccine passports because our immortality tickets look different.

I'm late to the party as always, but it means I get to read through all the replies.

I had to look up Roko's Basilisk and it's quite the brain melter. 😅 These things certainly play on our fears, or at least our instincts to live.

This is so well stated, but I would also posit that the virtue signalling extends beyond the need to live. For some it's also about regaining a form of freedom. Recently my sister, in the UK, had her first jab. I was a little surprised how quickly she jumped in for it and when she told me she was almost apologetic and said that she just wanted her freedom back. I asked her if that was basically what they were being told, that you have to have it if you want your freedom and she replied that it was more that they were aiming for a certain percentage of the population vaccinated before they'd lift restrictions. Then she really surprised me with a sticker added to her Facebook profile which proclaimed that she'd had her vaccine. This is a woman with a PhD. She has been so cut off from people for the last year+ and banned from the ballroom dancing that keeps her going. A form of living death for her.

Only the extremely wealthy are in a situation of true freedom to be able to do whatever they wish and I think that's just as desirable for some as immortality. They can ascend the laws that the common populous are forced to live by. We've seen the wealthy and high profile allowed into Australia, because they can pay the higher fares, while Australians stranded abroad are stuck there with no concession given. So the idea of being virtuous as an alternative option for whay the elite have makes sense, despite the fact that this isn't even an offer that's on the table.