Article Text

other Versions

Download PDFPDF
Paper
The case for cryonics
  1. Ole Martin Moen
  1. Correspondence to Dr Ole Martin Moen, Philosophy (IFIKK), University of Oslo, Box 1020 Blindern, Oslo N-0315, Norway; o.m.moen{at}ifikk.uio.no

Cryonics is the low temperature preservation of people who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine in the hope that future medicine will make it possible to revive them and restore their health. A speculative practice at the outer edge of science, cryonics is often viewed with suspicion. In this paper I defend two theses. I first argue that there is a small, yet non-negligible, chance that cryonics is technically feasible. I make the case for this by reference to what we know about death and cryobiology, and what we can expect of future nanorobotics. I further argue that insofar as the alternatives to cryonics are burial or cremation, and thus certain, irreversible death, even small chances for success can be sufficient to make opting for cryonics a rational choice. Finally, I reply to five objections.

  • Care of the Dying Patient
  • Death
  • Decision-making
  • End-of-life
  • Euthanasia

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Other content recommended for you