The idea for going back into the time machine, purchasing, and rereading this book was precipitated by the need to get my own contract for cryogenic interment up to date. Shortly after my brother died at the tender age of 56 in May this year, I was contacted by Ben Best of the Cryonics Institute (CI), and encouraged to sit down and draw up the contract, like, now. Continue reading
A New Spirit of PreservationThis is an encore column of mine from 2007, at the time when I had just renewed my suspension agreement with the Cryonics Institute. Since that time, Mr. Ettinger has deanimated, and his body is now stored in a cocoon of liquid nitrogen—along with upwards of 100 clients—at the facility in Clinton Township. I turned 64 this year, losing my dear mother in February. Twenty or thirty years ago I viewed my agreement with the Cryonics Society as insurance I would never need [because someone would have cured aging by now]. Today, after my experience with Mom, I tend to look at cryogenic interment as a matter of efficient disposition of my body, requiring the least hassle and even a faint glimmer of hope. Continue reading