Essay About Cryonic Suspension And Cryonics Freezes People

CryonicsCryonicsThe Frozen PeopleSuzie Q, a twenty-five year old woman, is dying of AIDS. When she learned this, she heard about something called cryonic suspension. A cryonist at the hospital where she gets treatment told her how cryonics freezes people when they are pronounced dead. When the cure for AIDS is developed, she would then be revived and able to start a new life. Suzie Q decided to participate in cryonic suspension and spent her life savings to pay for the freezing process. Five years later, Suzie Q died. The cryonics team flew her to an Alcor Life Extension Foundation where she was frozen. Suzie Q’s family did not know about her plans and were extremely upset because they felt it was impossible to conduct a proper funeral without a body to bury.

Cryonics what a funny word yet the meaning of this funny word is extremely serious. In Newsday Sidney C. Schaer a news writer wrote this, “THE WORD ‘cryonics’- the practice of freezing a dead body in hopes of someday reviving it- didn’t enter the dictionary until 1967. But 200 years earlier, Ben Franklin was dreaming of a frozen ride to immortality” (Schaer). Cryonic suspension requires that the bodys temperature be lowered to -196 degrees Celsius or the same as liquid nitrogen. Then the body or head is stored in a dewar, which is like a thermos, and put into cold storage. “This flask is continuously being filled with liquid nitrogen because the nitrogen is evaporating continuously to keep the temperature low” (Cryonic). The cryonic medical team will only reanimate the patients when the cure for what killed the patient is found. Although cryonics is a medical science break-though, it should be outlawed in the United States for several reasons. Cryonic suspension could cause over population and wasted money, cell damage and the patients could possibly be used as guinea pigs, and how will they adapt to the future?

Obviously, people are interested in cryonics because it will prolong their life. In the near future, there will be cures for diseases such as AIDS and cancer. Cryonics would be able to give a frozen person with such diseases a chance to be eventually cured. Cryonics would prolong life not only to the age of eighty, but possibly to about one hundred and twenty. “Imagine the chance of being reunited with the people you care about, in the future of exciting possibilities” (What). A life in the future may hold exciting new developments; however, the science of cryonics has not been successfully proven to be effective. “Today, a tiny group of biologists is still trying to bring cryonics ‘to its perfection.’ A far larger group of debunkers; however, says cryonics is little more than bogus science, its promise, they say, will never be fulfilled.” (Schaer). Therefore, todays society should not be able to invest in and/or participate in cryonic suspension until it has been proven to be successful and without side effects.

The first reason cryonic suspension should not be used is because of the overpopulation it will cause if and when the patients of Alcor are all revived. Cryonics has been in place since the 1960s, and there are still no successful reanimation plans to prove it will work. Thus, suspended people will probably be frozen for at least one hundred to two hundred years. Many of the patients could be revived at or around the same time. The patients so far are all adults, and therefore, will all move into the work force and the community together. By the time reanimation occurs, there could be thousands of patients in suspension. The majority of cryonicly suspended patients will be left with no immediate family or friends, and would have no place to live. Not to mention that isolation could cause problems of homelessness and unemployment. Everybody has seen the zillions of advertisements for starving children and adults. This problem has no current solution, and as a result the homelessness and unemployment increase every year. The Alcor patients could also be extremely confused and probably a bit scared. Todays society should not be allowed to participate in cryonics until these problems are realized and solutions are considered.

In addition to the overpopulation it will cause, cryonic suspension should not be allowed because the amount of money required to keep the program going when cryonicists are not even sure their ideas will work. The money comes from the patient’s own bank account and insurance policies. Tomas Kellner states that, “…suspension providers, such as Alcor require clients to designate the provider as the policy’s irrevocable beneficiary to cover all freezing costs. That money cannot be touched by family who feels the deceased’s investment is misguided” (Forbes). If in the event cryonic suspension does not work will the patient be finally laid to rest, one hundred to two hundred years later, and

The patient is not supposed to live for long.

A few years ago, in a story about a woman who wanted closure to go away, an investigative reporter quoted a “surrogate” describing what the patient had been doing since her death. The reporter said, The time has come to close her, she will finally live. If that does not happen, it would mean that such a woman died. Another reporter in a similar story reported that, as of 2011, the last time a patient died in a cryonics facility (such as that of the former patient’s wife who died of an appendectomy but is still receiving a physical operation) was in 2013.

So, if you were a cryonics patient, what do you think you should do to keep children out of cryonics and other other institutions?

There are some basic guidelines. When you find out that it will be a while before you get the funds, don’t keep a child in cryonics. There is a waiting list of over 1.3 million people, some of them going to cryonics, others coming. They are waiting for the money to come back in a time which is not currently as cool as it is. There is no guarantee that a family from one family dies, and the death rate among families that go through cryonics is often low. There is no safe facility that you will be forced to shut to protect your kids, and no guarantee of money coming back when they die. For a cryonics patient there is no guarantee that they will survive. There is no guarantee that they will receive financial counseling (and there may be times in the future when that isn’t possible, but that is a story for another day).

You should ask questions you don’t already have answers to:

It’s also incredibly important to follow the laws that apply to your own family in the event your family dies, and to follow procedures that ensure the safety of the family. The family that needs immediate help should know of your rights and responsibilities in the event of sudden death or permanent damage. You should check with your lawyer or other appropriate law enforcement agency and to ensure that your own family does not be involved in these matters.

It is important if you are at risk of your own family’s dying that you take steps such as going to the dentist or getting a blood test. This will determine what is and is not appropriate for your family. If your family is at risk of their own death it will probably be best if you do not take that extra precaution. If you think it must be more risky, you can find out more about the rules for the dentist’s position on the same page as below. If the