Although my plan is to live forever (or at least, a very long time, societal and natural disasters willing) I know many people in the life-extension community are signed up with a cryonics provider, as a plan B, in case they don’t live long enough to welcome the rejuvenation revolution.
A lot has been written to explain how the people are stored, usually accompanied by a picture of the gleaming liquid nitrogen cooled Dewar flasks, along with the ethical questions of the procedure. However, the journey to the semi-final resting place is often overlooked.
To explore how someone who has signed up to a cryonics program makes that transition, I attended one of the regular cryonics demonstration and training sessions put on by Cryonics UK. It turns out there are 4 key stages in the process – standby, initial cool down, perfusion and transportation.