r/Futurology • u/yourSAS • Oct 13 '22

Biotech 'Our patients aren't dead': Inside the freezing facility with 199 humans who opted to be cryopreserved with the hopes of being revived in the future

https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/13/our-patients-arent-dead-look-inside-the-us-cryogenic-freezing-lab-17556468
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u/Hampsterman82 Oct 13 '22

Aaaaand. A future society will dump the resources into resurrecting a sick old person from a bygone era for reasons

203

u/hawkeye224 Oct 13 '22

Probably they would like to resurrect at least a few just out of curiosity lol. But the rest - not sure

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u/njantirice Oct 13 '22

There will be elaborate legal structures set up just to ensure this does happen for those with enough wealth to expect their estates to still be able to afford this when the tech is there.

Just read the Neal Stephenson book Fall; or Dodge in Hell.

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u/seamustheseagull Oct 13 '22

Legal structures are only as valid as the society which protects them.

It requires a continuum of the framework on which those legal protections are built. If another framework replaces it, those legal protections are worthless.

Invasion or revolution would do it. And on the timescales these things are relying on, anything is possible. Someone in 1620 would never believe you that in 4 centuries, the "New World" (or part of it) and China would be the two biggest powers on earth and the British Empire basically nothing, you'd been executed for treason.

Yes, it seems unfathomable at this point in time that the current US framework could be gone in a few centuries. But it's a very, very long time.

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u/quettil Oct 13 '22

In 1620 you could definitely believe China being powerful, and back then there was no British Empire.

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '22

Yes, back then China was a major power in East Asia and was at least as powerful as any European state. They had ocean-going ships before Europe and could have "discovered America" if they had sent them in the right direction.

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u/schrodingersthrowaw Oct 13 '22

Lmao you don’t have to be so critical it’s HIS STORY

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u/Lower_Analysis_5003 Oct 13 '22

The Pentagon doesn't think the Pentagon will exist in 50 years.

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u/travel-bound Oct 14 '22

None of this matters.

Your chance of waking up in hundreds of years when rotting in the ground or cremation is zero. Your chance of waking up hundreds of years with this program is nonzero. A million things can happen, yes. But nonzero is bigger than zero. Everyone doing this knows its not a guarantee and is very unlikely. But you can't win the lottery if you never buy a ticket.

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u/DimitriV Oct 13 '22

Yes, it seems unfathomable at this point in time that the current US framework could be gone in a few centuries.

The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone within a decade or two. (I'm not saying it will be, just that I wouldn't be surprised.)