On January 12, 1967, psychology professor James Bedford died due to cancer-related natural causes. Within hours, a team of scientists filled his veins with antifreeze. They packed his body in a container full of dry ice, and in so doing made Bedford the first man ever frozen alive in the name ofwell, if not science, something that aspired to be science one day: cryonics.
On December 23rd, 2009, at 4 a.m., I listened to my neighbors play Forever Young for the fortieth time in a row. Either the partygoers had either left or the DJ had died, and any attendees were either passed out or too blitzed to notice. The song played on repeat:
Forever young, I want to be Forever young.
I aged 10 years that night, while Bedfordtucked away in a fresh liquid nitrogen bath that came complementary with his 1991 inspectionremained immortal.
What is Cryonics, for Crying out Loud? Fifty years have passed since Bedford volunteered to become the first cryogenically frozen man. And while cultural depictions sporadically crop upthink Austin Powers, Futurama and yes, Mel Gibsonin Forever Youngcryonics is often thought to belong more to the realm of science fiction than science, and to put an even finer point on it, an escapist fiction that eludes actionable reality.
Yet cryonics offers grounds just as fertile for ethics as they do the imagination. Just think: people wage fierce wars about when life begins. Cryonics twists, turns and flips that argument around to become a deeper meditation on the moment that life ends.
So when does it?
When a Body Becomes a Patient The Alcor Life Extension Foundation which preserved Bedford describes cryonics as an effort to save lives by using temperatures so cold that a person beyond help by todays medicine can be preserved for decades or centuries until a future medical technology can restore that person to full health. The Foundation tellingly describes its members as patientsnot bodies. The dewars are not coffins, they are the temporary resting place for people who will one day wake up.
Michael Hendrix, neuroscientist and assistant professor of biology at McGill University, describes how the future of cryonics rests upon the promise of new technologies in neuroscience, particularly recent work in connectomicsa field that maps the connections between neurons a detailed map of neural connections could be enough to restore a persons mind, memories and personality by uploading it into a computer simulation.
In other words, cryonics claims that a cryogenically frozen person is not dead. He or she is merely on pause, similar to the way a video game character wont age while the player fiddles through the menu screen. The cycle of life rests upon the ability of scientistsand technologyto catch up to an idea born centuries before its time.
And as far as the science of resuscitation, cryonics does not actually rely upon the preservation of the entire body (as the choice of some people to have just their heads frozen, notably MLB player Ted Williams, testifies to), but upon the ability to map out the neurological connections between the brain, lift that map and recreate it in another bodypossibly a robot, possibly something scientists and dreamers havent yet conceived.
The Grounds for Debate Arguments against cryonics often hinge upon two main points. The first is that at best, the ethical implications of the procedure show a Labradors level of devotion to the promise of science. At worst, they play upon the emotions (and pocketbooks) of the bereaved survivors, who hold out false hope for the resuscitation of their loved one, possibly derailing and even deranging the cycles of the grieving process. The second rawand undeniablefact is that the technology for making a frozen person reenter society as a whole, living human being simply does not exist.
As for arguments for it? The most simple, powerful argument of all: immortality.
In 2014, the total count of cyropreserved bodies reached 250. An estimated 1,500 people total had made arrangements for cryopreservation after their legal death. The New York Times cites nonreligious white males as the main partakers, outdoing females by a ratio of three to one. As the worlds first volunteer, Bedford received a freebie, but most cyropreservation costs at least $80,000. A Russian company, KioRus, boasts the steal at $12,000 a headliterally speaking. But costs all but disappear in the face of a successful experiment. Say someone pays $80,000 now to rejoin the living 200 years later? Forget about calculating inflation differences.
No matter what side of cryonics one comes down uponand science offers arguments for botha central idea remains, both chilling and mesmerizing, depending upon the way its turned. A successful cyropreservation would entail rebirthbut into a world wholly different than the one left behind. If James Bedford came back tomorrow, could he handle the emotionalnot to mention mentaltribulations of adjusting to a world that moved on without him? Would the forever young experience drone on like the song on that December night, an individual sentenced to the eternal return of the same song, Existence?
After my own encounter with Forever YoungI certainly hope not.
Elisia Guerena is a Brooklyn based writer, who writes about tech, travel, feminism, and anything related to inner or outer space.
