Cryonics.Info
Definitive Information on Cryonics

About

Books and Bibliography

Cryonics Info.

Stem-Cell Research

Rejuvenation

Growth of Cryonics

Experimental Results

Survey Results

Members Join Now Login

Some Expectations

Some scientists, including some cryonicists, expect that medical science will be advanced enough in the future to build miniature surgical robots (nanobots), making possible the treatment of individual cells within the body. Such treatment could cure illnesses, heal injury, reverse aging, and it is particularly significant that nanotechnology could heal brain damage caused by ischemia or cryopreservation. The healing of any kind of serious brain damage is vital because the disintegration of the interconnections of cells in the brain can have a catastrophic impact on a person's ability to think, feel, act, and remember who they are. This "information death" occurs with the loss of bodily structure (cellular integrity); therefore, structural preservation is critically important for complete personal survival. In the future, the criterion of "information death" should determine the limits of medical treatment and for this reason it is likely that "information death" will be the accepted medical definition of death sometime during this century. Preserving bodily structure (information) is essential for a patient to ever have the possibility of functioning again.

Besides the restoration of a preserved individual's previous level of functioning, many cryonicists hope for even greater benefits. Some espouse a transhumanist philosophy, believing that future technological advances will be so great as to allow us to control physical reality at a fundamental level, enabling an evolutionary leap into a deathless existence. Other cryonicists are religious and put their trust in a higher power, but they see no conflict between cryonics and their doctrines. Indeed, some see cryonics as the fulfillment of certain religious prescriptions: for example, when Jesus Christ says "heal the sick... raise the dead" (Matthew 10:8).

At any rate, cryonics should not be considered a fringe cult that preys on human fears of death. Rather, it should be looked upon as a visionary medical experiment which aims to save lives by using science and technology to prevent complete bodily annihilation.

Back to: What is Cryonics?