X-Message-Number: 31322
From: Mark Plus <>
Subject: Dr. Sanjay Gupta on cryonics
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 07:40:34 -0800



http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/2006/12/would-you-buy-immortality_22.html

Friday, December 22, 2006


							Would you buy immortality?


							
							
								Do
you want to live forever? My gut reaction to this question has always
been a resounding, "No way!" I have no desire to outlive my loved ones
and to endure the aches and pains of old age on my own.

But what
if you could die, then come back hundreds of years later with a new
body? What if you weren't alone? What if your children, your spouse,
even the family pet could come back with you? Well then...maybe I'd
reconsider.

Recently, I met a group of people who believe that
scenario will one day become reality. It's called cryonics. In short,
it's the deep-freezing of human bodies immediately after death for
preservation and possible revival in the future. Believers call
themselves cryonicists and they pay big money. It costs $150,000 for
the whole body and about half that for just the brain and head. There
are discounts for entire families and pets.

I'm sure you've
heard of cryonics. It's been spoofed in countless movies. Many people
think Walt Disney (false) and baseball great Ted Williams (true) are
resting in liquid nitrogen indefinitely. The hope is that one day,
technology will advance to the point where cryonicists will be revived
from their frozen state.

Sound unlikely? Yes, it does to me too,
but spending time listening to some of the cryonicists' arguments have
made me just a little less skeptical. They point to the exponential
rate of technological advances. As for me, it does make me consider all
the medical procedures that were simply mind-boggling just decades ago.
Dialysis allows people with kidney disease to live longer, healthier
lives. Operating on fetuses still in the womb is commonplace. Brain
surgery can be done without incision.

Cryonicists see the
transport of chilled organs and tissue for transplants as a step in the
right direction. Doctors at Harvard Medical School are working on a
process similar to suspended animation. They can take severely injured
pigs, the size of humans, and slow down their body's functions, just
long enough to mend their traumatic injuries. When the pigs are revived
they show no sign of cognitive loss.

To be clear, most doctors
we spoke to said it's unthinkable that cryonics will ever become a
reality. After all, we're still talking about bringing someone back
from death. 


Dr. Sanjay Gupta will examine the medical possibilities of cryonics in a  report
airing on CNN tonight on Paula Zahn Now at
8pm Eastern and this weekend. You'll also meet some of the people who
are planning for their future...their very distant future...that is.

Let us know what you think? How much would you pay to buy immortality?


								
									Posted By A. Chris Gajilan, Senior Producer, Medical News: 2:22 PM ET


"Around 2010 the world will be at a new orbit in history. . .  Life expectancy 
will be indefinite. Disease and disability will nonexist. Death wll be rare and 
accidental -- but not permanent. We will continuously jettison our obsolescence 
and grow younger." F.M. Esfandiary, "Up-Wing Priorities" (1981).


Mark Plus



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