The goal of cryonics is to preserve newly deceased or terminal (doomed to die) patients until the moment in the future, when cell and tissue reparation (“repair”) technologies are likely to become available and, accordingly, it will be possible to restore all body functions. Also, the goal of cryonics is to revive cryonic people or animals. The technology that restores cryopatients, apparently, can be nanotechnology and, in particular, molecular nanorobots developed within its framework. It is possible that in addition to resuscitation of cryonized patients, nanomedicine will cure many diseases and manifestations of aging in the human body. Also promising for the resuscitation of cryopatients is the cultivation of organs and the creation of artificial organs.
Cryonics cost
The costs of implementing cryopreservation can vary greatly. At the beginning of the development of cryonics, the cost was higher - there were no mass-produced effective dewars, no neuroconservation was used, and there were no economies of scale.
An example of an expensive cryopreservation project is James Iram Bedford (01/12/1967), who became the first patient to be cryopreserved using a cryoprotectant and the only full-body patient of the 1960s era whose cryopreservation has not been interrupted to this day. As can be seen from the chronology of this project, its budget in 2009 real prices 1 for 42 years amounted to more than a million US dollars. Another important figure, taken from the same source, would be the cost of maintaining Bedford in 1982, when he was solely in the care of his family - $260 1 per month.
Another historical example would be the cost of maintaining a cryonics patient in the New York Cryonics Society, which existed from 1965 to 1974 - in his interview. Its president, Curtis Henderson, quoted $800-$1,000 per month.
In general, there are two cost items in a cryonics project: long-term storage and body preparation. Long-term storage can be done with dry ice (no more than a few years and is an expensive storage option) and with liquid nitrogen. The minimum of the first of these cost items can be estimated on materials at $100 per year (+ equipment and building depreciation, electricity and security costs). According to current US practice, these costs must be covered from the income from the mutual investment fund, where the capital of the cryopatient is placed. The Institute of Cryonics believes that the total contract value of $35,000 per patient (full-body) is sufficient to achieve the goals of cryonics. The Alcor Life Extension Foundation estimates the required contribution at between $80,000 (saving the head or brain) to $150,000 (complete body). For a small (new) cryonics company, the required budget will be higher.
The only Russian cryonics company, KrioRus, lists the price of a full cycle of services, including preparation for neuroconservation (preservation of only the brain or head) and long-term cryopreservation, as well as an attempt to resuscitate the patient in the future, is $10,000. In the case of a full body, the same contract costs $30,000.
Transportation of the body, as a rule, is the concern of customers: relatives of the cryonics patient or his associates from among the members of cryonics communities. In the event that the preparation of the body and its transportation (within the United States) is placed under the control of Alcor staff, the budget required is estimated at US$70-85,000. The Cryonics Institute does not have its own personnel for such work and offers to turn to the services of Suspended Animation. The required budget in this case is estimated at $60,000.
1 - WolframAlfa services were used here and below to account for inflation.
History of cryonics
Some Important Dates for Understanding the History of Cryonics
The formation of cryonics should be considered in four independent directions: the emergence of communities of supporters of cryonics, the formation of cryonics organizations, progress in the field of cryopreservation, the formation of cryonics support funds. When analyzing, it should be borne in mind that the activities of the most active supporters of cryonics do not fit into the narrow framework of only one direction.
Cryonic Societies
The history of the emergence of cryonics communities is practically undocumented, so any review of it is inevitably incomplete. Nevertheless, it can be considered that the members of the Biocosmists-Immortalists circle (“committee of poets”) that existed in Russia in the 1920s in the 1920s were close in spirit to the modern communities of cryonicists. Under the influence of the ideas shared and promoted by them, an attempt was made to freeze the body of V. I. Lenin (01/21/1924).
The beginning of the modern stage in the development of cryonics societies dates back to the independent publication in the United States in 1962 of the books by Robert Ettinger "Prospects for Immortality", which later gained great fame and was translated into many languages of the world, and Ivan Cooper "Immortality: Physically, Scientifically, Now" ("Immortality : Physically, Scientifically, Now"). In December 1963, Cooper organized the world's first cryonics society, the Life Extention Society, which began the creation of a worldwide network of cryonics communities. In 1965, the Cryonics Society of New York was organized ( CSNY), in 1966 - Cryonics Society of California ( CSC) and in July 1967 with the participation of Robert Ettinger - Cryonics Society of Michigan ( CSM), which still exists today under the name Immortalist Society. In subsequent years, many national and international communities of cryonics supporters were created.
In the Soviet Union, for political reasons, no formal societies of cryonics supporters were created, but its propaganda activities were carried out in the form that was possible. In particular, the Soviet resuscitator V. A. Negovsky positively considered cryonics.
