Techies On Ice: The Coming Age of Cryonics

Frozen dinner writes: "SiliconValley.com is running a great article about technology workers' fascination with cryonics. From the article: "[the] otherworldly possibility of life after death [tantalizes] techies of all stripes -- mathematicians, physicists, software developers, computer programmers -- who make up a vast majority of those who have signed up for cryonics suspension. The family feud over deep-freezing baseball slugger Ted Williams has only intensified interest in cryonics in Silicon Valley and in the greater Bay Area, already a hotbed for the experimental and controversial process.""

Comments

Re:Cryogenics could be possible

[Marx_Mrvelous]

Two comments.. one, that species of frog has been shown to freeze in nature. It may be able to be frozen for the cold season, but long-term freezing is a much, much harder accomplishment.

death is a legal construct, not physical fact

[cryofan2]

....daeth occurs when the doctor signs the death certificate. That does not mean that the person has passed some physical (or metaphysical signpost). There are many people walking around today that were at some point, "dead", i.e., had no vital signs.

If you have a heart attack and your heart stops in the middle of Borneo with no one else around, you are dead. If you have a heart attack while undergoing minor surgery in a hospital, you very well may not be dead.

If you die of old age and are cremated, you are dead, because the information in your brain has been randomized beyond recovery.

If you die of old age, and are frozen, you may not be dead. If you make to the future 1000 years from now, you probably will not be dead, because the information that is in your brain and that constitutes "you" has not been randomized, so therefore, it may be recovered.