Suspended Animation Becomes a Reality, Human Trials Underway
- Thread starter Cognimancer
- Start date
This has been known to work (from people drowning after falling through ice) for decades.
So they now apply it in the ER or OR... that's not quite what the title promised me, so boo!
So they now apply it in the ER or OR... that's not quite what the title promised me, so boo!
At which point there is more fun and games (and sometimes parallel universes and cat people).The Funslinger said:
Also, I would like to give a hug to whatever editor added the tag "Only Mostly Dead" to the article.
Your suit would be rejected. Doctors are obligated to attempt to save your life even without your permission. This is a case in which you are almost guaranteed to die if they don't use the experimental treatment, you won't be in a sound state of mind to make an informed decision about the treatment, and there is not enough time to have your next-of-kin make the decision for you.Zeren said:
As this tech gets perfected surgeons will get laid off and their number reduced to a point where you wait in surgery queue for weeks in suspended animation
Pittsburgh has an H at the end. They worked hard for that H, and they are touchy about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_Pittsburgh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_Pittsburgh
Honestly if it saved my life and didn't you know cause massive brain damage then I'd be fine with it, besides your probably going to die anyway might as well take a chance on something this cool sounding.
Alive with money. Because as much as we complain that companies are greedy, we forget that individual people are often equally greedy to the point of insane cognitive dissonance.Tony2077 said:
It's OK, though, let him try. His lawsuit would be chucked nigh-instantly.
OT: The blood-draining part is really, really creepy, but it's still a really cool tech.
Brain transplants are they key to long term suspended animation.
Deep freezing a human body would cause traumatic damage to many of it's systems/organs etc, even once drained of blood etc. The main focus here, should be trying to successfully transplant a brain from one living body to another (possibly doing so with a brain dead body, and a body that can no longer support a brain for instance).
We are not even close to doing that of course, but, if you could....then it might be possible preserve a brain, and then transplant it into a body at a later date (possibly even storing dna from the original body and re-growing it for the brain to be put back into).
The technology we need now, is how to preserve the brain. We could wait for the technology to actually transplant it later I guess. Of course, if we don't have the technology to transplant it, we cant tell if we are successfully preserving the brain or not.
Alternatively, figuring out how to record/store memories in a brain, the electrical impulses that make up each persons personality/memories etc, could allow not only the ability to suspend life, but to make it immortal as well. Regrow new bodies every few years and transplant the memories experiences over to the new one.
Deep freezing a human body would cause traumatic damage to many of it's systems/organs etc, even once drained of blood etc. The main focus here, should be trying to successfully transplant a brain from one living body to another (possibly doing so with a brain dead body, and a body that can no longer support a brain for instance).
We are not even close to doing that of course, but, if you could....then it might be possible preserve a brain, and then transplant it into a body at a later date (possibly even storing dna from the original body and re-growing it for the brain to be put back into).
The technology we need now, is how to preserve the brain. We could wait for the technology to actually transplant it later I guess. Of course, if we don't have the technology to transplant it, we cant tell if we are successfully preserving the brain or not.
Alternatively, figuring out how to record/store memories in a brain, the electrical impulses that make up each persons personality/memories etc, could allow not only the ability to suspend life, but to make it immortal as well. Regrow new bodies every few years and transplant the memories experiences over to the new one.
Interesting. I wonder if full blown suspended animation will find uses in the future. This is certainly a lot further than we were before and a good first step. But is it possible to freeze a body for extended periods of time? Or would one have to find a different method?
All in all, pretty cool. I'm one step closer to cryogenically freezing myself til we can travel in space as easily as we travel to the Super Market.
All in all, pretty cool. I'm one step closer to cryogenically freezing myself til we can travel in space as easily as we travel to the Super Market.
Why, that is slander, my good sir. I don't have to take this. I shall sue you for implying that I am a greedy person who will sue anyone for money. I shall see you in court.lacktheknack said:Alive with money. Because as much as we complain that companies are greedy, we forget that individual people are often equally greedy to the point of insane cognitive dissonance.Tony2077 said:
It's OK, though, let him try. His lawsuit would be chucked nigh-instantly.
