Getting back down to earth, there has been renewed interest in medical circles in the potential of induced hibernation, for short-term suspended animation. The nice trustworthy doctors in lab coats, the ones who get interviews on TV, are all reassuringly behind this, so this will be smoothly brought into the mainstream, and Joe the Plumber can’t wait to get “frozed-up” at the hospital so he can tell all his buddies about it.
Once induced hibernation becomes mainstream, cryonics can simply (and misleadingly, but successfully) be explained as “hibernation for a long time.”
Hibernation will likely become a commonly used “last resort” for many many critical cases (instead of letting them die, you freeze ’em until you’ve gone over their chart another time, talked to some colleagues, called around to see if anyone has an extra kidney, or even just sleep on it, at least.) When your loved one is in the fridge, and you’re being told that there’s nothing left to do, we’re going to have to thaw them and watch them die, your next question is going to be “Can we leave them in the fridge a bit longer?”
Hibernation will sell people on the idea that fridges save lives. It doesn’t have to be much more rational than that.
If you’re young, you might be better off pushing hard to help that tech go mainsteam faster. That will lead to mainstream cryo faster than promoting cryo, and once cryo is mainstream, you’ll be able to sign up for cheaper, probably better cryo, and more importantly, one that is integrated into the medical system, where they might transition me from hibernation to cryo, without needing to make sure I’m clinically dead first.
I will gladly concede that, for myself, there is still an irrational set of beliefs keeping me from buying into cryo. The argument above may just be a justification I found t avoid biting the bullet. But maybe I’ve stumbled onto a good point?
I don’t think you stumbled on any good point against cryonics, but the scenario you described sounds very reassuring. Do you have any links on current hibernation research?
Maybe it’s a point against investing directly into cryonics as it exists today, and working more through the indirect approach that is most likely to lead to good cryonics sooner. I’m much much more interested in being preserved before I’m brain-dead.
I’m looking for specifics on human hibernation. Lots of sci-fi out there, but more and more hard science as well, especially in recent years. There’s the genetic approach, and the hydrogen sulfide approach.
...by the way, the comments threads on the TED website could use a few more rationalists… Lots of smart people there thinking with the wrong body parts.
Getting back down to earth, there has been renewed interest in medical circles in the potential of induced hibernation, for short-term suspended animation. The nice trustworthy doctors in lab coats, the ones who get interviews on TV, are all reassuringly behind this, so this will be smoothly brought into the mainstream, and Joe the Plumber can’t wait to get “frozed-up” at the hospital so he can tell all his buddies about it.
Once induced hibernation becomes mainstream, cryonics can simply (and misleadingly, but successfully) be explained as “hibernation for a long time.”
Hibernation will likely become a commonly used “last resort” for many many critical cases (instead of letting them die, you freeze ’em until you’ve gone over their chart another time, talked to some colleagues, called around to see if anyone has an extra kidney, or even just sleep on it, at least.) When your loved one is in the fridge, and you’re being told that there’s nothing left to do, we’re going to have to thaw them and watch them die, your next question is going to be “Can we leave them in the fridge a bit longer?”
Hibernation will sell people on the idea that fridges save lives. It doesn’t have to be much more rational than that.
If you’re young, you might be better off pushing hard to help that tech go mainsteam faster. That will lead to mainstream cryo faster than promoting cryo, and once cryo is mainstream, you’ll be able to sign up for cheaper, probably better cryo, and more importantly, one that is integrated into the medical system, where they might transition me from hibernation to cryo, without needing to make sure I’m clinically dead first.
I will gladly concede that, for myself, there is still an irrational set of beliefs keeping me from buying into cryo. The argument above may just be a justification I found t avoid biting the bullet. But maybe I’ve stumbled onto a good point?
I don’t think you stumbled on any good point against cryonics, but the scenario you described sounds very reassuring. Do you have any links on current hibernation research?
Maybe it’s a point against investing directly into cryonics as it exists today, and working more through the indirect approach that is most likely to lead to good cryonics sooner. I’m much much more interested in being preserved before I’m brain-dead.
I’m looking for specifics on human hibernation. Lots of sci-fi out there, but more and more hard science as well, especially in recent years. There’s the genetic approach, and the hydrogen sulfide approach.
March 2010: Mark Roth at TED
...by the way, the comments threads on the TED website could use a few more rationalists… Lots of smart people there thinking with the wrong body parts.
May 2009: NIH awards a $2,227,500 grant
2006: Doctors chill, operate on, and revive a pig
Voted up for extensive linkage