I have been thinking a lot about cryonics but have not signed up yet.
In my opinion the main difficulties with cryonics are:
1) The time between death and arrival of the cryonics team. Too long a
delay may cause irreversible damage to the brain structure and the
memories etc. encoded therein.
2) The fact that laws require a patient to have been officially
pronounced dead before cryonics preservation procedures can begin. One
would have a bigger chance of successful revival if cryonics
preservation procedures could start immediately after death or even
before.
3) The fact that the same laws may endanger a patient even after
preservation (forced autopsy etc.).
All these points are illustrated in "the first immortal" which I
assume many on the list have read. Carl Epstein is illegally preserved
in Cayman Islands, Katie is preserved immediately after legal assisted
suicide in the US, and Ben himself is very lucky to say the least.
Suppose I sign up with the Cryonics Institute (I would prefer it to
Alcor, which does not offer services to Europeans anyway). After
expenses and a lot of legal hassles I may irreversibly die waiting for
the team, or be unfrozen later for a decision of the court. I would
really prefer a more "controlled" procedure.
Now, take a country with cryonics friendly laws. For example I
understand that in the Netherlands a patient has a legal right to be
given eutanasy if (s)he can persuade two doctors. Let us suppose that
there are also laws against forced autopsy, etc.
Imagine an institution half a way between retirement home and terminal
patient care center, with a resident cryonics preservation team, state
of the art equipment, etc. Those committed to cryonics can go spend
their last years there, instead of going to a retirement home in
Florida or Nevada. When death approaches, eutanasy and preservation
procedures can be performed in optimal conditions and in such a way as
to maximize the chance of successful revival.
Now as an average person I would be willing to pay a reasonable fee
for the added value of "pre-cryonics" services over a conventional
retirement home (of course, provided I had the financial means but
this is another story). So I believe there is money to make in this
idea with a good business plan and a careful execution.
If you are a Dutch doctor or health services professional, why don't
you plan some services of this type? If you are doing so already even
better, tell me how to sign up!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat May 11 2002 - 17:44:21 MDT