According to scientists, humanity will be able to defeat death in the second half of the 21st century. Nobody knows what it will look like. Perhaps a cure for all diseases will become available to us. Or maybe high technology will allow us to revive dead people. So far, no serious progress has been made in this area, but some people decide to freeze their bodies. There are companies that immerse people's bodies in liquid nitrogen in the hope that in the future they can be defrosted and revived. It is expected that after the resurrection, the clients of these companies will have to relearn how to walk and talk, and they will also have to get used to the world of the future.
There are hundreds of people in the world whose bodies have been frozen for future resurrection. Source: theguardian.com
Contents
- 1 What is cryonics
- 2 How does cryonics work
- 3 Which companies do cryonics
- 4 How much does cryonics cost
What is cryonics
Freezing a person’s body in the hope of resurrecting it later tens or hundreds of years is calledcryonics. As a scientific idea and practice, it appeared in the middle of the 20th century.
Cryonics borders on science fiction, but is already real. Source: cnet.com
The first person to be frozen using cryonics was psychology professor James Bedford in 1967. His body was frozen after his death at the age of 73. He died from an incurable type of kidney cancer that had metastasized to his lungs. There is hope that in the future humanity will develop technology for treating this disease, as well as learn how to defrost and revive people. Yes, scientists know how to freeze organisms, but they don’t know how to safely thaw them.
James Bedford is the first person to be frozen for resurrection in the future. Source: cnet.com
How cryonics works
Companies that provide cryonics services can freeze a person's entire body or just their brain. Complete freezing is more expensive, but some scientists do not see the point in it – it is believed that in the future bodies will not be necessary thanks to head transplant technology.
Cryonics of people is only possible after their death, because if companies froze customers alive, it would be considered murder. The process of freezing bodies is divided into several stages.
Each company has its own chambers for storing people. Source: thetimes.com
First of all, the human body must be prepared for the procedure by quickly cooling it to zero degrees Celsius using ice or special solutions. This is necessary so that the body does not begin to decompose.
After this, all the blood in the human body is replaced with glycerin. It helps maintain the elasticity of blood vessels.
Then the human body is frozen to -196 degrees Celsius using liquid nitrogen and placed in a special container called a cryostat. Inside it, human tissues remain unchanged until the capsule is opened and they are defrosted.
Read also: If cryonics suddenly turns out to be successful, will people be ready?
Which companies are involved in cryonics
There are many companies in the world that provide the service of freezing human bodies for the future.
One of the largest in Russia is KrioRus, whose clients as of 2024 are 96 people. She also cryopreserves animals – at the time of writing, 64 individuals were frozen.
Cryonics Institute is one of the largest companies in the field of cryonics. Source: kriorus.ru
Also in Russia, the companies Open Cryonics and Cryonic Group operate in this area. But the largest cryonics companies are located in the USA, these are the Cryonics Institute and the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. The psychologist James Bedford mentioned above was frozen by Alcor.
There is also such a company in China, it was founded in 2017 and is called Yinfeng Life Science Foundation. She froze the head of writer Du Hong.
Great scientific achievement:Russian scientists have successfully resurrected an animal that had been hibernating for 24 thousand years
How much does cryonics cost
It goes without saying that freezing your body for the future costs a lot of money. Head freezing costs an average of 15 thousand dollars, which is in rubles, which at the current exchange rate is approximately 1.3 million rubles. Whole body freezing costs more, approximately 36 thousand dollars or about 2.5 million rubles. The price depends on the company, this is only an approximate cost.
However, for some, cryonics is not that expensive. Source: nextech.sk
No company can guarantee that bodies can be revived after tens or hundreds of years. This is an experimental technology that still borders on science fiction. Typically, a service contract is concluded for 100 years, but if a cure for all diseases is not invented, it is extended. So the agreement between companies and clients can be called indefinite.
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But there is hope that in the future frozen people will be able to be reborn. In May 2024, my colleague Andrei Zhukov talked about how the human brain remained functional after being frozen for a year and a half. And this is good, encouraging news.