Cryonics

Cryonics

If you’ve ever seen the Austin Powers movie I’m sure you remember the part where they cryogenically freeze Austin and then thirty years later thaw him out to save the world. While we all know Austin Powers isn’t real, I’m sure you wondered if this freezing could be done in real life. Today we will look at what exactly cryonics is, what businesses claim to provide it, the procedure and its risks.

Cryonics is the freezing of humans to preserve them for a later time. Yes, it is a possibility. In fact there are several businesses that offer these services. Two of these businesses are “The Cryonics Institute” and “The Alcor Life Extension Foundation.” Alcor Life Extension Foundation calls this process Cryotransport. The cryotransport process begins, according to their website, as soon as possible after legal death. The patient is prepared and cooled to a temperature where decay stops, and is then kept in this cooled state called cryostasis until medical science has advanced enough to bring the person back to life when life extension and anti-aging have become a reality.

However, there is a lot of damage done to the body during this freezing, says Dr. Ralph Merkle, a professional in the field of cryonics. First there are fractures that form in the frozen tissues caused by thermal strain, if you were warmed up you’d fall into pieces as if cut by thousands of sharp knives. And Second, the Cryotransport is used as a last resort because legally the Cryotransport can’t even begin until the patient is legally dead. So when the patient comes out he is already sick and may have a hard time coming back from the injuries of being frozen. Even after knowing all this Dr. Merkle says Cryotransport will almost surely work. Why? He says because basically people are made up of molecules and if they are arranged right then the person is healthy, if not the person is either sick or dead. With technological advances he thinks we will be able to make and rearrange the molecular structure of the frozen tissue. In the future, we will be able to stack and unstack these molecules like Lego blocks. Once the molecules are arranged correctly the person is healthy.

Death, once we have this technology, really won’t be the same. You couldn’t be truly dead unless cremated; torn apart or destroyed in some other way that there would be no way to tell where these molecules are supposed to go.