From R. C. W. ETTINGER
May I take gentle issue with Morton Schatzman’s pessimism about repairing
and reviving frozen (‘dead’) people? (‘Cold comfort at death’s door’, 26
September).
First, a practical matter: Cryonics Institute prices are much lower
than the Alcor prices quoted. For a full body suspension (the only kind
we do) there is a one-time fee of $28 000 payable at time of death or shortly
after, often through life insurance. There is also a one-time membership
fee of $1250 for an individual. This is eminently affordable for most Americans
and Europeans.
Now the old ‘hamburger’. Schatzman has fallen into the trap dug for
himself by one of our best known detractors, who repeatedly said: ‘To revive
a frozen person would be like reconstituting a cow from a hamburger.’ Your
readers can easily and quickly recognize the intellectual and/or moral
poverty of this statement.
Many animals (insects and shellfish, for example – no adult mammals
yet) have been revived after freezing. None has ever been revived after
grinding. To say that revival after freezing would be as far-fetched as
after grinding, therefore, is either stupidity, ignorance, or dishonesty.
Advertisement
The sub-head of the article says, ‘Everybody has to die.’ This is merely
a cliche, not a law of nature. Some of the most respected gerontologists
think senescence may become preventable and reversible. With or without
cryonics, many of those now alive may never experience ‘natural’ death.
But many of us will need cryonics as the only available bridge to that better
future.
R. C. W. Ettinger Cryonics Institute, Michigan
