h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The chances of being 'revived' after physical death are as close to nil as make no odds. It is more likely that we will find a 'cure' for death first, or that people will be able to be 'switched back on' as holograms. Reviving frozen dead people is about as likely as digging up corpses and bringing them back to life.

To have ANY chance of being brought back to life, a body would have to be frozen before it physically died, and in a reasonably good condition, if it were to withstand the revival process. In other words, a healthy living person would have to choose to be cryogenically frozen. As this (at present) would mean almost certain death, this would either be suicide or murder, depending on how the process was carried out, and who was responsible for it. In other words, illegal under current statures.

Bare in mind that the eggs and sperm used in artificial insemmination are not dead before storage, but are healthy, living cells, and that a proportion of them do not make it through the revival process. Should a proportion of a human's bodily cells not survive being frozen and revived, the consequences for that person are too unpleasant to contemplate.

If the process were possible, and the participant did survive, this brings forth many other questions. Why would anyone want to revive this person in the future? Their knowledge and skills would be entirely outdated, and almost certainly without value to the society of the future. The only purpose I can envisage for reviving this person would be the sudden decline in the human species. Should this occur, the chances of one or a handful of frozen humans making a dramatic impact on the population is minimal.

Firstly, these are the same ancestors of those who do not make it through whatever the future human catastrophe was, and would therefore most likely be liable to the same weaknesses.

Secondly, viruses and other human-attacking illnesses are constantly evolving, and these would also probably be lethal to the revived humans.

Thirdly, the reproductive abilities of the frozen bodies may also have been damaged beyond all reasonable hope, making the restoration of the population impossible in any case.

Who would pay for the treatment? As the participant would be frozen/technically dead, their estate would long since have been dissolved. Of course, if they were very rich and very trusting, they could invest some money for that day in the future, but what are the odds of their financial representative (or whoever may take over from them eventually) 1) being wholly reliable in the task they have been set, and 2) investing the money wisely enough to ensure sufficient funds are available.

What point would there be in being revived x number of years in the future? Admittedly, awaking to a world powered by solar radiation, where space travel to other planets (to visit relatives living in biospheres there) is normal, and where science has obviously moved on a tremendous deal, would have an initial novelty value, but the newness would soon wear thin. Also, being an adult (presumably) and trying to come to terms with all you don't know about 'modern life' would be frustrating in the least, and quite probably soul-destroying. To say you would be out of place is not simply an understatement - imagine being the equivalent of a chimpanzee to your advanced relatives.

Of course there are many other ethical issues. Having passed the 'suicide/murder' problem, there is the question of when to be frozen. The older you are, the less chance you have of adjusting to the new world. The younger you are, the less of your life you have 'lived' before undergoing cryogenesis. For the reasons raised in my previous paragraph, it would make most sense to freeze children, who would be able to grow and adapt to this new world. However, who would decide which children should be frozen, and on what grounds? Can it ever be right to 'end' a child's life in this way, in the vague hope that it may someday come to pass that you have made the right decision?

Ultimately, what we are contemplating or attempting is some kind of 'immortality'. Are we assuming that those revived will then die in the natural course of things, or will they be able to be re-frozen to live again at another time? Perhaps they will be revived from time to time (at their request) to see what they think of the world, and decide whether they want to live in it at that time. Does anyone have the right to this kind of imoortality? is it really a good thing anyway?

For my part, I would not want to live forever. Immortality, and the consequences of it, do not bare consideration. Death may be frightening to some, but for those who have borne children (and grandchildren and so on), they will never really die. Our ancestors are joint, if only we could trace them back far enough. Even if we do not bear children ourselves, our descendants and relatives are out there, continuing the circle of life.

What purpose, what good, can come of any particular indivual's immortality? We are born to die, and we have choices to make about what we do with the time in between. If we use that time to the best of our ability, we can one day meet our maker (or whatever we believe awaits us after death) in the knowledge that our life here has not been in vain.

To me, the best I can do with my life is to improve the life of someone/something else, and the greatest personal satisfaction I can gain is in knowing I have done so. I am not afraid to die, if I can feel I have achieved something for my fellow man, beast or planet. I am curious about what the future holds, but I know so little of the present or past, that it is not for me to know the future too.

Now there is a truly firghtening thought - to know what the future holds.

after your brill message, mine seems rather lame! but here it is!
"i agree with you!"

Thankyou.

What if future humans wanted to see what our lives were like? They (saying we perfect it or they figure out how to revive the corpcicles) could revive some of the people and put them in a museum of sorts, or maybe somthing like the truman show... they could then air it as a sitcom... of 20th/early 21st century life. I dont know, just one of the reasons they might defrost us...

you mean instead of Eastenders people would be watching "the 21st centuary freaks"? hmmmmmmmm could catch on!

Of corse, as always, I claim rights to my Ideas and any lucrative use of them, I would like a small cut... say 5% or just a copy of the product be it video game, or movie, or if it becomes a hit sitcom, a guest apperance... I just hope when people start reading my things and using my ideas they would aknowlage me!

"The greatest thing, you'll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved... in return."

I do wish I could see the future but with my faith I will anyway... just from a different perspective than the earth.

you better send off for those copyright forms then!!!!!!!

I will have to say however that I doubt that true stasis will come from freezing people... To much damage happens... it will have to come from einstienian fields...

whaty fields?

Strawberry fields...

No Like a field that streches time and space around the object so it never ages.

sounds rather groovy! but how do you make one?

I have no idea, I am sure you could make one (as it happens naturally in certian phenomana (spelling yechh)) but I do not see one being made unless by pure accident someone did create one, but s/he would probably be alone when s/he discovered it and then s/he would somehow become stuck in it for a long time... when s/he emerged we would finally have it... eventually...

hmmmmm, this is too complicated! my brain is wrapping round cornors (see! i'm too tired to spell!) i misse my weekend lie-ins so now i'm still exhausted! (as a result of going to France)

!!

I like Knickers!

so do i!

I wore them in a play I did once... they loved them (the audience...)

ooooooooo i love doing plays! what was it about?

It was Our Town by Thorton Wilder... and also in Twelfth (K)night only it was set in the roaring twentys in the united states... I was Sir Andrew.
I think it would be cool to be a Knight... Sir Oppliger... I like it... "That is SIR oppie to you!"

i think that being a knight would be rather groovy! but i'm not sure how Sir Noah would sound! anyway, i'm not a bloke!