You are already aware of the current status of Cryonics aka Biostasis, but you still feel uncertain about its future? You want to know what’s next and where we go from here? Read through this article to have some of the most prevalently asked questions concerning the future of Cryonics answered. Or watch our video, in which we asked our Founder and CEO Dr. Emil Kendziorra and our Medical Researcher Irishikesh Santhosh what they think the future of Biostasis has in store. Keep in mind, nobody can predict the future. We can’t guarantee our predictions will actually come true.
Will the Price of Cryonics Lower Over The Years?
The current price point of cryopreservation is a common pet peeve in- and outside the community. In the US, there are multiple different price ranges available, starting at 28.000$ and going up to around 200.000$. Tomorrow’s price is 200.000€, but can be broken down into affordable monthly payments through life term insurance. Despite that, the lowest-cost option is still hard to afford for some.
We at Tomorrow believe that cryopreservation should be an option for everyone, not just for the rich and wealthy. We are active at work to reduce the cost over time. The biggest hurdle at this point comes from the low number of people who are signed up for cryopreservation. This makes the cost for staff, storage and medical procedures per patient respectively high.
With more and more people becoming interested, and signing up, the price will gradually, but significantly, go down, as we are able to increase the scale of our operations.
It is quite possible that, over the next few decades, prices will drop to the mid five-figure range, and ultimately arrive at around 10.000$, once it has reached the mainstream.
How can we Avoid Problems During Rewarming?
Everything regarding the revival process is pure speculation at this point. We don’t know which kind of technology will be used to thaw people, once medical advancements have come far enough to make it possible in the future. What we can do is make predictions based on the current data available.
The biggest challenge we are facing right now, when it comes to rewarming patients, is the ice crystal formation that occurs during the heating process. Believe it or not, warming anything or anyone back up from -196°C takes much more consideration than just putting them in the microwave, like some people might believe.
The most likely solution to this problem comes with nanowarming. Nanowarming is a new technology that allows very precise heating on a nano-scale. This is necessary, because different cells in the body need to be warmed at different speeds, to prevent damage being done.
If nano-technology keeps advancing, it seems very likely to be able to assist in the rewarming of cryopreserved patients.
What Will be the Legal Status of a Person After Revival?
Once again, as with many predictions of the future, we are moving inside the realm of speculations. Laws can change over time, so there is no saying what they will look like, once people can be revived.
That being said, we have no reason to assume that there would be many, or any, legal difficulties surrounding the revival of cryopreserved humans.
Right now, if you get lost at sea for long enough, you will be legally declared dead. If, later on, you end up reappearing alive and well, you can initiate legal action to receive a new passport, and get your status reversed from “dead”, back to “alive”.
This is, of course, not completely comparable to the kind of revival we are talking about with Cryonics. It does however give us some insight on how the regulations around this topic work at the moment. We don’t think they will change too drastically in the future.
How Can We Improve Cryoprotectants?
The biggest problem we face in regards to cryoprotectants is their inherent toxicity. This toxicity is different at different temperatures. To reduce toxicity during perfusion the cryoprotectants concentrations are increased gradually, while temperatures are lowered gradually. If administered at very low degrees, they have a much lower level of toxicity than those same protectants at warmer temperatures.
Different combinations of chemicals are being researched, to balance out the effective, but toxic parts and anti-toxins. This is done to keep the toxicity at a minimum, while also ensuring effective protection.
Ultimately, researchers are working hard on coming up with a solution that removes the toxins from the equation completely.
Will Cryonics Become A Mainstream Medical Procedure?
Short answer: Not anytime soon. The number of members is steadily growing, but we are talking about dozens of people per year right now. That’s still far away from “mainstream”.
Once more data is available that will convince more people to sign up for cryopreservation, the field would likely see an exponential growth. In principle, we are likely talking about multiple decades from now.
Conclusion
Now that we have gone over multiple pressing questions about the future of Biostasis, it is up to you to decide what you make of it.
While a lot of these questions might take another few decades until we can give more definite answers, you have the privilege of being able to choose. Do you want to sign up for cryopreservation and possibly see all the answers for yourself in the future?
If you have any more questions about the future of Biostasis, feel free to schedule a call with us.
