[SBS Special] The Age of Immortality Part 2: Frozen Human ② Can a
frozen human be a way to live eternal life?
In the SBS special summer special aired on the 22nd, 'The Immortal Age Part 2: Frozen Man' was broadcast.
February 29, 2012 The Matrix will never forget this day for the rest of its life. The Matrix, who first met his brother Ainz, shed tears of joy and said he remembered every moment he had with him since then.
However, Ainz collapsed one day in January 2015, not long after passing the age of two. He had a malignant brain tumor. After 11 surgeries, 26 radiation treatments, and 40 chemotherapy treatments, the parents and family made every effort to save the child, but they could not save the child.
And Ainz's father, who was a scientist, decided to cryopreserve the child against family opposition. The family thought that refrigeration would make Ainz more difficult, but in the end, he thought that Ainz really wanted to live, so he decided to put his hopes on a 0.01% chance according to his father's will.
Immediately after death, the cryopreservation team replaced the blood and cryoprotectant. And moved to frozen capsules in the United States. At the age of two, Ainz became the world's youngest frozen human. However, when the story of Ainz became known in the Buddhist country of Thailand, severe criticism poured in.
What is cryopreservation? Cryopreservation of the human body first presented by Robert Ettinger. He made a radical claim that future technology could revive a person who was cryopreserved after death.
And in 1967, the world's first frozen human was born. Psychology professor James Bedford made a major decision after being diagnosed with liver cancer and choosing to become a frozen human. And according to his will, he was preserved in a capsule at minus 196 degrees Celsius after his death. Currently, there are about 600 frozen humans sleeping all over the world, but no one woke up today, half a century after the first frozen human was born. However, the number of applicants for frozen humans has increased to about 3,000, and the number of those who are interested is gradually increasing.
The main character who made the media buzz in May of last year, Kim Jung-gil, the first applicant for frozen human in Korea. He preserved an old woman in her 80s who died of cancer as a frozen human.
He was going by ambulance, and seeing his mother struggling to the point of being shaken because it was an ambulance and complaining that she did not want to go yet, she clearly felt her mother's will to live and decided to cryopreserve it.
Mother brought to Moscow after the first freezing treatment, the period of cryopreservation contract is 100 years. During that time, Kim Jeong-gil was praying that defrosting technology and even blood cancer treatment would be developed. And he did not regret his choice, although there was nothing he could do other than check the refrigeration tank where his mother's body was preserved with the video sent from the field.
He said, "I don't think he's dead. I think we'll be able to see each other again," he cried, saying he wanted to ask if he slept well if he met his mother again.
In his choice, there were those who sympathized with him and those who viewed the opposite with uncomfortable views. And some of them criticized his actions and advised him to accept death as the norm.
How does cryopreservation work, and what are the chances of recovery? In one of the world's largest cryopreservation centers in the United States, the first frozen human, Professor James to Ainz, was asleep. And many of the current cryopreservation applicants are well-known Silicon Valley founders, engineers, and scientists.
Cryopreservation is the first treatment to reduce the body temperature as much as possible and to restore breathing and blood circulation with a CPR device to delay damage to cells and tissues as much as possible. Second, the body fluid and cryoprotectant are replaced so that the human body can be frozen in a transparent glass-like state without sharp ice crystals. In that way, the temperature was gradually lowered and when it reached minus 196 degrees Celsius, it was transferred to a frozen capsule and stored permanently.
Some of these cryopreservationists applied for cryopreservation of only the brain, not the whole body. One of them, Christine Peterson, said she applied for neural tissue preservation for technical reasons and believed it was possible to transplant her brain into a young, healthy body. He also said that his mother had also been cryopreserved, and when she woke up one day, he promised to have a party with him if he was there.
And he said that if he had to wait 200 years for cryopreservation to succeed, he would wait.
So, is there anything wrong with getting a new life through cryopreservation? In response, the expert pointed out realistically, "If a death sentence has been issued and you are socially dead, and if you come back to life, will you register your birth or will you be given social status as it is?" did.
And cryopreservation costs a lot of money, so it was difficult to erase the view that it was the privilege of the rich to live again and live forever.
Then, when will we be able to meet the first frozen human being resurrected? In response, Max More, president of the Life Extension Foundation, said, "There is no right answer. It depends on how much research you do." "If artificial intelligence and superintelligent machines solve many problems for us, it may be possible much faster than people guess. However, it is impossible to know what will happen.”
And how much scientific basis is the possibility of cryopreservation?
In response, experts said, "Vitrification technology is used when tissues such as eggs or single cells are very small. But, how do you vitrify a body with billions or even trillions of cells?" He also emphasized that the most serious problem when vitrified freezing failed was brain damage.
Brain scientist Kenneth said he had personally checked the condition of the cryopreserved brain. "They didn't show that their technology preserves the synaptic connections in the brain well. There was a lot of contraction in the neural connections, which seemed to me to be damaged," he said. "So I publicly withdrawn my cryopreservation membership." expressed an opinion.
Experts said, "Freezing people with technology that has never been tested on animals is to make money and use people's minds."
However, the position of those who cryopreserved their families was a little different. Ainz's brother was realizing the limits of science day by day. In particular, the reason why only Ainz's brain was kept is to store memories, but he regretted that he knew that this was impossible with the current technology and the technology that kept Ainz. However, he said, "Even if it's not 100% the same as before, it's a very good opportunity to have a chance to come back alive," he said, still waiting for his younger brother who might come back alive.
In addition, Kim Jung-gil, Korea's first frozen human applicant, said, "There is no thawing technology at the moment, but we are waiting for future medicine by preserving it like that. will bet," he said. And he looked back at himself, who did not know what the present would be just a few years ago, and was still betting on the future development of science and technology.
What they dream of may be a miracle. However, even at this moment, it is too early to give up hope as many scientists are constantly conducting research and achieving their own results.
Just like people 100 years ago could not have imagined today, it is impossible to know what amazing things will happen in the next 10 years or 100 years further. It was also clear that science would continue to advance amid concerns and accusations.
Professor Yoo Seong-ho, a forensic scientist, said, "If there is no death and we live forever, we don't need to talk to each other warmly, we don't need to go to work right away, so we don't need to love. What we can do is because of the warm memories and love that those who remain, even though we die, have for me. As the humanity we once had is unfolded to others, his memory and his existence are forever imprinted on us.” He drew attention by talking about a slightly different eternal life.
▶ [The Age of Immortality Part 2 ①] Man’s eternal dream, eternal life… Can 'freeze preservation' be the answer?
▶ [The Age of Immortality Part 2 ③] "Modern science unimaginable in the past"... People waiting for future answers