Cryogenic freezing offers hope, but failures raise serious concerns and risks.The thought of death is a scary one for many. So, the idea of potentially coming back to life in the future is an alluring concept. While this might sound like a scene from a sci-fi movie, there are actually people who have opted for cryonics, hoping that one day, technology might bring them back to life.

What is Cryonics?

Cryonics is the practice of freezing human bodies after death, with the hope that future advancements in science and technology will allow for revival. The process starts after someone is clinically declared dead. Special cryoprotectants are applied to prevent ice from forming in the body, which could damage cells and organs. The body is then frozen, placed in liquid nitrogen, and stored. Interestingly, patients are stored upside down, with their heads facing the floor, to help keep the brain at the coldest and most stable temperature.

The Beginnings of Cryonics

Cryonics first became a real possibility in the late 1960s. The first notable figure in cryonics was Robert Nelson, who began freezing bodies out of a cemetery in Chatsworth, California. Initially, he used dry ice to preserve bodies, but he found it ineffective and switched to liquid nitrogen, which was much better at maintaining a low temperature. He had only one capsule but used it to store multiple patients in an underground vault.

Credits:CTP Cryogenic

The Struggles and Failures of Cryonics

Cryogenic faces numerous challenges. The main issue is the funding needed for long-term storage. Since those who are frozen are already deceased, it’s difficult to ensure ongoing financial support for the facilities. This has led to cases where frozen bodies were thawed due to a lack of funds. Additionally, equipment failures have caused other bodies to be improperly preserved, resulting in them decomposing or being ruined.

For example, of all the people frozen before 1973, only one body remains intact — that of Dr. James Bedford, who died in 1967 at the age of 73. His preservation has become an oddity, as most early Cryogenic cases ended in failure.

Public Reaction to Cryonics Failures

The high rate of failure in the early Cryogenic attempts didn’t go unnoticed. On platforms like Reddit, many users shared their concerns. One user humorously compared it to finding a freezer full of spoiled food, saying, “I had to refreeze everything so I could get it into trash bags without throwing up. It had to have been multitudes worse when it was heads and bodies.”

Other commenters were less kind, mocking the idea of spending a fortune on something that might not work, with phrases like “paying insane money to sign your life away” and “treated like chicken breast with freezer burn.”

However, some offered a more philosophical perspective, recognizing the deep human desire to avoid death. “People play the lottery every day,” one user pointed out, reminding everyone that even though Cryogenic might be a long shot, it’s no different than hoping for big rewards in unlikely situations.

The Future of Cryonics

While cryonics is still regarded by many as pseudoscience, people continue to sign up for the procedure. In May, a man from Sydney became the first person in Australia to have his body cryogenically frozen, spending a whopping $112,000 for the chance to come back to life in the distant future.

Although there’s little hope that cryonics will succeed in reanimating the dead in our lifetimes, it continues to capture the imagination of those looking for a shot at immortality. For now, we remain in the realm of science fiction, but who knows what future advancements might bring?