Hypothermal Intention

Suspended animation or cryonics is a science that has in most peoples minds remained firmly in the realms of science fiction, apart that is from the work conducted by a few heavily mocked researchers based primarily in California. This state of affairs is probably due to some of the very entertaining and in some cases horrific science fiction novels and movies that have been produced. As a result of the often macabre portrayal of resurrected corpses committing murders and destroying souls, this potentially world changing set of technologies have been dubbed �pseudo science� and the scientists who work in the areas thought of as cranks.
This is strange when one considers the potential of cryonically suspending and successfully reviving a human being. Imagine a world where no disease could ever threaten an individual’s life, nor could the debilitating and eventually fatal results of aging. If your body became damaged beyond repair, then you would simply have your body suspended and at a later date, when a cure for your disease is found, you would then be revived and continue with your life.
Admittedly being reanimated would be very traumatic if several decades had passed between your suspension and your revival. The world would have changed and you would have not. I’m sure though, that humans being the adaptable creatures that they are, they would soon get used to their new world and begin once again to contribute towards it.
Regardless though of the obvious benefits of funding research into cryonics, only a few reputable scientists have become involved in this young discipline (see below).

Current research into Cryonics
The scientists Mark B. Roth and Todd Nystul recently released some interesting results regarding experiments that they conducted in order to induce states of suspended animation in a variety of organisms.

A large number of organisms possess the ability to slow or even halt their cellular metabolic processes in order to achieve a state of hibernation or even suspended animation during periods of extreme conditions. Nematodes, Ground squirrels, various frogs and even the Salamander can naturally enter these states. For example extreme low or high temperatures or oxygen deprivation (anoxia) can induce such states.

Reduced levels of oxygen supply specifically, can be a major cause of cellular and tissue damage in donor organs and in the bodies of individuals that have suffered severe blood loss or blood flow obstruction. In the later case from such causal agents as strokes or myocardial infarction. In cases such as these restoring an adequate blood supply is not always easily possible and the cells and tissues suffer damage due to this low oxygen or hypoxic environment. It has been found through experimentation however that if you reduce oxygen levels even further, to a point where the oxygen levels reach anoxic levels (levels were oxygen is nearly completely removed from the tissues). Then this results in many organisms entering a state of hibernation or suspended animation. Basically this is a state were metabolic processes are slowed down drastically.

An example of a simple organism that can be induced to enter this state is the nematode caenorhabditis elegans. This worm, when exposed to anoxic conditions will enter a state of suspended animation and will then continue its life cycle when oxygen levels return to a normal or normoxic level.

More complex animals, such as mice have been induced to enter such a state of suspended animation artificially, by exposing them to an atmosphere that is up to 80 parts per million of Hydrogen Sulphide or H2S. This molecule is an oxygen mimetic and competes with oxygen to bind with Cytochrome C, a respiratory enzyme that is important in regulating cellular metabolism. When the mice were exposed to such an environment there metabolism was found to slow down drastically, together with their body temperature and their rate of breaching slowed down from 120 to as low as 10 breaths per minute. The mice were left in this environment for six hours before a normal atmosphere was restored. When it was restored the mice were tested to see if any damage had resulted to them. All tests showed that the animals were unaffected by this extreme environment.

This shows that inducing hibernation in an advanced mammal is possible. If it works for a mouse, then it is likely to work for a human.

Another experiment that was conducted on a group of dogs found that if you induce cardiac arrest and then replace their blood supply with a saline solution that is low in oxygen, you are then able to perform surgery on these animals, replace normal blood and revive them with a minimal level of cellular damage. It seems that tissue damage resulting from natural processes during surgery occurs at a lower level during these states of suspended animation. This situation has been accidentally mimicked in humans. For example a Norwegian backcountry skier had an accident that resulted in her spending over an hour under ice cold water. When she was found she was clinically dead. It took several hours of resuscitation to bring her back, but she is now well.

This shows that suspended animation results in a slowing down or retardation of tissue damage in humans also.

All of these experiments and observations seem to imply that there is a potential to develop techniques that will eventually allow humans to be induced to enter a state of hibernation or suspended animation. These techniques could result in a much better prognosis for patients undergoing extreme surgery and may even result in people with untreatable diseases eventually being placed into states of suspended animation until suitable treatments become available!

For more on Suspended animation and on longevity research generally, visit http://www.whyweage.com

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본문 중간에 굵은 글씨로 체크해 놓은 부분이 재미있습니다. 생각해 보세요. 얼마든지 삶을 일시정지시켰다가 되살아날 수 있는 시대가 도래한다면, 부자들의 시간 관념은 우리와 상당히 달라질 겁니다. 수익이 예상되는 투자자산에 돈을 묻어뒀다가, 재산 관리인이나 가족들(살아 있는 것을 택하는)을 이용해 수익이 목표 지점에 다르면 깨어나서 부를 실현하면 되는 겁니다. 현대가 살기 싫으면 미래에 살겠다고, 한 70년 쯤 잠들 수도 있겠죠. 과연 이런 사람들에게 세상의 진보를 가져오고 싶은 욕구가 생겨날지, 또 다른 형태의 무임승차자는 아닐지 하는 사회학적 의문이 생겨날 수도 있겠군요. 이런 세상에서 냉동회사 등은 아마도 일종의 ‘미래로만 가는 원웨이 타임머신’ 티켓 창구 노릇을 할 것 같습니다.

미국 애리조나주 스콧데일에는 ‘앨코 생명연장 재단‘이라는 곳이 있다. ‘비영리재단’이라고 주장하는 이 단체가 하는 일은 사람을 냉동시켜서 먼 훗날 의료기술이 발달하고, ‘해동 기술’이 개발됐을 때 다시 녹여 소생시켜주는 것이다. 그때까지는 그저 새로 냉동되고 싶어하는 사람을 얼려 주고, 이미 냉동된 사람을 잘 보관시켜 주는 것만이 목표다. 누구도 모른다. 내일 모레 애리조나에 핵 미사일이라도 떨어져서 앨코 재단이 파괴될 수도 있는 일이고, 누군가가 액체 질소 온도 보관 스위치를 잘못 조작해 냉동보관된 사람들이 일거에 목숨을 잃을지도 모르는 일이다.

무엇보다 우리는 이 곳에 누가 얼어 있는지 알 수 없다. 모든 것은 비밀이기 때문이다. 멀쩡해 보이는 평온한 죽은 얼굴로 장례를 치른 유명인사들이, 사실은 죽지 않은 채 이 곳에 얼어 있을 수도 있는 일이고, 교통사고를 당했다거나 행방불명이 된 줄 알았던 많은 이들이 여기에 보관돼 있을지 모를 일이다.

갖가지 루머와 근거없는 의혹보도가 난무하는 상황이 앨코로서도 달갑지는 않은 노릇이었는지, 앨코의 홈페이지를 찾아가보면 꽤 많은 자료들을 발견할 수 있다. 친절한 보도자료도 있고, 28분짜리 ‘입문자용’ 동영상도 감상할 수 있다. 하지만, “100년 뒤면 나노 기술이 냉동 과정에서의 신체 손상을 회복시켜 냉동된 성인들을 되살려 줄 것으로 기대합니다”라는 믿음에 기꺼이 천문학적인 돈을 지불하고 자신을 얼리는 사람들의 마음가짐은 그저 놀라울 뿐이다. 죽음을 믿지 못한다면, 과연 그들이 삶을 믿는 이유는 무엇일까.