An incomplete list of cryonics communities that exist today (not having their own cryostorage):
- ACS - American Cryonic Society (USA, founded in 1969)
- Alcor Portugal
- Alcor - UK - England - Alcor Regional Group
- Anders Sandberg’s Web (Sweden, with transhumanists)
- CSC - Cryonics Society of Canada (Canada)
- Crionica.org (Spain)
- Cryonics UK (England)
- Cryonics Europe (Pan European site)
- Cryonics Belgium
- Danish Cryonics Support Group (Denmark)
- Eucrio is a European organization that aims to provide high quality standby services in the EU
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Angewandte Biostase e.V. (German Society for the Application of Biostasis, Germany)
- Dutch Cryonics Organization (Netherlands)
- De:Trans (Germany, with transhumanists)
- ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΚΡΥΟΓΕΝΕΤΙΚΗΣ (Greece)
- I-lifegroup (Italy)
- Immortalist Society (USA, founded 1967 as Cryonics Society of Michigan)
- Michael Saxer - Biostasis und Kryonik in Europa (Germany)
- Suomen Kryoniikkaseura (KRYOFIN, Finnish Cryonics Society)
- Sociedad Española de Criogenización (Spain)
- Società Italiana per la Crionica (Italy)
- Trancedo (Netherlands, with transhumanists)
- Trygve's Meta Portal (Norway)
Cryonic organizations and individual projects
The initial period of formation of cryonics organizations (before 1980) can be called a time of hopes and tragic mistakes. The first cryonics societies created special non-profit organizations for direct work with cryonics patients Cryospan for CSNY and Cryonic Interment for CSC (later CSM created CSM). At the same time, the commercial organization Cryo-Care Equipment Corporation ( CCEC) in the city of Phoenix. It was distinguished by the presence of its own production of dewar capsules and a focus on preserving bodies for "cosmetic" purposes.
As of April 1, 2011, 1,832 people are cryonics companies in the United States, and 206 people have already been cryopreserved. In Russia, as of December 25, 2012, 24 people were cryopreserved (13 were cryopreserved in their entirety, the remaining 11 were cryopreserved only in the brain), as well as 11 animals (5 dogs, 4 cats and 2 birds) .
Cryonic companies
There are only a few cryonics companies in the world that have a storage facility for cryopatients, (listed in chronological order of creation):
- Alcor (1972) - American public (non-profit) cryonics organization, has its own cryostorage and community of supporters (Scottsdale, Arizona).
- TransTime (1972) - American commercial cryonics organization, has its own cryostorage facility (San Leandro, California).
- (1976) - American public (non-profit) organization, has its own cryostorage (Clinton Township, Michigan).
- KrioRus (2006) - Russian commercial cryonics organization and community of supporters, has its own cryostorage (Sergiev Posad, Moscow region).
Attitude towards cryonics in the scientific community
Science has not yet developed a unanimous attitude towards cryonics. Some scientists, including pointing out that chemical processes underlie the preservation of a person’s personality and memory, in particular, long-term memory is fixed by structural changes in individual cells that make up neural systems and is associated with chemical transformation, the formation of new substances and on a number of other aspects asserts the theoretical possibility of reviving a person and preserving the personality of a person. Most neuroscientists agree that the anatomical basis of the mind is encoded in the physical structures of the brain, especially in the networks of neuropils and in the strength of synaptic connections, and possibly in the epigenetic structure of neurons. The fact that even the complete absence of electrical activity in the brain does not make a complete neurological recovery of the patient impossible supports the assumption that the basis of consciousness is structural, not dynamic, and therefore can be preserved at cryogenic temperatures. Another part of the scientific community is skeptical about attempts to freeze a person due to various physiological and technological reasons. Among the arguments of the opponents of cryonics are the indication that after the moment of death, the connections of brain neurons begin to collapse within a few minutes, that it is very difficult to freeze all the cells of the body at the same time, and that no one guarantees compliance with all conditions. . Nevertheless, already in 2002, it was known that neurons selected during autopsy of the brains of elderly people who died an average of 2.6 hours before the autopsy showed a viability of 70-90% after two weeks of storage outside the body.
In Russia, well-known supporters of the rapid development of cryonics are Doctor of Biological and Medical Sciences G. D. Berdyshev, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences I. V. Vishev, Doctor of Medical Sciences. Mikhail Solovyov. One of the active participants in the early stage of the cryonics movement was Doctor of Medical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences V. A. Negovsky
2009. Two interviews with Gennady Berdyshev, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Genetics of Kiev University, about cryonics. The most complete scientific foundations of cryonics are presented in the article by B. Best "Scientific substantiation of the practice of cryonics" .
Cryonics in popular culture
Cryopreservation or its analogues is a key plot point in a number of animated series (Futurama, Cowboy Bebop), many science fiction books. The topic of cryonics is entirely devoted to one of the issues of the post-cyberpunk comic book Transmetropolitan. In addition, cryonics is mentioned in Mayakovsky's play.
The most complete and scientifically rigorous description of the possible resurrection of cryopreserved people is given in Stanisław Lem's novel Fiasco (1987).
