As one cryonicist puts it: "We didn’t evolve to be frozen."
But:
"It’s pretty well accepted that at the point at which the usual human
being gets pronounced dead, all their cells are alive. It’s a very
eerie question: if all their cells are alive, what is death?" says
Becker. Besides, if all the patient’s cells are alive, why can’t the
patient recover and walk out of the hospital?"
Here is the full article, which covers recent advances in cryonics.
Addendum: Or try YouTube on related issues, hat tip to Robin Hanson. Maybe that is the right way to do philosophy, namely by cartoon. Definitely recommended. It also presents a solution to the current subprime crisis.
There was a recent film related to the youtube video…i can’t reveal what it is without spoiling the movie, however.
I’d be willing to get back in the fridge if I had a clone.
I dig the video. So that’s what philosophers get paid to do . . .
Yay, another topic close to my heart.
Death of a company is when it is worth more broken up as it is in one piece. And yet, all the people in it are still alive.
Death of a human is when the doctors decide your organs are worth more as donations than they are to you. Actually, I think it is technically when they stop keeping your brain alive.
I see no reason (aside from technical reasons) not to freeze everyone before their healthcare costs become prohibitive, and then at some later date when we develop both the technology to unfreeze and cure the disease, voila, “hi great great grandma, nice to meet you.” By then we’ll have space travel or have figured out that there are plenty of resources on this planet to support many billions more. I guess philosophers get paid to make that sound more complicated.
TGGP, your clone will very likely be willing to get back in the fridge too. How will you decide then?
The soul is greater than the sum of it’s parts?
SPOILER ALERT:
Did “The Majestic” rip off that video, or was it based on a book that ripped off that video, or book that video ripped off, or what?
Not “The Majestic” but “The Prestige.”
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