ILLUSTRATIONS Evandro Bertol
Yes. About 250 people are preserved in nitrogen tubes at extremely low temperatures, and more than 2,000 living people are waiting to be frozen after death in order to awaken in the future. Whether the experiment will succeed is anyone’s guess, as so far no human being has been frozen and brought back to life. The fact is that with the tools and techniques that exist today, it is still impossible to resurrect human beings, but scientists in the field are betting that in up to 250 years humanity will already have all the necessary technology for the thawing of these people to become a reality.
TURBO FREEZING
Timing is crucial in cryogenics. See how the process is
1. After the heart stops beating, a doctor certifies the patient’s legal death and the cryogenics process begins. An anticoagulant liquid is injected into the body and a machine continues to artificially pump blood and oxygen to prevent tissue death. Ideally, all of this should happen in a maximum of 15 minutes.
two. During transport to the clinic, the body is placed on a special thermal blanket and immersed in an ice tank until it arrives at the institution. The idea is to keep the body at the lowest possible temperature to minimize remaining brain activity and keep tissues preserved longer.
3. In the clinic, the patient’s blood is removed and, in its place, a glycerin-based liquid is inserted, preventing ice crystals from forming inside the cells and rupturing the membranes. This process is called vitrification and it allows the body to be in suspended animation for extended periods of time.
4. Then, the body, wrapped in a protective plastic bag, is immersed in a large cylinder of circulating liquid nitrogen at minus 196°C. The head, attached to the body or detached (yes, it is possible to freeze just the head), is at the bottom of the cylinder, so that, in the event of a leak, it takes longer to thaw
WHAT CAN GO WRONG
capitalism in crisis
The conservation of bodies in nitrogen tubes depends on the preservation of cryogenic companies and the maintenance of the capitalist system. In 200 years a lot can happen: from a big earthquake to the bankruptcy of the company due to lack of money or geopolitical factors
cure for all ills
The frozen ones can only come back to life if in the future cures are found for the causes of their death. If medicine fails to reverse the reason for death, it’s the end. And cryogenics has pretty high expectations. The glycerol itself that she uses is highly toxic, and it is hoped that in the future someone will find an antidote for it.
Admirable new world?
Can you imagine waking up in a world totally different from yours and where you don’t know anyone? The psychological impacts can be costly, and the future can be dystopian. What’s more, scientists still can’t say whether the memory of frozen people will be intact. Quite an identity crisis, right?
IF EVERYTHING GOES RIGHT…
If the medicine of the future does the trick, bodies will be successfully resurrected with the advantage of being cured of the disease that killed them. In the most optimistic promise of cryogenic companies, it would be possible to return to life with your own conscience, but this time in an even more beautiful, young and healthy body. Maybe even immortal!
future millionaires
Concerned about the financial life of their resurrected futures, some cryogenics companies already offer investment funds and savings that can yield a good sum after about 200 years. Thus, patients do not run the risk of leaving the clinic without even a penny to take the space bus
Artificial paradises
Many of the patients who are currently in line for cryogenics subscribe to a “family package”. The idea is that they wake up in a bright future, healthy and in the company of loved ones, rich and possibly immortal. It would be hard to know if they woke up from cryogenics or died and went to heaven
Forever Young
QUESTION Denilson Fernandes, Botelhos, MG
SOURCES Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Cryonics Institute and BBC websites