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Cryonics
Suspended Animation
Cryonics is freezing people so they may be brought back to life in the future. The future is hoped to be an amazing utopian futuristic existence where the sorts of things people died of these days (2004) can easily be cured. And, of course, the technology is assumed to be good enough to bring back to life people who have been frozen solid in liquid nitrogen for centuries! The idea is in principle not new, and has some similarities in principle to the Ancient Egyptian idea of storing a body by mummification in the hopes that the person will go on to an afterlife.
Sceptics say it's all a bit silly on the basis that it's impossible to restore someone who is dead. It had better be mentioned here that although CRYONICS is optimistic immortalism, CRYOGENICS is a serious science to do with anything very cold, and there are some scientists in the serious business of supercool superconducting magnets who, if you ask them about deep-frozen dead people will look at you in the same sort of way as Patrick Moore would if you asked him to tell you your fortune by "the stars"!
My personal opinion (this review is by Zyra, by the way), is that cryonics IS possible, and that if you freeze a dead person properly and keep the body long enough then you will be able to have them brought back to life, although it may be in the DISTANT future! The basis for this belief is:
The other thing is that assuming we discount various religious notions, the chance of being re-animated by cryonics is a good deal better than if the body has been incinerated or buried in the ground.
OK, I am interested in being frozen and having a chance of coming back to life in the future! I am rich enough to afford it, and also I'm not well. In fact, I don't even need to wait until I am dead to be frozen!
The problem is that I currently live in the UK. The UK has a poor record on human rights and personal liberties, and on anything to do with dead bodies has all sorts of daft legal rules which are of the Dickensian age! Therefore, I am on the lookout for international opportunities. I know that the pages of this website are being seen all around the world, so, if you know of countries which respect the rights of a person to do as they will with their own body, please let me know! Or have I got it wrong about the UK? If you know what the legal position is about cryonic suspension, please let me know.
Things relating to CRYONICS: Liquid Nitrogen, Nanotechnology, etc.
Also, although Cryonics is about avoiding long-term being dead, one of the important things to do is to Write your Will!
Also, an interesting notion about Resurrection from the Dead has been added here following personal experiences of Data Recovery after the sudden death of a hard disc drive. Also see How I got my data back
A few CRYONICS links are:
www.aleph.se/Trans/Individual/Cryonics/
www.cryonics.org - The Cryonics Institute
Cryopreservation in Russia: KrioRus / KrioRus (english version)
Suspended Animation Inc. - cryonic first-aid paramedics on the scene
www.permanent.com/mark/cryonics.html
www.expage.com/page/cryonics
Freeze Yourself.com - Well Done to Les Fox for speaking up!
www.igrin.co.nz/~nzcryosociety/
www.trygve.bauge.com - also see www.rockymountainnews.com/etc
Interesting item at ABC News (was http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNewsTonight/wnt010208_cryonics_feature.html)
Cryonics Association of Australia
Principality of Immortia, Antarctica - independent free state
Well done to New Scientist who gave away a very forward-looking prize of the option of having yourself frozen!
Now what's all this about Cryonics people in France being thawed out and burnt or buried to rot in the conventionally-accepted traditional religion-conforming manner?! I would have thought France was a place where "La Libertie" was believed in?! French Cryonics Human Rights Scandal
Paying for cryonics can in cash, or you can sometimes get life insurance to cover it.
Countries which have been recommended so having a regime compatible with the individual having the right to live AND DIE with some freedom include...
* USA (in some states), some Liberty found, although we're a bit unsure about the political stability of the Federal country in the long-term future because of mismanagement of foreign policy! However, even if the USA fell there would still be people around, and possibly a set of independent states with new allegiances. Some cryonics companies have got good long-term plans.
* Philippines. I have heard that you can generally do as you please provided you don't hurt anyone else. We've got to verify this, and also there's the tax status to be checked on.
* Liechtenstein. Well-spoken-of by tax haven accountants, but the details have to be found.
* Peru. The libertarian status of the country is hinted at by the level of deregulation of the taxi approval in Lima. Plus an adventurer stated the place was "Like Scotland but warmer".
Additions to the list, good or bad, are welcomed to be added!