what is cryonic suspension?

Cryonic suspension is a scientific approach at extending the life of humans, essentially leading them to immortality. Cryonic suspension is a process in which the human body is preserved at very low temperatures with the hope that in the future it will be revived and able to function again. After a person dies, if they wish to be preserved, their body is injected with preserving chemicals. After the body is frozen from these chemicals, it is suspended in liquid nitrogen until it is time for revival. The purpose of cryonics is to preserve a body in the best state possible so that once it is revived in the future it can be treated with advanced medicine and technology. Scientists begin the preserving process as soon as possible, after legal death is declared, in order to prevent any loss of information from the brain.

In order for a person to be suspended, they must be declared legally dead and the procedure must be legally documented in a will. This is necessary to ensure cryonics is desired and approved by the patient. The small time frame for a person to get to a cryonics lab is necessary to ensure that the brain will remain fully functional when the person is injected. If too much time passes, the brain will start to diminish and if the person is revived, their brain may not function correctly, making the revival pointless. Scientists have been working for decades, and continue working today, to preserve these humans in a way that will leave them unharmed by the time a revival process is discovered. The topic of cryonics has become much more serious to scientists and whose who wish to be preserved. People who plan to preserve their bodies try to ensure a comfortable life in the future. It is important to make sure that the person will not have to worry about living in a different time after they are revived. These individuals create a plan for themselves so they will have everything they need once they are revived. They set up financial plans, ensure that their money will be available to them in the future, and some even seek the help of insurance companies to make sure they are covered for the future. There are some insurance companies that will even cover the cost of the cryonic suspension process.

So why choose cryonic suspension?

Cryonics could specifically be beneficial to individuals who are sick with disease or fatal injuries. It is hopeful that cryonics will give these individuals a second chance at life. For those who may have died at a young age, cryonic suspension could allow them to continue living after not having the chance to fully experience life. For others who died from disease or illness, cryonics is fundamentally trying to preserve their bodies until the future can find a cure. Scientists are hopeful that if a person chooses to suspend their bodies because they are sick or diseased, the future will have a means of curing them to rid them of their illness. Many scientists believe that cryonic suspension will be prosperous in the future based on other scientific analyses. More recently, microscope sized computers and cell repair machines have shown that revival is likely to be a success. This nanotechnology circulates the body and looks for problems and ways to prevent or improve them. With the growing help from technology, scientists believe cryonics will prove to be successful in the future.

The picture above displays the processofcryonicsuspension beng performedas atrial runon a dummy for cryonicsworkers topracticethe procedure stepby step. It iscrucialthatcryonics workershave plenty ofexperiencewith the procedure to avoid anymalfunctionsor damgage to the individual.

There are currently thousands of bodies in line for cryonic suspension. Over the next few decades, it is possible that there could potentially be hundreds of thousands of people suspended in liquid nitrogen. In the future, it is highly unlikely that scientists will have the time or effort to unfreeze that many people. Realistically, only the first few people will be interesting to converse with and the rest after that will be repetitive and unexciting. Scientists are worried that this process could also cause potential problems for the futuristic world. If the world is already overpopulated, why would scientists unfreeze a few hundred thousand more? The future is bound to be different from the current world in many ways. Impending problems such as overpopulation, war and scarcity of natural resources, arise when looking toward the future. It may also be hard for the unfrozen individuals to adapt to life in the future. Other scientists are skeptical of the amount of damage that could possibly be done to the frozen bodies since they are frozen at such low temperatures. Cryonics labs freeze bodies initially at negative eighty degrees and later cool them to around negative two hundred degrees. There are no known species that can survive at temperatures that low, which makes cryonics seem senseless. Ken Storey, a professor of biochemistry at Canadas Carleton University, explains that cryonics practitioners freeze bodies so slowly all the cells would be dead from lack of oxygen long before they freeze (Luntz 2009). If cells cannot withstand the temperatures at which they are frozen, then revival will be nearly impossible. If it is possible for scientists to discover a method of preserving the cells without damage, cryonic suspension will not only be feasible but could prove to be one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of all time.

advancements in brain tissue damage

Before 1992, when going through the process of cryonic suspension, the amount of damage to the brain tissue was very large and uncontrollable. There was little advancement in technology to prevent damage to the tissue, so the formation of ice crystals and freezing damage were simple unavoidable.

Today, the amount of damage done to the braintissue is almost nonexistent when going throughthe process of cryonic suspension. There havebeen many advancements in technology toprevent the formation of icecrystals in thebrain.The cryonic suspensionprocess cannowbe donewith the assurance oflittle to no freezing damageto the brain.

a closer look at cryonic suspension...

There are currently over a hundred bodies in cryonic suspension and there are a few thousand more in line to preserve their bodies at the time of their death. Scientists are working hard and aiming toward advancements in discovering a revival technique to return these preserved individuals to their living state with as minimal damage as possible. Cryonics researchers are hopeful that once a revival process is discovered, the individuals who have been preserved will be cured of their illnesses due to the future advancements in technology and medicine. The revived patients would then be able to begin their new lives and settle themselves in a new, future environment. As the future becomes a reality, cryonics is becoming more pertinent to individuals who are seeking life extension.

For more information on cryonics visit:http://www.alcor.org/AboutCryonics/index.html

http://www.alcor.org/AboutCryonics/index.html

University of the Sciences in PhiladelphiaWriting 102 -04Amanda Martillotti

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Cryonics - Transhumanism

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