Original post:
50 Years Frozen: Cryonics Today - Paste Magazine
- How Cryonics Works - HowStuffWorks [Last Updated On: July 28th, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 28th, 2015]
- Cryonics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: July 28th, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 28th, 2015]
- Cryonics - RationalWiki [Last Updated On: August 15th, 2015] [Originally Added On: August 15th, 2015]
- Cryonics-UK [Last Updated On: August 25th, 2015] [Originally Added On: August 25th, 2015]
- Cryonics - Merkle [Last Updated On: September 13th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 13th, 2015]
- Finding Hope In Cryonics, Despite Glacial Progress - Slashdot [Last Updated On: September 13th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 13th, 2015]
- Institute for Evidence-Based Cryonics [Last Updated On: September 14th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 14th, 2015]
- What is cryonics? | Institute for Evidence-Based Cryonics [Last Updated On: September 19th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 19th, 2015]
- What is Cryonics? - How Cryonics Works [Last Updated On: October 29th, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 29th, 2015]
- Can You Cheat Death With Cryonics? - YouTube [Last Updated On: October 30th, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 30th, 2015]
- Scientists Open Letter on Cryonics | Evidence-Based Cryonics [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2015] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2015]
- Scientists Open Letter on Cryonics | Evidence-Based Cryonics [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2015] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2015]
- Lessons for Cryonics from Metallurgy and Ceramics [Last Updated On: December 14th, 2015] [Originally Added On: December 14th, 2015]
- Cryonics | Evidence-Based Cryonics [Last Updated On: December 20th, 2015] [Originally Added On: December 20th, 2015]
- Cryonics | Evidence-Based Cryonics [Last Updated On: December 20th, 2015] [Originally Added On: December 20th, 2015]
- Problems Associated with Cryonics - Cryonics: Alcor Life ... [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2015] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2015]
- cryonics - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com [Last Updated On: February 2nd, 2016] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2016]
- Perfusion & Diffusion in Cryonics Protocol - BEN BEST [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2016]
- The Institute for Evidence-Based Cryonics [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2016]
- How Cryonics Works | HowStuffWorks [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2016]
- Vitrification in Cryonics - BEN BEST [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Alcor: About Cryonics [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Can A Human Be Frozen And Brought Back To Life? - Zidbits [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2016]
- Perfusion & Diffusion in Cryonics Protocol - BEN BEST [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2016]
- Alcor: Membership Info - How to Join [Last Updated On: August 14th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 14th, 2016]
- CryoCare Foundation - Cryonics Services [Last Updated On: August 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 21st, 2016]
- A History of Cryonics - BEN BEST [Last Updated On: September 22nd, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 22nd, 2016]
- Inside the strange world of cryonics, where people are ... [Last Updated On: November 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 25th, 2016]
- UK teenager wins battle to have body cryogenically frozen - CNN [Last Updated On: November 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 25th, 2016]
- Florida's First Body-Freezing Cryonics Facility Now Open In Miami - CBS Local [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Head Case Scottish writer: 'Decapitate me after death, freeze my head, and I let me live again centuries from now' - Herald Scotland [Last Updated On: February 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 19th, 2017]
- Cryonics This Scottish author pays 50 pounds a month to preserve his brain after death - Zee News [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- Going Underground: Cheltenham author's book about cryonics to be used in groundbreaking scheme - Gloucestershire Live [Last Updated On: February 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 25th, 2017]
- Keegan Macintosh-British Columbia Guy Signs First Canadian Cryonic Contract - E Canada Now [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Heart tissue cryogenics breakthrough gives hope for transplant patients - The Guardian [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Building set to start on Australia's first cryonics lab - Cowra Guardian [Last Updated On: March 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 5th, 2017]
- Stayin' Alive - The Stute [Last Updated On: March 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 10th, 2017]
- Frozen Dead Guy Days: The story behind Nederland's most famous ... - The Denver Channel [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- Cryonics Experts Want to Freeze Human Blood Into Glass - Inverse [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2017]
- Cross Post: Solomon's frozen judgement - Practical Ethics (blog) [Last Updated On: March 31st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 31st, 2017]
- Exploring the hidden politics of the quest to live forever - New Scientist [Last Updated On: April 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 2nd, 2017]
- Brains on ice: The Aussie man planning to live forever - Mackay Daily Mercury [Last Updated On: April 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 7th, 2017]
