Cryonic Life Extension: Scientific Possibility or Stupid Pipe Dream?

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with cryonics and suspended animation. Like the previous chapter, it contributes substantially to the philosophical debate on where the line between life and death should be drawn. The ultimate aim of cryonics is to achieve nondestructive freezing (cryopreservation) of advanced organisms like humans so that they can be safely thawed in the future, usually with a view to obtaining advanced medical treatment not currently available. In this chapter number of scientific and philosophical questions presented by cryonics are discussed, such as whether cryonics is real science or simply a waste of money, the legal and moral status of cryonically suspended individuals, and how to deal with the possibility that the thawed individual might end up with some organs working but with severe neurological impairment.