Cryonics

That is not dead that can eternal lie,
and with strange aeons even death may die.
H. P. Lovecraft

Centuries march by
unknown, unknowable
from my frozen slumber
Mark Dowdey

While most transhumanists are quite convinced that life extension will be possible, most agree that it will take several years (or decades/centuries) before immortality becomes practical. And in the meantime there is a non-zero chance that you die from accidents or disease, regardless of how healthy your lifestyle is.

One answer to this problem is cryonics, or rather cryonic suspension; the technique of freezing the body to so low temperatures that it does not decay significantly. If misfortune strikes, you could be suspended until medical techniques have been developed far enough to revive you and cure you.

Cryonics is currently a big gamble, and even the enthusiasts acknowledge that there are many unsolved problems. But there is little to loose by choosing cryonic suspension: either it will work and restoration methods will be developed and used in the far future, or it won't:

You are suspended You are not suspended
Cryonics Works You Live You are dead
Cryonics Doesn't Work You are dead You are dead

So the rational choice is to use cryonics, even if success is improbable, unless you consider the value of your life times the chance that it might work to be less than the cost of a suspension.

Sections

Introduction
Problems
Organisations
Technology
Miscellanous
Other Sites
Books
See Also

Introduction

What is Cryonics? by Mike O'Neal. A short listing of the words.

Cryonics FAQ

Many Are Cold But Few Are Frozen: A Physican Considers Cryonics by 1994 Steven B. Harris, M.D. The ideas and history of cryonics.

The eternal problem by Gerry Byrne (Electronic Telegraph).

The Cryobiological Case for Cryonics

CryoNet Reference Files. Reference texts about cryonics, both technical and popular.

Cryonics: Reaching for Tomorrow ed. Ralph Whelan (there are also individual chapters in the Alcor library)

Cryonic Suspension by Henry Kluytmans. An overview of the arguments for cryonics and answer to some common questions.

Problems

Cryonics and Overpopulation. One of the most common arguments against life extension and cryonics is the risk of overpopulation. This posting shows why this isn't a real problem.

MADison Avenue Meets Cryonics? by Kevin Q. Brown. About the problems and techniques for marketing cryonics.

Binary Survival Questions by Steven B. Harris. Sci.cryonics post about uploading versus cryonics, posthuman existence and identity.

The Legal Status of Cryonics Patients by Stephen Bridge.

Frozen Souls: Can a religious person choose cryonics? by Stephen Bridge. Cryonics tends to raise religious questions, often confusing the issue.

LifePact. One common argument against cryonics is that there is no guarantee for being revived by future humans. LifePact is a network for suspendees that will seek to revive each other when possible in order to increase the chances of revival. See also cryonet postings on the subject.

Organisations

Alcor Life Extension Foundation (See also the Alcor library)

CryoCare Foundation (See also the CryoCare library)

Cryonics Institute

The Life Extension Society. See especially the Life Extension Society News.

American Cryonics Society

BioPreservation, Inc.. A cryopreservation provider and research organization.

CryoNet Home Page.

Partial Cryonics Archive

Introducing Venturism. A predominantly Libertarian group advocating cryonic suspension.

Technology

21st Century Medicine Seminar Summary State of the art in cryobiology

The Molecular Repair of the Brain by Ralph C. Merkle. Discusses the feasibility of repairing damage from cryonic suspension using nanotechnology.

Cryonics, Cryptography, and Maximum Likelihood Estimation by by Ralph C. Merkle.

Premedication of Human Cryopreservation Patients by Michael Darwin.

BPI Tech Briefs

#4: The Pathophysiology of Cerebral Ischemia

#16 A Brief Lay-Level Summary of Biopreservation's Canine Brain Cryopreservation Results by Charles Platt

How Cold Is Cold Enough? by Hugh Hixon. How cold must cryonic suspension be to be feasible?

Quantum Tunnelling and Reaction Rate in Cryonic Suspension

Cryonics, The Home Town Way by Steve Bridge. About the practical planning of a cryonic suspension.

Neurosuspension: Head First into the Future by Steve Bridge. About neurosuspension.

Cryonic Suspension and Uploading by Eugen Leitl. Discusses neurosuspension from an uploading perspective, with some ideas for scanning and storage.

Organ Cryopreservation by Gregory M. Fahy, PhD. About methods of cryopreserve organs. !INTRO

Announcement about Cryopreservation of Rat Hearts. As of June 1998, this still remains controversial, best to be taken with a grain of salt.

Miscellanous

A Short History of Cryonics by Charles Platt

The Societ for Recovery of Persons Apparently Dead by Steven B. Harris, Ph.D. Resuscitation through history.

No, Disney was not frozen

Other Sites

Cryonics Page by Ralph C. Merkle. A very clear explanation of the area.

European Cryonics Page

Active Life Extension by Trygve B. Bauge. Perhaps more about freedom than cryonics.

Cryonics Sub-Page of Eugene Leitl

Lebensverl�ngerung durch Kryonik (in german).

Cryonics in Yahoo

Cryonics in Google

Cryobiology Scientific journal about ow temperature biology and medicine. Although cryobiologists aren't fond of cryonics (fearing that it brings a bad name to the subject), cryobiological research is very relevant for cryonics.

Books

The Prospect of Immortality by Robert C.W. Ettinger. The book that started the cryonics movement in fulltext.

The First Immortal by James L. Halperin. Website about a novel about cryonics, transhumanism and the future.

Becoming Immortal: Nanotechnology, You, and the Demise of Death by Wesley M. Du Charme, Ph.D. Book about nanotechnology and how it might make life extension, cryonics and immortalism possible.