Win yourself life after death

September 19, 2002 5:42 AM

Win yourself life after death New Scientist are offering the chance of free cryonics in their latest issue; Arthur C. Clarke and Steve Jones react on BBC Radio 4. (scroll down for the realaudio)
posted by peterkins (8 comments total)

Now that's a tough question--live now or live later? I think I'll live now, thank you very much. No, wait, I can always go to Hawaii on my own quarter, but I may not have the money to come back to life later--I'll take the freezing. Wait a second, what about my loved ones? Can they be frozen too? I'll only get frozen if they get frozen too, so I guess it's off to Hawaii again. Then again, I can always find more loved ones later. But will I retain my 85 year old body? I wouldn't want that.

I'm so confused.
posted by ashbury at 5:55 AM on September 19, 2002

the idea of freezing people when they die ready to be revived and restored to health centuries in the future- has always been controversial.

It's not just controversial - it's stupid. Freezing your body puts brain-destroying ice crystals in your head. And it's not the kind of damage that could be undone by futuristic medicine.

Even if you could wake up later, you'd be retarded as a result. No thanks.
posted by interrobang at 8:14 AM on September 19, 2002

And it's not the kind of damage that could be undone by futuristic medicine.

that's a bold statement... how do you know the abilities of the future medical sciences?
posted by reverendX at 8:50 AM on September 19, 2002

Sounds great! I'll live (hopefully) for another 55 years or so, by that time they have perfected the technique and I don't even have to save any money. Here we come year 15852!
posted by lazy-ville at 9:00 AM on September 19, 2002

Rev: If you make the initial assumption that the detailed molecular structure of the brain is essential for the representation of our memories, etc, and that the act of freezing the brain will inevitably destroy and/or alter much of that structure, then even if you can be revived (which I doubt) you would not be the same person as you were before you died.

Information, structural or otherwise, once destroyed cannot be reconstructed - not even by futuristic medicine - it's simply the way entropy works.
posted by adrianhon at 9:19 AM on September 19, 2002

adrianhon: I don't many in the cryonics field WOULD agree with the initial assumption that the detailed molecular structure of the brain is essential for the representation of our memories. I think many would argue that it is the connections between the neurons that form as a result of our learning and experiences which determines our memories and mind. This structure is preserved even if molecular level structures in the brain become disturbed. After all many things from drugs to chocolate to exercise can unleash chaotic molecular pathways in the brain. There are infinitely many states of mind (perhaps determined by molecular states) that I recognize as myself. So be it that the state of mind cryonics revives a person in is quite different than the one they were frozen in.
posted by nasim at 10:29 AM on September 19, 2002

adrianhon: why make the initial assumption that the act of freezing the brain will inveitably destroy and/or alter much of the structure? Is it just completely, wildly unpossible that they could find some clever way to avoid destroying brain tissue?

And what nasim said, plus: you're just being silly suggesting that damage to brain cells == irretrievable loss of information about the brain cells and the arrangement of brain cells. We're talking science of the future here -- clever pattern recognition and a much more thorough knowledge of neuroanatomy would possibly make it a total nonissue. Ya stinkin' pessimist!
posted by cortex at 4:55 PM on September 19, 2002

It's been done before by Omni magazine.

Here's one recovering-Catholic's perspective on it.
posted by Spiny Delicacy at 11:55 PM on September 20, 2002