When will cryonics be cool? Author Marsha Cornelius Speaks Out.

Author Marsha Cornelius originally appeared on Book Talk on June 3, 2012, discussing her latest book The Ups And Downs of Being Dead. Read that post by clicking here.

Today she chats about Cryonics!

So, Larry King, the talk show host, has signed up to have his body frozen when he dies. He thinks he’s going to come back in the future. What a weirdo. Right?

But why? Why are people so quick to discount revolutionary ideas like cryonics?

Oliver Wendell Holmes was vilified by fellow physicians when he dared to suggest they wash their hands as they went from patient to patient. Henry Ford was mocked when he introduced his horseless carriage. Steve Wozniak worked for Hewlett Packard, but when he showed them the prototype for a desktop computer, they turned him down—five times!

Is it any wonder, then, that the few brave souls who are gambling with immortality are considered nutjobs?

The premise is simple enough. The data stored in the brain – all knowledge, memories, and opinions – could possibly be retrieved in the future, if the brain is properly preserved. When a ‘believer in cryonics’ - a cryonicist - dies, his or her brain will be preserved with a special anti-freeze that will prevent damage to the cells of the brain. Then theoretically, when technology figures out how to bring them back, they will live again.

Poppycock, you say?

Let’s face it, the ‘Doubting Thomas’ has been around since Jesus. There were an estimated 7 million people living in Spain in 1492. But only 90 men were willing to sail with Columbus. Most people thought the world was flat!

When John Glenn climbed on board Friendship 7, I imagine a lot of people watching the broadcast on TV were thinking, “He’s crazy. You’d never catch me in that thing.”

Why aren’t cryonicists considered visionaries? No less pioneers than the brave souls who rode west in covered wagons?

Maybe it’s just too soon. Technology hasn’t caught up with the dream yet. So what will it take to convince people that cryonics will work?

Scientists are experimenting with methods of regenerating damaged cells and tissue, and even stimulating the body to regenerate and replace tissue and organs itself.

Now I’m really on board with this idea. Imagine sending a message to the cells in my skin. ‘Tighten up!’ And maybe someday, instead of implanting bags of gel, a technician could merely send a message that would encourage more growth in the breasts, and less in the hips. Dare I dream that someday, tiny nano-robots could be sent to my belly to snatch up fat cells and carry them to my kidneys for disposal?

A company in California is cryo-preserving organs like hearts. Someday we will have organ banks with a full line of lungs and livers. There won’t be any more racing a cooler with a viable kidney into surgery before the organ deteriorates. And if a patient needs a new pancreas, a surgeon will be able to locate a good match at the organ bank, and then prep the patient for a couple weeks ahead of time to lessen the chance of rejection.

We’ve been freezing embryos and eggs since the 1970s. Cadaver skin that has been cryopreserved is now used for burn victims. Adult stem cells in bone marrow are treating patients with leukemia.

So instead of thinking that people who have themselves frozen are freaks, maybe we should be thinking: I believed in cryonics before cryonics was cool.

M. R. Cornelius is the author of The Ups and Downs of Being Dead, the story of a 57 year-old man who chooses cryonics over death. A more detailed synopsis, and the book, are available on Amazon. 



Marsha (M.R.) Cornelius "The Ups and Downs of Being Dead"

Available on Amazon.

My latest book, The Ups and Downs of Being Dead, is about 57 year-old Robert Malone who finds out he is dying. Instead of accepting his fate, he decides to have himself cryonically preserved. He knows it’s a gamble. He’ll be frozen, and his body placed in a tank for the next 100 years until technology discovers a way to thaw him out.

The twist to the story is that Robert thinks he will remain in a dreamless sleep and just wake up in the future.  But like the others who were frozen before him, he is very much awake and able to come and go as he pleases. So what is a workaholic supposed to do with his time? Sure, he could go to his office, but he can’t control what happens. He can’t spend his days on the golf course because he can’t hold a club.

Robert doesn’t eat or drink or sleep. He can’t smell, or taste, or touch. So when he meets a woman also in limbo, these limitations make it very difficult to fall in love. And resolving issues with those still living are impossible. Or are they?

How did this story idea evolve?

I first read about cryonics, (also referred to as cryogenics) around the time of Ted Williams’ controversial freezing in 2002. Curious, I flew up to Michigan to get a first-hand look at a cryonics facility. No, you can’t see the frozen bodies. They aren’t in clear glass cylinders like you see in the movies; they are in stainless steel tanks called Dewars.

During my visit, I met people who have contracted to be frozen when they die, and no they are not kooks. If anything, they are a new breed of pioneer. Add to the list Larry King, who recently revealed that he will be frozen when he dies.

The more technology advances, the more feasible cryonics will become. There are already companies freezing skin, and organs. Soon the days of rushing viable organs in coolers will be gone. And that’s just the beginning of medical breakthroughs in the 21^st century.

Why Write?

As a child, I thought everyone had running conversations going on in their heads. It wasn’t until I read comments from other writers, that I realized these aren’t just conversations, they’re stories. That’s when I began writing them down.

Author Marsha M. R. Cornelius.

Also Available at Amazon.

A deadly influenza virus rages out of control. There is no easy-fix vaccine. No eleventh-hour containment. Only death. With the death toll rising, there is no workforce. Crops lay unpicked and rotting in the fields; power plants are unmanned so there is no communication; police and fire departments have collapsed, so no one is safe.

When Dr. Taeya Sanchez finds herself unceremoniously dismissed from an emergency medical facility in New York, she decides to steal the hospital’s armored van for a midnight escape. Unfortunately, Rick DeAngelo, a driver for the hospital, has already stocked the van for his own getaway.

Thrown into an unfriendly alliance, these two must pick their way across the dangerous wasteland of America in search of a safe haven. And as the miles roll by, they discover that the living should be feared much more than the festering corpses out there.

H10 N1 by Marsha Cornelius : Interview by Laurie's Thoughts And Reviews.

Learn more about Marsha Cornelius and her books. Visit her website and read her favorite rat story!