Reanimating Cryonics Science and Technology - Essay Sample

The idea that a dying or a body can be frozen immediately after death with the hope that future technology will revive it is no longer a science fiction. Due to the milestones made in science, people will start paying for it heftily soon. This is after a court made a ruling that the remains of a 14-year-old British girl who had terminal cancer to be cryogenically frozen and stored in one of the primary clinics in the U.S. (Conway, 2016). However, the possibility that future medical technology can advance to a point where it will revive people from death remains a controversial issue. Various stakeholders have done an excellent job in addressing the legal, political, scientific, and ethical issues, but most of their questions have been ignored allowing most of the intelligent, scientifically-mind folks to object the issue is reanimating without conducting a comprehensive research about the above aspects whatsoever. The research about the technique of successfully freezing a mammalian brain has won some awards for the efforts made by researchers to ensure brain preservation is a successful idea. The brain of a rabbit has been cryogenically preserved for an extended period. This marked the first time preservation of entire mammalian brain in near-perfect condition during reanimating cryonics research process (Cuthbertson 2016). This paper will address the fact that, reanimation process may take a long time to be applied and scientifically proved, but it will happen at the end, even if scientists will not be able to restore bodies to function as they used to work before preservation.

The concept of reanimation has not become mainstream, but the number of folks choosing to sign up is highly increasing every year. Currently, In the U.S about 300 people are cryogenically frozen, in Russia there are about 50 individuals, and more thousands of candidates have signed for preservation (Cuthbertson, 2016). The idea behind this scientific knowledge is the preservation of the body in pristine condition until the development of medicine that can cure the disease that led to the death of the person in the first place. Scientists anticipate that medicine will advance to develop a cure for those ailments, but the first dilemma is whether the frozen body will be in good condition to bring back life. The researchers made a significant breakthrough in this field after successfully preserving rabbit brain. This boosts the prospect that one-day frozen human brains will be brought back to life. According to scientists, they used Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation of filling the vascular system of the mammals brain with chemicals allowing it to cool to -135 degrees Celsius. Due the whole process, the intracellular structures, synapses, and cell membrane remained intact. However, the technique is not yet applicable in the preservation of human brains since it causes massive dehydration to it as well as crushing the neural connections.

From the legal aspect, most of the European nations, laws do not allow cryonics as means of dealing with the deceased. For example, in France laws allow for cremation, burial, and donating the corpse for science research. In the UK, commercial cryonics facilities do not exist. In case of their introduction, they have to be licensed and legalized by statute. Currently, anyone who wants preservation cryogenically transportation will be made to other countries- mostly in the U.S. (Conway, 2016). Although; the court allowed the mother of the 14-year-old-girl to make arrangements for the transportation of her daughter, the judge emphasized that the court did not make a ruling on whether cryonic preservation is wrong or right. The judge asserted that the court did not find the girls request to be illegal hence they could not prohibit the transportation of her remains to the U.S. After successful reanimation cryonics many legal problems would arise. When one dies, the government declares the individual to be legally dead hence there is a problem of how the law would reinstate thawed remnants of the previous generation into the society. Also, will the individuals be allowed to reclaim their assets they possessed during the last life? And in case, the folks spouse is alive but remarried, will the marriage be rescinded for the spouse to return to his or her thawed partner? Will the inheritance laws be canceled? Additionally, what is the status of the corpses when in deep freeze: do they have legal rights? (Conway 2016).

The religious societies are also against the idea of reanimating cryonics as they claim. Cryonicists want to claim the power possessed by God only. Ryan argues that the desire to extend life on earth contradicts the teaching of the Bible (Ryan 2017). Christians view cryonics an occultist as the process cannot take place after the person has legally died. People should not attempt to prolong their life after death since God does not bother about the earthly physical condition of a man as He is just concerned with the spirit and soul of human beings. Many scientists, who object religious view about cryonics, argue that this technology is a way of medically extending the lives of human beings. The preserved person is not yet dead meaning his soul is in similar condition as that of an individual in a coma, asleep, or unconscious. However, Christians argue that a preserved patient is dead only that they are in denial as they have already parted with their soul. The primary goal of a Christian is to enter the kingdom of heaven, but on earth, they have a responsibility of taking ministry to others. Some Christians would like to join the kingdom as soon as possible in the right manner and not staying on earth forever (Ryan, 2017).

In conclusion, the debate about cryonics poses more questions that the answers it provides. But the ever-growing technology in the field of medicine seems to be offering hopes that reanimation will be successful. A lot of resources are channeled towards the field of medicine with the aim of prolonging human life. After the process proved to be successful in other mammals, the scientific community is working hard to ensure they conduct successful peoples reanimation procedures. The process will take an extended period, and by the time a successful reanimation is done most of the moots posed by this research will have been answered. The Christians should not act as an obstacle since the church has some interest in extending human life. A man should carry out Gods work of creation, and that is why many hospitals have electronic stimulators, blood transfusions machines, inhalation techniques, and other mechanical medications of extending life, which is approved by the church. The plan of extending life should be successful whether in days or years as no man can nullify or evade Gods judgment. At the end of all this, a person will resurrect either in the grave, in the body or the frozen casket.

Bibliography Lists

Conway, H. (2016). Is someone reanimated from cryogenic freezing legally dead or alive? And other problems. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/is-someone-reanimated-from-cryogenic-freezing-legally-dead-or-alive-and-other-problems-69514 [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017].

CuthBertson, A. (2016). Mammal brain successfully returned from cryopreservation for the first time. [online] Newsweek. Available at: http://www.newsweek.com/rabbit-brain-first-mammal-brain-return-successfully-cryopreservation-424913 [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017].

Ryan, D. (2017). Religion and Cryonics. [online] Alcor.org. Available at: http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/religionandcryonics.html [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017].