If cryonics suddenly worked, wed need to face the fallout …

Immortality could also be cause for alarm. An uploaded brain, in a sense, will have beaten death, which raises basic psychological and philosophical questions. We can say that death is at the root of consciousness, normative law and human existence, Kauffman says. The loss of death is likely to radically alter who or what the being or creature is.

Theres no guarantee that this being would be the same one who first entered into the cryogenic process, either. As de Grey says, the question remains of whether scanning the brain and uploading it into a different substrate is revival at all, or if youd be creating a new individual with the same characteristics.

Regardless of who or what that ghost in the machine turned out to be, programming in a digital suicide option would likely be necessary just in case the experience proved too overwhelming or oppressive. I think theyd have to decide in advance what the escape hatch would be if it didnt work out, Callahan says. Is it that the company is authorised to kill you, or are you left to do it yourself?

Despite the unknowns, some would still be willing to give such an existence a shot. If the option was complete oblivion and nothingness or uploading my mind into a computer, Id like to at least try it, Kowalski says. It could be pretty cool.

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If cryonics suddenly worked, wed need to face the fallout ...