NationStates Jolt Archive

Death. I am terrified of it. Even with the promise of an afterlife, true or false, I can't help but think of not existing. Seriously, think about it. Will there be darkness? Is there an afterlife? Hauntings? WHAT HAPPENS?

Cryonics. It may be able to extend life beyond our natural limits. But... you'd have to wait until the technology to revive you was perfected, and even then, the argument is that the damage to your nerves would... change you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryonics

Hell yeah, I'd do it. I don't wanna die.

I can't help but think of not existing.
That's some feat...

Seriously, think about it. Will there be darkness? Is there an afterlife? Hauntings? WHAT HAPPENS?
Nothing. You don't exist.

I always find the (paraphrased) words of Epicurus helpful in these situations:

If I am, death is not.
If death is, I cannot.
Why should I fear something that cannot exist while I am?

Cryonics isn't worth it.

Unless you've got money to just piss up the wall, and don't care that you're almost certainly wasting it...

So many reasons not to buy into it - freezing things changes them. It could either ruin you for 'thawing'... so you're effectively paying for being frozen until they bury you - or it could allow you to 'thaw' but you could be broken (seriously, all that money to get woken up incapable of wiping your own ass?).

Most likely - you're paying for a service that will never be delivered.

If science 'cures' aging (and that looks increasingly likely) where is the attraction for ploughing money into the science of thawing people?

I think it would be cool, literally.

Tothe's discount crya-whatever is open fer bizness. Payment requested at time of service.

I'm only interested in cryogenics if you can guarantee that life in the year 3000 will be like in Futurama.

I'd rather be smoked, like beef jerky. :)

Getting frozen for an indefinite period of time is just begging for some unforeseen, fate-worst-than-death type situation. I'd rather die naturally than experience some sort of ironic punishment as a more general chastisement against man's hubris.

You see, the problem is that if you're frozen, there's no guarantee it's actually you. That and the fact that you'd likely be dethawed and revived (if ever) many, many years after you died. Now, look at those people who were in comas for 20 years and the trouble they've had adjusting to a changed world, and then try to picture yourself adapting to that situation except maybe 50 or even 100 years in to the future. Everyone you know is likely dead and most or all of your estate has long since been dissolved (or rendered irrelevant), and you're hopelessly behind on the cultural and historical trends. Not to mention, of course, at least initially you're not going to be any younger or healthier than you were when you were frozen.

The only way to avoid death is to find ways to not die. Cryonics is not the way to do so, and it sure as hell isn't much more than another form of burial.

The problem with freezing bodies, even flash freezing them, is that the ice crystals will perforate your cells and when you get all thawed out you'll turn into mush. Better to just send yourself into the vaccum of space, that will probably preserve you. Only troubles are getting there and the temp extremes will probably destroy your corpse.