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Date: 09 Feb 90 23:55:06 EST
From: Steve Bridge <>
To: KEVIN <>
Subject: Cryonics intro revised
Message-Id: <"900210045506 72320.1642 EHI75-2"@CompuServe.COM>
This is a slightly revised version of that intro [msg #145], after comparing
with some ideas from Mike Darwin and Hugh Hixon. The changes are mostly
fairly minor word changes (for the better, I think), and a price change on
"Signing Up Made Simple" from $12.00 down to $10.00. Still, for those
people looking for accuracy, this is the better version to use in the
future. I don't plan to make any more changes for quite a while, so it is
now the "Official" Alcor version. Pass it on to the Network or to the New
York bunch as you see fit. (Sorry I didn't make these changes before
sending it the first time.)
CRYONICS AND THE ALCOR LIFE EXTENSION FOUNDATION
CRYONIC SUSPENSION is an experimental procedure whereby patients who
can no longer be kept alive with today's medical abilities are preserved
at low temperatures for treatment in the future. Although this procedure
is not yet reversible, it is based on the expectation that medical
technology of the future will be able to cure today's diseases, reverse
the effects of aging, and repair any additional injury caused by the
freezing process. That superior technology could then resuscitate
suspended patients to enjoy health and youth indefinitely. The field
which deals with this procedure is called CRYONICS. (This should not be
confused with "cryogenics," which is the branch of engineering which is
concerned with the production and study of low temperatures.)
Cryonics is not a cult or a religion of any kind. The people
involved in cryonics hold widely varying views on religion, politics, and
social issues. Their occupations include scientists, physicians, computer
programmers, business owners, teachers, librarians, and secretaries.
However, they all agree that being alive is a wonderful thing and that
this technology may help them stay that way.
Cryonics might better be seen as an experimental medical technology.
This label may seem strange at first, since many people have gotten the
mistaken impression that cryonics patients are dead. Cryonics is not a
new way of storing dead bodies. It is a new way of saving lives.
Cryonicists refer to these frozen people as PATIENTS, because we firmly
believe that they are, in a very real sense, still alive.
People really are being frozen; it is no longer science fiction.
Approximately 50 persons have been frozen since the first cryonic
suspension in 1967. About 300 other people have made the financial and
legal arrangements to be suspended in case they should become terminally
ill or injured. However, any stories you may read about frozen people
being revived are definitely science fiction. No human has ever been
thawed out and revived (with the exception of human embryos), and it will
be a long time before this happens. Medical technology has not yet
advanced to the point where cryonic suspension is reversible; today's
deadly illnesses and injuries are not yet curable; and even if these
things had been accomplished, there is no point in reviving anyone until
the aging process is fully under control. No one wants to be reawakened
as an aged, infirm person.
Cryonics is not yet accepted as a legitimate life-saving procedure by
today's medical authorities. With our current technology we cannot prove
that a frozen human can be repaired and revived (although a great deal of
research suggests that this will be possible in the future).
Unfortunately, this situation creates numerous medical, legal, and even
political difficulties. For instance, if a patient were to be suspended
while he was legally alive, someone might claim that the suspension
process itself had killed the patient, creating the possibility of
criminal or civil charges against the suspension team. Therefore, current
cryonics practice is to suspend dying patients as soon as possible after
cardiac arrest (stopping of the heart) and declaration of "legal death."
This course of action can be seen as reasonable once one realizes
that "legal death" is not the same as "biological death." A physician
declares legal death when a patient's condition cannot be repaired with
current medical knowledge and techniques. However, the process of
deterioration which we call "dying" is not a sudden happening. It is much
more like slipping into an ever deepening coma. Even several hours after
declaration of death, most of the cells in the body (including those in
the brain) are still individually alive and capable of resuming function.
As late as the 1940's, people who stopped breathing because of heart
attacks or drowning were routinely declared dead. Today thousands of
people have survived heart attacks and other conditions which would have
been fatal 40 years ago. Children have survived over an hour of
"drowning" in cold water. Were those heart attack and drowning victims
really dead forty years ago, but nature has changed the rules today? Of
course not; those people were still alive-- doctors just did not know what
to do about it. In the same way, most people who are declared dead TODAY
would be called "alive" by doctors of the future. With that observation
in mind, we think these patients should be considered potentially "alive"
NOW, and we should do something to KEEP them that way.
Even within the next 10-15 years, you are likely to be amazed by the
amount of progress in recovering patients from strokes, heart attacks, and
lack of blood circulation to the brain. Ultimately, it should be possible
to recover patients as long as basic brain structure remains intact
(several hours past the point at which today's doctors give up). In the
next century, the medical knowledge of the 1990's will seem as primitive
as the medical understandings of one hundred years ago seem to us.
Cryonic suspension itself will cure nothing, but it buys time for the
patient, keeping his body virtually unchanged until a future when his
suspended state may be considered only an extremely deep coma. Even now
there is solid evidence that cooling the human body to liquid nitrogen
temperature (-320 degrees F), with the use of techniques to reduce
freezing injury, can preserve the fine structure of the brain
indefinitely.
There is no guarantee that cryonic suspension will ever allow for
future revival. We do not know enough to state with absolute certainty
that this procedure is workable. However, the case for the possible
future revival of suspended patients grows stronger all of the time. One
recent argument in favor of future repair and revival of suspended
patients was provided by K. Eric Drexler in his fascinating book, ENGINES
OF CREATION (Doubleday, 1986). This book details the beginnings of the
new field of "nanotechnology" (also called "molecular engineering").
Nanotechnology is the next step smaller than micro-technology, and it will
create industries which will operate by working with atoms and molecules
one at a time. Among other astounding developments, this will lead to
computers and cell repair machines one thousand times smaller than a human
cell. Such devices could repair any disease or injury (including that from
freezing) by working directly on the cells themselves.
It must be pointed out that cryonicists are not people with some
fixation on cold temperatures. None of us want to be frozen. We are
simply people who like being alive, and who want to see the future and all
of its wonders. For us, cryonics provides a safety net, a last-ditch
attempt at life-saving which may give us the chance to see that future.
Our cryonics organization, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation
("Alcor"), is a California not-for-profit corporation, registered with the
Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt scientific organization. Alcor
has a fully equipped and operational research laboratory, operating room,
and patient storage facility in Riverside, California. Alcor was formed
as a mutual aid society, where the members are committed to helping each
other. All Alcor board members, officials, and suspension team personnel
are required to be full suspension members. We do not want a situation
which could pit "Alcor" against "the members." Alcor IS its members. All
decisions on the safety of the patients and stability of the organization
are made with the knowledge that they will affect everyone in the
organization.
If you would like further information, you may order the following
publications (among others) from Alcor:
ALCOR: THRESHOLD TO TOMORROW (introductory booklet) FREE for 1st copy.
Extra copies $5.00 each.
THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CRYONICS (selected reprints) $10.00.
SIGNING UP MADE SIMPLE (How to provide the legal and financial
arrangements for cryonic suspension, with filled-out sample forms.)
$10.00.
Subscription to CRYONICS magazine at $25.00 per year (12 issues).
Fascinating articles and discussion on the current state of cryonics, plus
science updates.
Please send a check or money order; no cash, please. Phone toll-free
to use Visa or MasterCard. Make all checks payable to Alcor Life
Extension Foundation and mail to:
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
12327 Doherty Street,
Riverside, California 92503
Telephone 800-367-2228.
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