Freezing People is (Not) Easy (29 page)

Vitrification Progress

A great many people who ought to know better—including not only physicians but even professional cryobiologists, “experts” in low temperature biology—have said that freezing ruptures cells because water expands when it freezes, and the idea of repairing all the billions of ruptured cells in a human body is preposterous.

The fact is, first, that animal cell walls are elastic, and the expansion of water when it freezes is only about 10 percent, which could mostly be accommodated. More importantly, however, it just isn't true that cells burst when a large specimen (such as a person) is frozen slowly (the only possible kind of freezing for large specimens, barring methods involving high pressure). Instead water is
withdrawn
from the cells and freezes in the intercellular spaces, so the cells, far from bursting, actually shrink.

That doesn't mean freezing is harmless. There can still be mechanical damage by ice crystals tearing cell walls, for example. There will also be chemical damage, because when water is withdrawn from cells, the remaining solution becomes hypertonic, with solutes too concentrated, and proteins may become denatured, etc.

But we mustn't overdo the pessimism. Despite the difficulties, a great many biological specimens have in fact been completely frozen, stored at liquid nitrogen temperature, and then revived. These include not only microscopic forms of life, and a few insects, but also a few adult mammalian organs, such as the rat ovary and rat parathyroid. There have also been many partial successes, such as recovery of hamsters to normal behavior after half the water in their brains had been changed to ice. Microscopic and other studies show that our procedures greatly reduce the damage that would otherwise occur. (There is much more detail on the CI website: www.cryonics.org.)

But even though freezing leaves realistic hope, it would still be better if we could avoid ice formation. And there is indeed such a thing as solidification by cold without ice formation. It is called vitrification, which means formation of a glass-like condition.

Glasses, and similar substances such as tars, which are liquid when hot, can cool and become apparently solid, yet not form the crystals typical of solids. Instead they retain the ability to flow, very slowly. Over periods of many years, glass windowpanes may observably settle, becoming slightly thicker at the bottom.

Certain water solutions can also vitrify under appropriate conditions. When Dr. Yuri Pichugin was director of research at the Cryonics Institute, he developed new and improved vitrification solutions and procedures, which are undergoing continued and extended tests. We do not foresee that, anytime soon, procedures will be so highly perfected that a healthy person could be vitrified and immediately revived—let alone someone who has died of old age or disease or trauma, or someone who suffered a long delay between death and cryopreservation. But hope continues, and grows.

The bottom line is the same. For the first time in human history, there is a realistic chance of rescue of so-called “dead” people. How good that chance may be, and how much you value it, are questions for you to decide.

Acknowledgments

 

Professor Robert Ettinger: My mentor and the father of the cryonics generation.

Frank Enderle: The first cemetery director to allow cryonic suspension patients to be interred on cemetery grounds.

Saul Kent: A founder of the very first cryonics organization, the Cryonics Society of New York, and president of Florida-based Suspended Animation. He's a giant in the world of cryonics.

Curtis Henderson: The first president of the Cryonics Society of New York.

Ben Best: Until recently, president of the Michigan-based Cryonics Institute, now maintaining more than 120 frozen patients.

Andy Zawacki: Caretaker of the CI suspension facility—he does it all!

Mike Perry: One of my favorite people in the world of cryonics. A cryonics historian for more than thirty years, he's legendary for tenaciously digging to always find the truth. His tireless pursuit of the truth and endless fact-checking of the manuscript were instrumental in making this memoir as accurate as humanly possible.

York Porter: Executive editor of the
Long Life
cryonics newsletter, which covers every aspect of what is going on in the world of cryonics.

John Bull: Former editor of the
Long Life
newsletter. He's a gentleman and unsurpassed in his ability to get the written word to the public.

Jim Yount: Chairman of the San Francisco–based cryonics group of millionaires who have made all legal and financial arrangements to be suspended—and to take their money with them.

Alcor Life Extension Foundation: Alcor is one of two facilities currently accepting cryonics patients in the United States. This was made possible by the death of cryonics member Dick Jones, who left several million dollars to the cryonics movement for his own suspension. The brilliant work of Fred and Linda Chamberlain in bringing this cryonics facility into existence is comparable, in my opinion, to Neil Armstrong being first man on the moon. And whenever the first man is revived, I believe Alcor will be viewed as an even greater accomplishment.

Cryonics Institute: Robert Ettinger was the champion of bringing the Cryonics Institute into existence. This futuristic marvel, in my view, is a first-class cryonics suspension facility that has faced and resolved all the legal, financial, and engineering issues that are unique to this futuristic choice of embracing greatly extended life. Alcor and Cryonics Institute presently have 118 suspensions making a total of 236 human patients. There are, on average, 180 suicides somewhere in the world every hour, every day. That translates into every twenty-four hours, a total of 4,320 human beings choose death over life. So it seems that life itself, let alone extended life, is not for everyone!

My daughter Susan has been my right arm and my strongest supporter of life extension; she was there befriending little Genevieve's suspension and is here at my side this very moment—I thank you from the bottom of my heart, my beautiful daughter. My daughter Lori has been a staunch supporter of my cryonics activities and has been a pioneering spirit in support of her dad's adventures into extended life.

My two youngest daughters—Christine, now twenty-two, and Natalie, just weeks away from turning eighteen—are products of growing up in a world that today looks at extended life as a good thing and simply a part of our Creator's loving revelations to our ever-changing world.

My son John was my first child; he passed away from heart disease. You are dearly missed, my son.

Clyde, Elaine, and Valerie Smith are my precious fans and most dearly loved.

The shining star of my return to cryonics after a twenty-five-year absence goes to my wife, Moeurth. She reignited the trembling happiness of life.

My coauthor Kenneth Bly would like to thank his mother, Connie Mayo, and his nephew, Ryan Hall, for putting up with several years when all he could talk about was cryonics. His mother often told him to “take a break from all this dead people stuff and go out and get laid.” She passed away before the book was finished, God bless her soul. Also, he acknowledges Nancy Groesbeck for her loving support through his mother's illness and the writing of this book.

My coauthor Sally Magaña wishes to thank her husband, Quetzalcoatl Magaña, for his unparalleled clarity and keen insights.

Last but far from least is a powerful left arm, the daughter of Sandra Stanley, my coauthor on
We Froze the First Man
: Jonna Jetson Coleman. Her skill in public relations and management is always an enormous aid in my journey of getting the world to not only look at the cryonics thesis of life extension but to
actually see it!
Jonna has blossomed into a new generation leader in recognizing that the Creator himself is the enlightener of evolutionary revelations that allow humanity to evolve into beings of an almost heavenly spiritual realm.

About the Authors

 

Bob Nelson
is the author of
We Froze the First Man
and was president of the Cryonics Society of California. In 1967 he froze the first man. He has made appearances with Regis Philbin and Phil Donahue and on NPR's
This American Life.
His story is being adapted into a major motion picture featuring a star-studded cast. He lives in Oceanside, California.

 

Kenneth Bly
worked with Bob Nelson at his electronics repair center from 1995 to 2003, when Bob retired. He spent several years researching Bob's role in cryonics and worked closely with Bob to write the basic manuscript. He currently works from his home in Oceanside, California.

 

Sally Magaña
received her PhD in chemical engineering. Previously, she coauthored a novel,
Lost Hope,
about the Hope Diamond with her husband, Quetzalcoatl Magaña.

 

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