The ideas of cryonics were inspired by the plot of Leonid Leonov's screenplay "The Flight of Mr. McKinley" (1961), based on which the famous Soviet fiction film of the same name was shot ().
Cryonics is a popular subject for science fiction feature films, an incomplete list of them:
- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery ()
DC Comics villain Mister Freeze froze his wife in search of a cure for the disease she was suffering from.
The protagonist of the popular animated series Futurama Fry enters the year 3000 through cryonics.
A number of musical works touch upon the theme of cryonics: the compositions Cover Me with Snow by Ecclesiastes, Crionics by Slayer, Cryonic World complete by Charlie Kam, techno-opera 2032: The Legend of the Unfulfilled Future by Viktor Argonov, and others.
Philosophical and religious aspects of cryonics
From an ethical point of view, a person who wishes to be cryopreserved after a legal death should be eligible. According to most religions, the soul leaves the body after death. In most Christian religions, after death, a person goes to the Judgment of God and, probably, will not be able to return to the body from heaven or hell (however, the Bible itself does not talk about this). In the Buddhist tradition, a person comes to rebirth after death, and when the old body is defrosted, it is also likely that he will not be able to return to it. According to some esotericists, in cases of "return" after clinical death, one can notice that the human soul leaves the body and returns to it only when it realizes that it is too early for it to die.
From the point of view of religious philosophy, the brain rules the body, and the brain rules the soul. From which religious philosophers conclude that if a person is resurrected, then he will walk purely reflexively, have no soul, and besides, he will not feel the state of his own Self.
However, in Christianity and even in Orthodoxy this point of view is not the only one. In particular, the Orthodox thinker Nikolai Fedorov believed that a holistic resurrection of a person is possible. Transhumanists call cryonics "the first real step towards the Common Cause".
Those supporters of cryonics who admit the possibility of the existence of the soul note that the soul leaves the body (brain) not instantly, but as the brain structures are destroyed. Thus, by stopping this destruction with the help of cryonics, it is possible to prevent the final death of a person's personality. As confirmation of their point of view, they cite well-known facts about the preservation of the personality (and soul) after serious brain injuries. They also give examples of miraculous revivals from the New Testament, when the bodies of people for some time (presumably) were in conditions of low temperature.
Some notable cryofirm clients
Cryonized
Signed a contract for their own freezing
Those who have spoken publicly about their desire to be cryopreserved
Quotes
I wish it were possible... to devise a method of embalming drowned people, in such a way that they could be brought back to life at any moment, however remote; because of the great desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years later, I would prefer ordinary death to be immersed with a few friends in a barrel of Madeira until then, and then be brought back to life by the solar warmth of my dear country! But ... in all likelihood, we live in an age too poorly advanced, and too close to the childhood of science, to see such a skill brought to perfection in our time ...
see also
Notes
- Cryonics is the smart choice of modern man
- Cryonics (Anabiosis)
- Louis Re. Conservation of life by cold. - M.: Medgiz, 1962. - 176 p.
- Robert Ettinger Prospects for Immortality
- James Bedford, the first cryopatient - KrioRus - Cryonics in Russia
- News of Science - THE FIRM GUARANTEES IMMORTALITY
- Embryo and oocyte cryopreservation - Mandelbaum 15 (Supplement 4): 43 - Human Reproduction
- http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/dsp.cgi?msg=4541 http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/dsp.cgi?msg=4665
- Frozen Heart Comes to life // New Scientist, 1996
- Knowledge is Power: Science News
- MEMBRANE | World news | Baby born 21 years after father donated sperm
- Isolation of living neurons from human elderly b… - PubMed - NCBI
- Vladimir Pokrovsky. In Russia, they froze the human brain. Nezavisimaya Gazeta (December 10, 2003). archived
- Elsevier: Article Locator
- Israeli Scientists Successfully Transplant Frozen Pig Liver
- DARPA Takes on Suspended Animation: Zombie Pigs, Squirrels, and Hypersleep
- News NEWSru.com:: Hydrogen sulfide can save lives in fatal blood loss, US scientists have found
- Website of the club of graduates of Moscow State University (Moscow State University): Faithful to Lenin's body
- "Prospects of Immortality"
- Immortalist Society
- http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/stats-members.html
- Cryonics Institute - Member Statistics Details
- Alcor: Membership Statistics
- KrioRus is the first cryogenic company in Eurasia
- Animal cryopreservation in KrioRus
- Scientific | KrioRus is the first cryogenic company in Eurasia
- Memory retention-the synaptic stability ver… - PubMed - NCBI
- "The seven sins" of the Hebbian synapse: can … - PubMed - NCBI
- Recovery from near death following cerebral an… - PubMed - NCBI
- From the Point of View of Science- Freeze me (epis. 12/17, season 3)/Naked Science- Freeze me (National Geographic)
