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A few years ago I became interested in the cryonics movement. What I find most interesting about it aren't the kooks and weirdos that are into cryonics, but th
by Teever 2y ago
A few years ago I became interested in the cryonics movement.
What I find most interesting about it aren't the kooks and weirdos that are into cryonics, but the visceral reaction that your average Joe has to the idea.
The average opinion about cryonics seems to range from 'That is impossible' to 'why would you want that?'. But if you ask that same average Joe about a cure for cancer they're likely to say that it's been done and the rich just horde it for themselves.
It's weird that they don't see things like cures for cancer, regrowing organs, age slowing drugs etc... as all part of a pathway to the same thing which is a technological solution to many causes of aging and death.
Unlocking the ability to grow and store organs or even just store donated organs cryogenically is highly desirable from an economic standpoint has it frees up so many resources (1pc of US GDP is spent on dialysis alone) so if there's a technological means to do it we're going to find a way sooner or later.
And once we've found a way to freeze and revive large parts of the body it's just a gruesome divide and conquer from there...
- spondylosaurus 2y agoI did read an interesting thing recently (can't remember where unfortunately) about ongoing strides in the transport and preservation of donor organs. If we crack the code to putting a kidney in ice, you can get it across the country to its new owner instead of crossing your fingers that someone local needs one and is a recipient match.
- lttlrck 2y agoBy my calculations 0.078% of GDP is spent on dialysis. Still crazy looking at the raw numbers. $20billion/$25.4trillion https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp https://www.propublica.org/article/in-dialysis-life-saving-care-at-great-risk-and-cost https://www.propublica.org/article/in-dialysis-life-saving-c...
- exe34 2y agoimagine a life where a contract between you and a soulless corporation or religious order forbids you from dying, and no matter how many times you try to escape, they bring you back for untold miseries.
- BriggyDwiggs42 2y agoI mean, sounds like a skill issue to me
- RajT88 2y agoRead those EULA's!
- shrubble 2y ago"We need you for long term maintenance of our mainframe's COBOL code base; in return we pay you very well, but when we say long-term, we really mean it."
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Qem 2y agoYou must watch the movie Moon (2009). I strongly recommend. See https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- wonderwonder 2y agoEssentially a Ghola in the dune universe
- tempaccount420 2y agoYour favorite sci-fi plot is not a realistic prediction of the future.
- _xerces_ 2y agoReminds me about an article on ECMO machines I read where they are researching hooking them up to single organs and not just people. If you can keep the organ alive for some time it opens the possibility of making transplants easier, or even removing someone's diseased liver, say and treating it outside the body then putting it back a few weeks later.
- mbil 2y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40214525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40214525
- blargey 2y ago> a technological solution to many causes of aging and death. I wouldn't count the cryonic freezing of a perfectly good brain (aka immediate brain death) among those, at least until there's a convincing solution to the teletransportation paradox.
- ultrarunner 2y agoImagine a backlog of frozen people who can now be unfrozen due to the availability of a cure, but who now have to reintegrate into society. The political implications would parallel the controversy introducing refugees
- Teever 2y agohttps://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Transmetropolitan/Issue-8?id=14227#1 https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Transmetropolitan/Issue-8?i... Enjoy. This comic series and specifically this issue is what made me fascinated about cryonics as a teen.