Taking a person and putting them in a cryonic deep freeze for an unspecified amount of time only to "wake" them up years later if a cure for what killed them is found sounds like a far-fetched science movie. The reality is that cryonic preservation facilities have been popping up in recent years and people have already signed up to become cryopreserved.
What is Cryonic Preservation?
Cryonics is preserving a human body after death in liquid nitrogen at an extremely low temperature. The process is called "freezing" but it actually is a process called vitrification. Vitrification involves adding chemicals known as cryoprotectants to the cell tissue to prevent freezing. This is done to prevent ice from getting in the body and allows organs to reach temperatures below -120 degrees Celsius. Cryonic scientists and proponents of human cryonics believe that cryonic preservation can help bring people back from the dead when a cure is discovered for the disease or condition that killed them.
How Cryonics Works
The theory behind cryonic preservation is that after a person has been legally declared dead, the brain continues to function for a short time period afterwards. If the patient has signed a legal authorization to be preserved, chemicals including nitrogen are injected into the deceased person's veins shortly after death in an effort to cool the person's body temperature and preserve the brain. The few cryonic facilities that do this process usually preserve the whole body or just the head with the brain in a cryonic tank. It is also sometimes called cryonic suspension.
Pros and Cons of Cryonics
While proponents of cryonics believe cryonics are the key to supporting life in the future, no one has been brought back to life yet using cryonic preservation. Scientists, however, are working on using nanotechnology to create a process to bring patients back from their preserved state and repair damaged cells and tissue caused by the preservation. Some skeptics say it will never happen yet others are hopeful.
Moral and religious concerns have been raised regarding scientists trying to extend someone's life indefinitely. For example, what would happen if there were no cures for the condition that the person died from? What if the facility closes down? Are some research centers simply preying upon someone's fear of death? Another concern is if the process to revive someone was able to happen, but took many years in the future, perhaps the patient would suffer psychological concerns due to the individual's family and friends being deceased. It is also very expensive for an individual to get a spot at a cryonic center costing thousands of dollars.
However, if cryonic preservation were to be successful and the damage caused from the process of suspending someone was reversible, then it would offer the obvious benefit of giving a life extension. It could also give the person options regarding advanced medical technology for any other medical issues. If technology were to fully develop cryonics, deciding whether cryonic preservation is right for someone would require extensive research and would be a very personal choice.
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