CRYONICS — THE SCIENCE OF IMMORTALITY
Would it be crazy to know that we’re inching closer and closer to immortality with every passing day? Well, we are. Can’t wait? Freeze yourself after death with cryonics!
INTRODUCTION
Wouldn’t it be awesome to live forever? Become immortal and cheat death as Voldemort did? Oh, you’re not going to end up like him, don’t worry. Although how he disintegrated into ashes as they showed in the movies isn’t how he died(*angry Potterhead noises*). Okay, that’s a conversation for another time. Turns out, being immortal is possible! Mind blown yet? If not, then you will be, by the end of this write-up.
Anyway, there’s this extremely cool domain in science called cryonics that enables you to live forever. We’re not quite there yet, but you know how science is evolving at a speed faster than light, so resurrection through cryonics is going to be a reality sooner or later.
WHAT IS CRYONICS AND HOW IT CAME ABOUT
Cryonics is the practice in which a human corpse is stored in freezing temperatures with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible soon. It was in 1954 when cryopreservation was first applied to human cells, specifically, sperms. The sperms were thawed and used to inseminate three women. The freezing of entire human bodies was first proposed by Michigan professor, Robert Ettinger, in 1962 when he wrote “The Prospect of Immortality”. The very first body that was frozen and cryopreserved with the hope of future revival was of James Bedford’s on January 12, 1967. Since then the magic of cheating death has been continuing to date.
Well, we are sure you must be wondering why one should go through cryopreservation, especially when resurrection isn’t a reality yet. Many companies offer the option of cryopreservation with the belief that science, technology, and medicine will one day be able to cure diseases because of which the people die, revive them and give them a new chance at life. The cryonics institutes believe that they are helping people buy time until technology and science can revive human bodies.
HOW CRYONICS WORKS
“What do we say to the God of Death?”
“Not today” (*shoutout to Arya Stark fans*)
Here’s the science behind how this biblical sounding process works.
Much like donating an organ, one who wishes to cryogenically freeze themselves should sign up with a cryonics facility that comes with a steep membership fee. Once the person is pronounced dead, the magic begins. First, an emergency team from the cryonics facility stabilizes the body by supplying the brain with enough oxygen and blood to preserve minimal functions, after which they transport the body to the suspension facility.
Once the body is safely transported to the cryonics suspension facility, the actual process begins. It’s interesting to note that the freezing process is not quite literal as one would assume. Simply freezing the body will cause the water inside the cells to freeze and expand, and eventually, lead to laceration. Therefore, the cryonics team first removes the water from the cells and replaces it with a glycerol-based chemical mixture called a cryoprotectant, which functions as a human antifreeze.
The body then undergoes vitrification, a process in which the freezing takes place so rapidly, that the water molecules do not have time to form ice crystals, and instead solidify into a glass-like structure instantaneously. The body is then placed in an individual container and stored in a large tank filled with liquid nitrogen, at a temperature of around -196 degrees Celsius.
As you might have guessed by now, cryonics is not cheap. But there are other less promising options, such as neuro suspension, that facilitates the preservation of just your brain for perpetuity for a whopping 50,000 USD. Sadly, there is no technology to regenerate or clone the rest of the body as of now, so let’s hope that we do come up with the necessary scientific advancements, soon.
IS CRYONICS THE MODERN-DAY NECROMANCY?
Although both ideologies are strikingly similar, some differences are noteworthy.
Necromancy is the practice of communicating with the dead, by summoning their spirits or raising them bodily. Either way, it involves a dead person, generally someone who has been dead for a while. And this is where cryonics differs from necromancy.
Cryonics is not a process of reanimating corpses, but rather of delaying death by preserving the body until the time comes when it can be resuscitated. Cryonics does not ascertain death as final, instead, it considers death to be a process, where clinical death would be treated as a critical condition that can still undergo medical treatments.
Did you know that a license is mandatory for a person in San Francisco to perform necromancy? There are several faiths, including Abrahamic religions such as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism where the practice of such sorcery is forbidden.
Worry not, cryonics has not been outlawed in any state or country yet, owing to its very definition of death, or lack thereof.
IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON CRYOPRESERVING
The heightened mortality rate during the pandemic has increased speculation in the Cryonics domain, with more and more people trying to sign up for cryopreservation procedures that cost upwards of 200,000 USD. COVID 19 keeps reminding people time and again, the importance of their lives and many are looking to immortalize themselves in whichever way they can. Some through art, some through literature, and some (the rich) of course, through cryonics. Let’s look at numbers to understand this better.
Despite having travel restrictions and limitations on hospital access, Alcor, one of the most expensive and renowned cryonics companies in the United States dealt with 6 cases in the year 2020 as opposed to one per month for 18 consecutive months pre-pandemic. KrioRus in Russia, the only operator that has cryogenic facilities in Europe performed 9 cryopreservation during the pandemic, again, much lower than the pre-pandemic clientele. Southern Cryonics in Australia, the first-ever cryonics start-up in the southern hemisphere, was supposed to open in 2021. However, with Australia having some of the world’s most restrictive COVID border controls, the opening was delayed by a year because they couldn’t fly in foreign experts to train their staff.
One major drawback of cryonics during the pandemic is as follows:
Before the actual process of cryopreserving begins, a dead person’s body is pumped with 14 or more bags of fluids like you read in the “how it works” section. Now, this poses a threat to the staff during the pandemic because had the person been tested COVID positive, the tiny aerosol droplets can escape and affect surrounding people. Thus, the operating team is forced to adopt newer procedures with reduced effectiveness and fewer fluids. This elaborate workaround is not easy and is extremely time-consuming.
This downfall in cryonics is only a temporary trend. As time progresses and people adjust and learn to live with the virus (because let’s face it, there’s a long way to go before the virus is eradicated), the pace is going to pick up again. Cryonics is a field with immense potential and scientific advancement in the future and who knows, maybe you will sign up for cryopreservation yourself!
FINAL WORD
So that, dear readers, brings us to the end of yet another interesting write-up from Daksh, the official techno-management fest of SASTRA Deemed to be University. Are you mind blown yet? To be further mind blown regarding immortality, we recommend you to watch the movie “Mr. Nobody”. In 2092, the last mortal human (Jared Leto) on Earth reflects on his long past and thinks about the lives he might have led. We have written an in-detail review of the movie already, check it out here! Don’t forget to share this piece with your friends and family, one tap for you means a ton to us. Ciao until next time!
Follow us on our social handles:
