Maybe death is just another disease that doctors will one day cure. That was the dream of Professor Robert Ettinger, who is the godfather of cryonics. First dreamed up by Ettinger in the 1960s, cryonics is the freezing of bodies in the hopes of one day being able to bring them back to life in the future. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will ever happen, but the dream is that medical science will advance to the point where this will be possible. Perhaps the idea is not so far-fetched considering that scientists have already revived a small microscopic animal in Siberia after being frozen for 24,000 years.
Key to the cryonics process is to quickly lower the temperature of the recently deceased to preserve their bodies. At the Cryonics Institute in Michigan, patients are put into containers with liquid nitrogen that freezes them at -130 degrees Celsius. The problem with freezing is that the human body is made up of about 70% water. When water freezes, it expands, causing damage to the body’s cells. To prevent this, the blood in the body is replaced with chemicals that remove much of the water in the body before freezing.
The first person to be cryonically preserved was Dr. James Bedford, who was frozen in 1967. Currently, there are over 250 cryonics patients and a few dozen pets patiently awaiting a new life in the future. And there are over a thousand who have signed contracts to be frozen upon death. Most of these patients are in the US, but Kryo-Rus is a cryonics center in Russia that cares for twenty frozen patients and ten pets. There are also plans for cryonic centers in Australia and Switzerland.
Some people think that cryonics is something that only the rich can take a chance on, but others use affordable life insurance to pay for their procedure. The prices are not cheap but vary from place to place. At the low end, you can have just your head frozen if you are hoping to receive a new and improved artificial body in the future. On the high end, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation charges $250,000 to freeze and care for your body until some unknown day in the future.
Professor Ettinger died in 2011. He now sits frozen in the Cryonics Institute, waiting for medical miracles down the road. Will this take 50 years, 100 years, 200 years, or is it all just a pipe dream?
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References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryonics
https://www.wired.com/2012/01/jan-12-1967-its-cold-in-here/
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/life-ice-world-crazy-cryogenics/story?id=14167348
Maybe death is something that doctors will one day cure. That was the dream of Professor Robert Ettinger, who is the godfather of cryonics. It is the freezing of bodies in the hopes of one day bringing them back to life in the future. Of course, no one is sure that this will ever happen. The dream is that science will advance to the point where this will be possible. Perhaps the idea is not so far-fetched. Scientists have already revived a small, microscopic animal in Siberia after being frozen for 24,000 years.
Key to the cryonics process is quickly lowering the person’s body temperature. They use liquid nitrogen to freeze them at -130 degrees Celsius. The problem with freezing is that the human body is made up of about 70% water. When water freezes, it expands, causing damage to the body’s cells. To prevent this, the blood in the body is replaced with chemicals. This removes much of the water in the body before freezing.
The first person to be frozen was Dr. James Bedford in 1967. There are now over 250 frozen people and a few dozen pets waiting for a new life in the future. And there are over a thousand people who have paid to be frozen after they die. Most of these people are in the US, but Kryo-Rus is a cryonics center in Russia. They care for twenty frozen people and ten pets. There are also plans for centers in Australia and Switzerland.
Cryonics is not only something the super-rich can take a chance on. Some people are using life insurance to pay for it. The prices are not cheap but vary from place to place. At the low end, you can have just your head frozen. On the high end, one company charges $250,000.
Professor Ettinger died in 2011. He now sits frozen, waiting for medical miracles down the road. Will this take 50 years, 100 years, 200 years, or is it all just a pipe dream?
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryonics
https://www.wired.com/2012/01/jan-12-1967-its-cold-in-here/
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/life-ice-world-crazy-cryogenics/story?id=14167348
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