Time machines exist. There are already hundreds of them in the world, or rather, in the USA and Russia. The Alcor base is located in Arizona, the Crionics Institute operates in Michigan, and KrioRus is improving its capabilities in the Moscow region. The Americans have already accepted more than three hundred "time travelers", and there are 1,500 more on the waiting list. The Russians, who started later, are quickly closing the gap: now 50 people and 20 animals are placed in capsules-dewars. Plus, there are dozens of live contracts in the asset. In the full sense of the living: in order to get into the future, one must die.
Set aside the dead line
Man is not allowed to live longer than 115 years, according to scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who published an article in the journal Nature in October this year.
Summarizing the information on the dynamics of human mortality and the maximum age of centenarians since the beginning of the 20th century, the researchers found that up to 1980, the life expectancy of "aksakals" was gradually increasing. This was due to the use of vaccines, improved quality of care, and the successful fight against cancer and cardiovascular disease. The age of the oldest inhabitants of the planet is very close to the 100-year mark, but for two decades there has been no further progress. According to scientists, the chance of meeting a 125-year-old person is negligible.
But there are any number of incentives to try to push this “death line” aside. For example, the exploration of deep space.
The work of the Russian cryonics company "KrioRus"
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Photo: kriorus.ru
The desire for immortality, eternal life is generally inherent in man, confirmation of which can be found in any religion and in world culture. A whole system of views has been formed - immortalism, the essence of which is the desire to postpone physical death as far as possible, relying on technical and scientific achievements.
Naturalists are inspired by the example of the Dutchman van Leeuwenhoek, who in the 18th century discovered the phenomenon of suspended animation - the reversible cessation of life by drying or freezing living organisms.
Over time, the hypothesis of the attainability of freezing as the safest and most promising method of extending life has become popular and prompted further scientific research.
Improvement of technologies for cooling gases to ultra-low temperatures, discoveries in the field of molecular biology, and advances in practical medicine have become prerequisites for the formation and development of cryonics (from the Greek cryos - cold) - a method of freezing a person or animal, allowing it to be thawed and revived in the future.
No, all of me will not die
The father of cryonics, Robert Ettinger, a scientist and author of the 1960s sensational book Perspectives of Immortality, became the 106th patient of the Cryonics Institute, which he himself organized. There is no mistake here - formally Ettinger died in 2011 at the age of 92, but for cryonicists he, like other deeply frozen time travelers, is not a "body", not "remains", but a patient.
Cryonics father Robert Ettinger, 1967
Photo: AP Photo
Cryonics postulates that death is not an irreversible one-time event, but a long process, consisting of several stages. If, after the detection of biological death, it is possible to preserve the brain cells, there is an opportunity to transfer the patient's personality to the future, when the level of science and technology will be so high that it will allow the defrosted body to be reanimated or recreated, at the same time saving from diseases that are incurable today.
The cryopreservation procedure begins with hypothermia - cooling the body to zero degrees. This helps to slow down the biochemical processes occurring in the body, including arresting cell necrosis. Through the circulatory system, a cryoprotectant is introduced gradually and carefully so as not to damage the vessels by excessive pressure. Perfusion lasts four to six hours. Then the patient is cooled with dry ice and transported to a cryostorage, where a Dewar container with liquid nitrogen is prepared for him.
Cryonics has not received unequivocal approval in the scientific community. Scientists see one of the problems, for example, the impossibility of "restarting" the brain and returning to life a safe personality. Some are confused by the lack of guarantees. Cryofirms, indeed, do not provide them - without having the gift of foresight, it is impossible to imagine how soon it will be possible to obtain the tools and knowledge that can return cryopatients to a full life. It is a matter of faith in the method itself and trust in those who are its guides.
An open letter in support of cryonics was signed by 69 scientists around the world. The letter lists experimentally proven arguments for continued research - for example, that the brain is able to restore activity after long-term storage, that large organs can be cryopreserved without structural damage and successfully transplanted after heating, that the vital functions and structure of complex neural networks can be well preserved. during ultrafast freezing.
Sleeping Beauty's Testament
“I don't want to be buried in the ground. I want to live and live long, and I hope that in the future there will be a cure for my illness and a way to wake me up. I need a chance. This is my desire."
Shortly before her death, a fourteen-year-old English woman with terminal cancer asked for her body to be cryopreserved, and the judge approved this decision. It was not possible to do without the intervention of the judiciary: the girl's divorced parents had long lived separately and their views on the "posthumous life" of their daughter were diametrically opposed. After the verdict of the court, the father was forced to come to terms with the fact that the deceased, instead of resting in peace in the local cemetery, will go to wait for the resurrection in the United States.
Officially, the activities of cryofirms today are interpreted as the provision of ritual services. It is possible to apply the cryopreservation procedure only when brain death is legally recorded. Legislators do not share the research interest of cryonicists, and do not take into account the need for the fastest possible response to the fact of biological death of a patient. In Italy, for example, a law adopted in the 60s of the XX century is in force, according to which any manipulation of the body of the deceased is prohibited within 24 hours after the death is declared.
Formalization of the relationship between the cryofirm and the patient is a scrupulous and advance process. More and more often, the contract for cryopreservation is signed not by old people weighed down with diseases, but by quite healthy young people, romantic supporters of progress. Those who are concerned about the possibility of resurrection, already being at the last line, are at great risk.
“There were sad stories in our practice,” says Valeria Udalova, General Director of KrioRus. - A patient from Yokohama contacted us at the end of last year. He had cancer in the last stage, and the doctors gave him no more than six months. The Japanese cryonics community was only engaged in cryonics PR, and it was rather sluggish, and it hardly helped in our communication, the client "Alkora", who lived in Tokyo, provided more assistance. The correspondence was slow. In February, the patient became very ill - due to pneumonia, death was much closer to him than everyone expected. Realizing this, he, already in the hospital, said that he was ready to sign a contract, and asked to urgently send it. Our middleman was one hour late. During this time, the uncle of the deceased, a categorical opponent of cryonics, managed to cremate the body."
The work of the Russian cryonics company "KrioRus"
Photo: kriorus.ru
With a cold head
You can pay for your freezing, transfer to the dewar and subsequent storage not only at a time, but also in installments, through the annual transfer of membership fees. The price of the issue varies significantly - much depends on the list of ordered services and the client's distance from the cryostorage. The family of the already mentioned British patient, who created the legislative precedent, the procedure cost £ 37,000.
The most expensive - about $ 700 - is the annual membership in Alcor. Taking into account the forthcoming procedures, including processing, storage and resuscitation, the amount rises to $ 200,000. Expenses can be reduced to $ 80,000, limiting themselves to neuroconservation, that is, preserving not the whole body, but only the head or brain. Cryonicists believe that this is enough. Indeed, assuming the return to life will take place in a technologically advanced future, the reconstruction of the old or the creation of a new body will not be a problem.
Russian prices are significantly lower: from $ 12,000 for neuroconservation to $ 36,000 for full-length cryopreservation. Paying for cryoprocedures with pets will also have to be "humanly". This does not stop loving owners: for example, 8 dogs, 8 cats, 3 birds and a chinchilla are waiting in the wings in the KrioRus stores.
“The time is not far off,” says Danila Medvedev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KrioRus, “when cryonics will become a standard procedure and a standard choice for people. You will need to have very good reasons to go to a cemetery or crematorium instead of a cryopository."
Valery Spiridonov