I don't know about you, but I was under the impression that Walt Disney was cryonically frozen. Apparently this is an urban legend that is not true. Am I the only one that was still under this assumption? It was a huge blow. I honestly thought the man was frozen somewhere waiting for his comeback. Well, anywho. This brought me to doing a bit of research on the subject of being cryonically frozen.
Sometime during the 1990s, people were amazed that victims who had undergone cardiac arrest had been brought back to life. Zombies? No. Although that would have been rather interesting (see Fido). Thus, enters the thought of information-theoretic death, which states that if the structures in the brain responsible for important functions such as memory or personality, are substantially disrupted, then the person is considered dead. In other words, if important parts of your brain are destroyed, then you're dead. This is pretty obvious, isn't it? Well, in terms of cryonics, they attempt to preserve these important structures of the brain by freezing them.
The body is cooled to the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. On a side note, speaking of liquid nitrogen, last night on the Top Chef finale, Richard used it to make bacon ice cream and the judges loved it. I question any judge's palate who praises a dessert that consists of bacon, ice cream, and liquid nitrogen. Really?
Back to cryonics. The biggest problem in keeping the body preserved this way is that ice may form between the cells which damages them extensively. Ischemia is another problem. If the brain is without blood circulation for a long period of time before the process is done, then it may also be extensively destroyed. Then the biggest problem is of course, the revival part. As of today, it is impossible. I suspect that perhaps in about 500 millions years we'll have it. But by then there will most likely be no purpose since according to many models that is the time limit given for Earth's inhabitability. Apparently the oceans will disappear due to accelerated carbon dioxide cycles caused by the sun's increase of luminosity because of higher helium ash in its core. So much for these immortality seekers. Or maybe they can also figure out to to invade the sun's core. Now there's an idea...
Well, I found a paper that basically gives the recipe to a good cryonic resuscitation (in case you're interested). Here it is: working on atoms by atoms (nanotechnology), ribosomes (for your proteins), some sort of assembler, a computer that can instruct the assemblers, and positional chemistry among a few other glitches. Oh yes, and I almost forgot the most important one: money. Well, in any case, this is all theoretical but this guy believes that if they were able to keep the brain well enough by using liquid nitrogen to freeze it, all these other things would come into play to bring the brain back to life.
A much better, realistic, and interesting approach to cryonics is the fact that some scientists have been able to keep certain isolated tissues cooled with liquid nitrogen only to have them re-warm successfully. Now there's an interesting path! Other than that, I still consider cryonics a good premise for a science fiction book/film and only that. That would be one chaotic world. You add some mind-uploading there and you have got yourself the perfect dystopia. For those who have never heard of mind-uploading, it is the theory of transferring the human mind to some sort of simulation computer. Sometimes I think my laptop has a mind of its own. Does that count?
