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Cryonics: both sides of the story
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.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on February 14, 2008 at 12:30 PM in Science | Permalink
Comments
There was a recent film related to the youtube video...i can't reveal what it is without spoiling the movie, however.
Posted by: bill at Feb 14, 2008 1:23:27 PM
if all their cells are alive, what is death?
Um, given this observation it's not a very hard question to answer - death of the body is the moment at which the cells have ceased to effectively support each other, so that they are all doomed to die soon themselves. I'd add a "duh", but that would be... oh heck, why not:
Duh!
Posted by: Tony at Feb 14, 2008 4:17:54 PM
I'd be willing to get back in the fridge if I had a clone.
Posted by: TGGP at Feb 14, 2008 8:20:28 PM
Paging Dr. Parfit...
Posted by: David Jinkins at Feb 14, 2008 8:38:26 PM
I dig the video. So that's what philosophers get paid to do . . .
Posted by: AMW at Feb 14, 2008 9:08:47 PM
Having an identical brother, I know that having a clone isn't that valuable.
BUT! freezing your self sounds corny.
Posted by: Andrew at Feb 15, 2008 2:24:36 AM
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.
Posted by: TheOtherAndrew at Feb 15, 2008 8:15:20 AM
Robert Angier - "No one cares about the man in the box, the man who disappears."
Posted by: VC at Feb 15, 2008 10:16:30 AM
TGGP, your clone will very likely be willing to get back in the fridge too. How will you decide then?
Posted by: Biomed Tim at Feb 15, 2008 12:14:11 PM
Clever video.
"Having an identical brother, I know that having a clone isn't that valuable."
But how if this other organism, which has exactly the same genetic makeup, also has exactly the same memories? That's quite different from having an identical brother.
Posted by: Kolya at Feb 15, 2008 12:29:22 PM
The soul is greater than the sum of it's parts?
Posted by: Shane Milburn at Feb 15, 2008 8:59:34 PM
By the way, there was an episode of the Outer Limits that addressed the same issues as the short film. Apparently based on a 1996 story "Think Like a Dinosaur" by James Patrick Kelly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleportation_in_fiction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Like_a_Dinosaur
Posted by: Shane Milburn at Feb 15, 2008 9:10:42 PM
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?
Posted by: Steve at Feb 16, 2008 7:12:25 AM
The cartoon was on a television show called O'Canada. It used to play at around midnight on Cartoon Network. It was a great show, sometimes goofy, sometimes musical, sometimes philosophical.
Posted by: Michael Bishop at Feb 16, 2008 3:26:06 PM
Not "The Majestic" but "The Prestige."
Posted by: Steve at Feb 17, 2008 10:58:15 AM
