X-Message-Number: 28715
From: "Chris Manning" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: revival of Captain Oates
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 22:17:46 +1100

I knew of this story, including Oates' memorable understatement. Yes, an 
interesting possibility, although there would probably be legal/ethical 
considerations, e.g. would any descendants have the right to claim his body? 
Would it be kind to revive him even if we could, given that he could not 
have known that such revival might be possible in his distant future?

Of course the same revival possibility arises for anyone else who has 
perished in a similar fashion, e.g. the numerous people who have fallen down 
crevasses whilst attempting to climb Mt Everest. Also, a few years ago the 
body of a World War II pilot was recovered from some icy region in the 
Rockies. Sorry I don't remember the details, but someone else here might.

In Arthur C. Clarke's novel 'The Songs of Distant Earth', a man is 
accidentally frozen when he is trapped on a block of ice which is being 
lifted from the surface of a planet to form part of the ablation shield for 
a spaceship currently in orbit. The ship's captain explains to the man's 
parents that they should be able to revive him if they can take the body 
with them, using technology that they will be able to deploy on arrival at 
their destination planet in 400 years' time. After thinking it over they 
respond by saying that although the captain means well, it would be no 
kindness to their son, who would find himself in a strange new world and 
unable to return to the one he knew.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CryoNet" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 9:00 PM
Subject: CryoNet #28709 - #28713


> Message #28713
> Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:55:37 -0500
> From: Francois <>
> Subject: Lawrence Oates
>
> On march 17 1912, Lawrence Oates, member of the doomed Scott expedition to
> the south pole, walked out of his team's tent and into a raging blizzard.
> Injured and unable to walk on his own for very long, Oates had become a
> burden for his companions and he intended his sacrifice to allow them to
> reach the safety of a supply depot. History remembers him for his last
> words, "I am just going outside and may be some time." His sacrifice came
> too late, the remaining members of the expedition died soon after, a mere 
> 11
> miles from the supply depot. Oates body was never recovered.
>
> This means, of course, that he is still out there, somewere, frozen in the
> ice of Antarctica. Obviously, being frozen in this way is far from ideal
> from a preservation point of view. Still I wonder if it would be possible,
> at least in principle, to recover him and reanimate him with the same
> techniques that would be used to revive cryonically suspended people. It 
> is
> obvious that the task of reviving Oates would be far more difficult, but
> would the damage caused by the brutal unprotected freezing and the less 
> than
> idea "storage" make it impossible? I hope not. Imagine reviving an actual
> person from the late 19th and early 20th century. That would be quite an
> accomplishment if it ever came to be.
>
>
> Francois
>
> Good health is merely the slowest
> possible rate at which one can die.
> 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=28715