What Is Cryonics? Michigan Boss Defends Freezing Bodies in the Hopes of Science Bringing Them Back

Cryonics has received mixed reactions from the public. One man who believes in cryonics thinks he is "fighting the good fight" by advocating it.

What Is Cryonics?

Cryonics is the practice of preserving life by pausing the dying process using subfreezing temperatures to restore good health with future medical technology.

Per Nick Bostrom of The Case Against Aging, the concept of cryonics is "optimistic," it leads experts to nanotechnology, anticipating that reanimating cryonics patients will be possible in the future.

Cryonics sounds like science fiction, but it's based on modern science. It is an experiment in the most literal sense of the word. The question you have to ask yourself is this: would you rather be in the experimental group or the control group? The cryonics group has a chance, but the control group has none.

Life can be stopped and restarted if its basic structures can be preserved. Human embryos are routinely held for years at very low temperatures.

Adult humans have survived being cooled for up to an hour at temperatures that stop the heart, brain, and all other organs from functioning.

Alcor Life Extension Foundation, the world leader in cryonics, shared the ideal procedure. According to it, cryopreservation starts the moment the person is declared legally dead and at the early stage of the dying process when the cells and organs are still viable.

Stabilization occurs within two hours, and perfusion in 24 hours. The bloodstream is infused with cryoprotectants to lessen or even eliminate freezing. Damage to the brain, blood arteries, and other organs would result from uncontrolled freezing. The patient is prepped for cryopreservation using perfusion.

Deep cooling follows when the patient is cooled to -196° C. Long-term care is for preserving bodies for decades.

Liquid nitrogen keeps the patient at subfreezing temperatures in a vacuum-insulated metal dewar. The dewars run off electricity and are regularly refilled with liquid nitrogen. The patient will be in long-term care until a chance for revival presents itself.

No cryonics organization is currently able to revive cryopreserved patients. Future medical technologies, including nanotechnology, are anticipated to have many applications.

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Cryonics Boss On Freezing Dead Bodies

Dennis Kowalski, the President of the Cryonics Institute that froze over 100 bodies, including a 14-year-old British girl who died from cancer and at least 125 pets, believed that patients have nothing to lose but everything to gain despite the questionable practice.

"You get buried or cremated and we know what happens to the though those people, they won't ever be repaired, rejuvenated, or reversed, back into a healthy age," he said.

Kowalski promotes cryonics as the best approach for people who want to be resurrected after passing away. Your only valid option is to go to the grave, which is total oblivion. Thus, we aim to conquer death, the greatest foe of humanity.

At Clinton Township, Michigan's Cryonics Institute, body preservation costs over $28,000. The institute was founded by Robert Ettinger, the "father of Cryonics," and is currently the world's largest cryogenics laboratory.

"I would give everything I had to bring back family, friends, and loved ones, even if the chance is small. So I think what I'm doing is fighting the good fight," he continued. "I think it's born out of love, compassion, and a desire to do good. And if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't."

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