Brittany Ball

Cryonics: Miracle or Menace?

Cryonics is certainly a hot button topic. Some say it is wrong, some say it is right, but one things is certain, its an issue that concerns the whole of us. It could save lives, it could destroy lives(according to those opposed to it), who really knows? There is so many factors to consider, but one things is clear, someone has to make a choice.

According to the scientists called cryonicists, cryonics is the process of freezing humans and/or animals at subzero temperatures. If one is mistakenly unfrozen then it would have disastrous consequences. The whole process is sketchy, but well thought out. The cryonicists have you declared legally dead, have a stand-by team that will administer CPR to keep the blood flowing to the brain(this prevents 'freezer burn') and they pump chemicals in your body to keep you in a type of suspension. Many would be weary of this, I have to admit I would, and this is why cryonics is looked down upon and frowned upon.

But there is factors that you have to keep in mind when thinking about Cryonics. One is them fact that you are already dead. What more harm could they do to you? If you choose suspension then you have a chance of being revived, but if you choose not to be suspended then you have no chance whatsoever of being revived. If you look at it, one way you die and have the chance to live, on the other side your just...dead. I personally don't see the harm in it, I mean if there is even the slightest chance that you could be revived, why wouldn't you do it? There is no harm and even if it doesn't work, your dead, what is it going to matter to you?

I have taken the affirmative stance on the issue, and even though it costs a lot of money(studies say it costs anywhere from 28,000 to 150,000), it could help so many people on this earth. It also gives others, like cancer patients, the chance at hope. Right now there isn't a cure for cancer, but if they were suspended, they could wait until a time in the future that they had found out a cure for cancer and have it administered. Cancer patients aren't the only people that can benefit from this however, its a fact that when your declared dead you aren't biologically dead, it simply means there is no other medical means to keep you alive. It remains that for months after you are declared medicinally dead, you remain alive biologically.

The opposition say that is its wrong to preserve life in this means, that it is unfair to the family of those who choose cryopreservation, but aren't they the same people who endorse being kept alive artificially by machines? They say time and time again that it is wrong, that this shouldn't happen, that's it is a violation of everything we know. But have they heard themselves, they themselves endorse many of the qualities that the study of cryonics possesses, its seems they only disagree for argument sake.

If cryonics is wrong, if it is harmful against those who participate it, is it not just like any other science that had started out? Heart surgery at the beginning had a very low success rate, it was harmful to many of those who tried it, but the efficiency increased over time, just as cryonics has the potential to do so. Like anything on this earth cryonics needs a chance. A chance to succeed, a chance to fail, a chance to prove that they can bring something different to our humdrum world and potentially bring something to the table that will help so many others besides the rich. The cost will go down over time, costs of everything goes down over time, that's not the issue. The issue is that those who do not approve of this treatment cling to any insignificant objection of negativity in order to endorse their own opinions and tell themselves that they are right.

Cryonics, it has the capability to save thousands of lives, but because of the widespread fear of that which we do not know, it has been underfunded. It is sad that something that could prove so beneficial has been made to look like that of science fiction so that it could never happen. We all need to make a choice, I've made mine, I am proud to say:

“I support cryonics.” What about you?