Archive · 18 Aug 2025
The Frozen Future: Cryonics Companies Seek to Revive the Dead
Cryonics is like a very long pause button for your body after you die.
Companies freeze people or their brains in special containers at super cold temperatures, hoping that future technology will be able to bring them back to life.
This is already being done for some people and pets.
It costs a lot of money, and it's not proven to work yet.
There are lots of questions about whether it's right and what life would be like if someone woke up in the future.
Big tech people are interested in this, but there are also some ethical concerns about it.
Cryonics companies offer to preserve human bodies or brains at extremely low temperatures after legal death.
Companies like Tomorrow Bio in Europe and Alcor Life Extension Foundation in the US are the most established in the field.
The process involves replacing bodily fluids with cryoprotectants and cooling the body to -196°C to prevent decay.
The cost of cryopreservation varies, with whole-body preservation costing around $200,000 or more.
Ethical, legal, and scientific questions surround cryonics, including the potential for revived individuals to face an unfamiliar world.
- Who
- Companies such as Tomorrow Bio, Alcor Life Extension Foundation, and Cryonics Institute offer cryopreservation services.
- What
- Cryonics is the process of preserving bodies or brains at extremely low temperatures after death in hopes of future revival.
- When
- Cryonics has been around since the 1960s.
- Where
- Companies offering cryonics services exist in Europe, the United States, and Russia.
- Why
- The aim is to preserve the body or brain in a state where future medical technology could potentially revive the person.
Supporters
Skeptics
Scientific Validity
Supporters
Cryonics offers a chance at extending life.
Skeptics
Cryonics is scientifically unproven and speculative.
Social Impact
Supporters
Cryonics may inspire medical and scientific advances.
Skeptics
Cryonics is expensive and may benefit only the wealthy.
Ethical and Legal Concerns
Supporters
Cryonics preserves biological information for potential future use.
Skeptics
Revived individuals might face ethical dilemmas and a drastically different world.
- Company example
- Tomorrow Bio (Europe), Alcor (US)
- Temperature
- -196°C
- Cost
- Around $200,000 for whole body preservation
- Method
- Vitrification
- First Cryopreserved Person
- James Hiram Bedford (1967)
- Potential Revival
- Dependent on future technology