OT: The blood-draining part is really, really creepy, but it's still a really cool tech.
Virtual reality, now suspended animation... Humanities first baby steps to a 1970's version of the future.
I'm waiting for the commercial release of flying cars and pills that contain entire meals. Ya hear me science, get that shit on Kickstarter, and lets get this ball rolling.
I'm waiting for the commercial release of flying cars and pills that contain entire meals. Ya hear me science, get that shit on Kickstarter, and lets get this ball rolling.
I imagine that long term freezing could be accomplished by replacing key fluids with synthetic ones that are more efficient at lower temperatures. Sort of like embalming minus the toxicity and death.Saltyk said:
hentropy said:
I figured we'd get there eventually, and honestly there have long been rumors that the technology for long term "cryostasis" was perfected decades ago, but was never released to the public (and is covertly regulated) for societal reasons. There are actually urban legends about Walt Disney being cryogenically frozen (which is why this shows up as a joke in Austin Powers), along with more obscure ones about people like Elvis or Princess Di having faked their deaths in order to be frozen.
According to the basic "rumor", and understand I'm not advocating any of this, since there isn't a whole lot of proof (indeed there is more evidence of UFOs than secret cryo-vaults full of preserved humans, though apparently some universities have frozen the heads of clients under the suspicion that in the future they could be revived and have new bodies cloned, which in of itself has lead to some speculation as to whether this was a work around covert regulation), the problems with cryostasis for the long term are the same as say genetic/eugenic enhancements, once such a technology is released it's going to be very expensive and create a huge rift between those who can afford it and those that cannot. After all being able to afford the procedure is only part of it, a stasis chamber would have to be powered, stored, and maintained, possibly for centuries. A few hours (as mentioned here) is no big thing, but imagine the moral implications when a poor person is left to die, where a rich person can just have themselves frozen and wait for a cure. In a society where we're already grappling over things like access to experimental drugs, and the treatments only the very wealthy can afford, on a lot of levels Cryostasis can be seen as a form of immortality for those rich enough to pay for it as even the dead could in theory be revived, and of course someone who freezes themselves and is revived (in a clone body or otherwise) could very well also then benefit from technology that will do away with aging and other problems. The idea is that some people like Walt Disney, Elvis, or Princess Di not only had the financial resources but the popularity and connections to pretty much break the rules, sticking out largely because they were "public people" where allegedly the government(s) only choose to preserve people they feel are of particular value to society (allegedly a number of scientists believed to be dead, and people like that... which of course gets into other conspiracy theories about whether the pieces of Einstein's brain in storage are actually from Einstein's brain and similar things).
That said those rumors and urban legends do sort of show the entire moral argument about this kind of thing, and why as much as I'd love to be frozen (as would a lot of people) and revived at a time when they could oh say, fix my damaged brain for example, the odds of that happening seem slim because developing the technology isn't the same as dealing with the issues involved in the technology and deciding who gets to be frozen, who doesn't, and of course the "right" of the top 1% to bypass any such thinking about worth or "rights" and simply buy it because they can. Even the most powerful goverments pretty much couldn't afford to keep functioning while pretty much freezing every member of the population and storing them (as everyone will likely want to potentially live longer, especially when they get old and sick). Not to mention the whole question of when the medical technologies needed to revive these people... or in the case of the rich simply provide them with immortal "vanity bodies", are developed, how you deal with that population explosion, especially seeing as you could potentially be dealing with millions or even billions of people who will be totally out of sync with society after being frozen and pretty much need to be re-educated and re-introduced. What's more as nations and empires rise and fall, how do you ensure say the governments of tomorrow will feel any real responsibility for bringing these people back, especially if their morality and social structure is entirely different than the people they are freezing.... like most such things when confronted with these kinds of big questions and hypothetical problems (whether equally hypothetical answers can be created or not) humanity gives in to it's worst reflexs and simply decides not to go there at all.
I'm getting really excited about this for some reason.
I know all of the more fantastic potential uses for this technology (like space travel) will probably never happen in my lifetime (if it all), but still... can't shake that excitement.