- John Gray: Dear Google, please solve death - New Statesman [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2017]
- Brains on ice: The Aussie man planning to live forever - Northern Star [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2017]
- The technologist's stone - The Stanford Daily [Last Updated On: April 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 19th, 2017]
- The 'fortress' designed to help people live forever - Financial Times [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2017]
- Out of his mind surgeon plans human head transplant, revival of frozen brain - Ars Technica [Last Updated On: April 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 28th, 2017]
- Fighting the common fate of humans: to better life and beat death - Cosmos [Last Updated On: April 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 30th, 2017]
- The Creepy, Insane, and Undeniably Romantic World of Cryonics - VICE [Last Updated On: April 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 30th, 2017]
- The Merger of Humans and Machines Has Already Begun - Newsweek [Last Updated On: May 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 7th, 2017]
- This AI Company Offers Cryogenic Freezing With Its Health Plan - Motherboard [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- Cryonic freezing is the coolest employee perk in Silicon Valley literally - Yahoo News [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
- Forget healthcare this startup offers cryonic freezing as an employee benefit - Digital Trends [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2017]
- Why head transplants won't disprove the existence of God | Angelus - The Tidings [Last Updated On: May 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 23rd, 2017]
- Why head transplants won't disprove the existence of God - The Tidings [Last Updated On: May 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 26th, 2017]
- To Be a Machine, book review: Disrupting life itself - ZDNet [Last Updated On: June 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 1st, 2017]
- Off the Cuffs: Bibbs considers donation, cremation, cryonics - Cecil Whig [Last Updated On: June 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 5th, 2017]
- The confounding world of Cryonics, and the Kiwi scientists trying to make it a charitable pursuit - Stuff.co.nz [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2017]
- Thirty years since its launch, Athens Photo Festival is 'still searching' - Kathimerini [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2017]
- The plan to 'reawaken' cryogenically frozen brains and transplant them into someone else's skull - National Post [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2017]
- Chart of the day: Which age groups are coming to Invercargill? - Stuff.co.nz [Last Updated On: June 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 29th, 2017]
- A last-ditch attempt to stave off extinction as Sudan goes on Tinder - Irish Times [Last Updated On: June 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 29th, 2017]
- Cryonics Failure - TV Tropes [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2017]
- From Inequality to Immortality - INSEAD Knowledge (blog) [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2017]
- What is cryonics? [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2017]
- Interview with entertainment professional Khu - Blasting News [Last Updated On: July 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 15th, 2017]
- How Would the Human Body Respond to Carbonite Freezing? - Inverse [Last Updated On: July 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 15th, 2017]
- Comic-Con: Seth MacFarlane's 'The Orville' Brings Unique Fan ... - Deadline [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2017]
- Brain Freeze: Have yours preserved in Salem for possible future revival - KATU [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2017]
- A first in China cryonics: Dead woman put in deep freeze - EJ Insight - EJ Insight [Last Updated On: August 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 15th, 2017]
- Walt Disney Was NOT Frozen - MousePlanet [Last Updated On: August 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 16th, 2017]
- The Future is Here! Human Body Cryogenically Frozen for First Time Ever in China - Sputnik International [Last Updated On: August 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 18th, 2017]
- This company freezes your body so that you could one day be resurrected - AsiaOne [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2017]
- Freeze Frame: Lifting The Lid On Cryonics - Billionaire.com [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2017]
- Chinese woman cryogenically frozen with 'COMPLETE possibility' of ... - Express.co.uk [Last Updated On: August 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 22nd, 2017]
- For The First Time Ever, a Woman in China Has Been Cryogenically Frozen - ScienceAlert [Last Updated On: August 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 25th, 2017]
- First Impressions: Melting Me Softly Has Warmth, Mystery, And Ji Chang Wook - soompi [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2019]
- Cryonics Technology Market Strategic New Technology Advancements and Future Outlook - TheLoop21 [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2019]
- Huge Demand of Cryonics Technology Market 2019 Predictable to Witness Sustainable Evolution Over 2024 Including Leading Vendors- Praxair, Cellulis,... [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2019]
- Cryonics Technology Market Present Scenario and the Growth Prospects with Forecast 2025 - Midnight Stocks [Last Updated On: October 22nd, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 22nd, 2019]