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Cryonics Myth #1: "Trustees 200 years in future at a time when your disease [X] is completely curable will care to bring you back." There's no corporate or le

Cryonics Myth #1: "Trustees 200 years in future at a time when your disease [X] is completely curable will care to bring you back." There's no corporate or legal or NGO structure in the business that will last long enough that anyone will care, and even if they do the cooling system failover will not work in the particularly hot summer of 2074.

nwatson 9y ago
And while we're at it, somebody needs to do the cryonics re-make of the not-so-classic 1960's movie "The Loved One": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-edybFkBiO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-edybFkBiO4 -- Rod Steiger as Mr. Joyboy, the masterful mortician at work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ5dTQa_2E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ5dTQa_2E -- Liberace as a funeral home salesperson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaGtDJo5R5o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaGtDJo5R5o -- Aimee Thanatogenos visits Mr. Joyboy and his mother
abecedarius 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies Also we don't know how long this needs to work. If it happens at all I expect it'll be in much less than 200 years. (Yes, of course that's a big if.)
apsec112 9y ago
While there is a real risk that cryonics organizations will fail, there's no reason to think it's a foregone conclusion. Tons of organizations have been around for over two hundred years. The oldest non-profits in continuous existence are well over a thousand years old. There's no legal barrier to a non-profit corporation or trust continuing to exist indefinitely, as many indeed have. (Heck, the Nobel Prizes are an after-death trust that has only gotten larger and more famous in the 122 years since Nobel's death.) See also Alcor's reply to "Who will revive patients?": http://alcor.org/FAQs/faq01.html#whowillrevive http://alcor.org/FAQs/faq01.html#whowillrevive There is no active cooling system; cryonics patients are passively cooled with liquid nitrogen. The only regular maintenance needed is adding more liquid nitrogen, and the storage dewars can last for many months before replenishment is needed.
- empath75 9y ago
  There is no shortage of people in the world and no reason to add additional people who are old or diseased, and have no particular skills that are necessary in the future. It’s much cheaper (not to mention more fun) to make more babies.
  - everybodyknows 9y ago
    There's always a shortage of people who contribute to society with generosity and wisdom. But not many such heads end up in liquid nitrogen tanks, methinks.
tim333 9y ago
>There's no corporate or legal or NGO structure in the business that will last long enough that anyone will care No people will care because that's what they do and that's why we have schools, hospitals and the like in all countries, not because there is a legal structure requiring them.

nwatson 9y ago

And while we're at it, somebody needs to do the cryonics re-make of the not-so-classic 1960's movie "The Loved One": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-edybFkBiO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-edybFkBiO4 -- Rod Steiger as Mr. Joyboy, the masterful mortician at work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ5dTQa_2E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ5dTQa_2E -- Liberace as a funeral home salesperson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaGtDJo5R5o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaGtDJo5R5o -- Aimee Thanatogenos visits Mr. Joyboy and his mother

abecedarius 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies Also we don't know how long this needs to work. If it happens at all I expect it'll be in much less than 200 years. (Yes, of course that's a big if.)

apsec112 9y ago

While there is a real risk that cryonics organizations will fail, there's no reason to think it's a foregone conclusion. Tons of organizations have been around for over two hundred years. The oldest non-profits in continuous existence are well over a thousand years old. There's no legal barrier to a non-profit corporation or trust continuing to exist indefinitely, as many indeed have. (Heck, the Nobel Prizes are an after-death trust that has only gotten larger and more famous in the 122 years since Nobel's death.) See also Alcor's reply to "Who will revive patients?": http://alcor.org/FAQs/faq01.html#whowillrevive http://alcor.org/FAQs/faq01.html#whowillrevive There is no active cooling system; cryonics patients are passively cooled with liquid nitrogen. The only regular maintenance needed is adding more liquid nitrogen, and the storage dewars can last for many months before replenishment is needed.

empath75 9y ago
There is no shortage of people in the world and no reason to add additional people who are old or diseased, and have no particular skills that are necessary in the future. It’s much cheaper (not to mention more fun) to make more babies.
- everybodyknows 9y ago
  There's always a shortage of people who contribute to society with generosity and wisdom. But not many such heads end up in liquid nitrogen tanks, methinks.

tim333 9y ago

>There's no corporate or legal or NGO structure in the business that will last long enough that anyone will care No people will care because that's what they do and that's why we have schools, hospitals and the like in all countries, not because there is a legal structure requiring them.