Human Cryogenics: If it was perfected, would you?

[Doomdiver]

Something I have been thinking about recently: Suppose Human cryogenics was perfected and you could afford it. You could get frozen, then thawed at your desired time with no chance of you dying, and you could repeat the process as long as the technology still existed. Would you do it?

Personally it is something that would appeal to me as a big fan of technology, I'd love to see how far it advances outside of my normal lifetime. However there would obviously be drawbacks:
a) Your friends and family (assuming they didn't get frozen as well) would be dead, you would know noone.
b) If you went for the technology of the future you may be so out of touch with it that you are unable to use it without extensive training.
c) The world may have changed a lot aside from technology. You will know nothing about this new world, you will not know anything about the current politics, any new laws.
d) You may wake up in a world you do not want to live in. Maybe a nuclear war has occurred in the time you were frozen (admittedly this would greatly decrease the risks of you ever being thawed in the first place but you get the point), this may have even destroyed the hopes of what made you get frozen in the first place, such as advanced technology.

So, knowing the drawbacks and potential risks would you get cryogenicaly frozen? What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

[Legend of J]

Yeah i would but just 50 years into the future. Mainly cause its still on my life span but im still young pwhaha.
And i doubt to much screwieness would of happended in that time.

 

[sgtshock]

Spoiler: Sure, why not? It worked out pretty well for this guy:

But seriously, I'd love to know what happens to us hundreds or thousands of years into the future, but not enough to give up my family and friends and life. Plus, you have no idea what kind of future you're going to wake up to.

Maybe if I was on my deathbed, and knew I didn't have a lot of time, I'd give it a shot. That way I wouldn't be leaving much behind, and if the future turned out to be utterly confusing or a dystopian nightmare I wouldn't have to suffer through it for long.

 

[curintedery]

Well, in the statements you've give you haven't thought about the idea of space cryogenics. If you were on a spaceship (assuming that spaceship technology has advanced significantly) then you wouldn't have to worry about nuclear war and changing government. So I would say that on Earth I probably wouldn't go ahead with it (due to the drawbacks), but in a controlled environment such as a space station, I probably would.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Big no to that one. If I existed 50 years ago, I wouldn't really want to be frozen and brought into our present time either. Even in the best case scenario, new technology doesn't really make anything better. It's like playing Clayfighter 63 and a 1/3 on easy mode. Same crap game, just more lives and fewer needed hit points. If I can't manage to be successful now, how could I figure out how to do that 50 years from now? It's like in God of War when the game offers to lower the difficulty during the terrible parts. Making the combat easier doesn't stop me from falling off the damn spike penises.

 

[Callate]

Realistically, even if "perfect cryonics" existed, you're still dependent on someone else bringing you back from suspension. As opposed to, say, "accidentally" killing you some time during your suspension and then making a claim on the fortune that allowed you to get your silly rear end frozen in the first place. Or just not "thawing you out" at all, because I'm sure what 20XX desperately needs is an out-of-touch eccentric millionare. At best cryonic freezing would be a massive act of hubris, an assumption that you're so special that you should be preserved for future generations; my occasional misanthropy suggests that there are plenty of people who shouldn't even be preserved for the present generation, especially among the kind of whimsically well-to-do who would contemplate such a move. Under most circumstances, I'd much sooner live out my life at the usual one-to-one ratio.

If my family could come with me, the idea of entering some sort of suspended animation to colonize a new planet has a slightly greater appeal. But then, if your ship's guidance is slightly off or you hit something en route or anything else goes wrong, you're basically up the proverbial creek. Still, at least there's something a little nobler about becoming a willing colonist and doing something to preserve humanity, rather than just spending ungodly amounts of money in the hope of becoming a one-way time traveller.

 

[Jinjiro]

I'd love to. If it was plausible, I'd get frozen for 50 years, live in that time for 1 year, then get frozen for another 50 years. If I find people I grow to care about in that time, I'd try and convince them to travel with me. See the future in baby steps, sorta thing!

 

[Sneaky-Pie]

Absolutely.

The people of the future would greatly benefit from my presence.

 

[the Dept of Science]

I suspect that once I'd been there for a while, I would be just as happy 100 years in the future as I am now. It would be kindof like winning the lottery, apparently, once you get used to it, you kindof realise that you feel pretty much the same as before, just with a larger bank account.

Not only that, I would lose things if I went into the future. I would lose social circles, I would be very behind on politics, technology and the arts, I have no idea if the things I am good at now will even be necessary in 100 years. It would essentially be like starting again, except with 20 years less to do it in.

Like imagine if someone from the victorian era was around now. He wouldn't know anyone, he would have no idea how to drive a car, operate a computer. He would speak quite differently, he wouldn't know how to act in a lot of social environments (clubs and bars would be pretty scary places). He wouldn't be able to talk at all about music or films to the average person.

Nah, I'll stick with what I've got now thank you very much.

 

[The Journey]

Honestly, only if I was dying and didn't have much time left to live and didn't feel that I was ready to take the leap into whatever comes next.

And if I get to the future and it's total balls, I'd just hop right back in that tank. That or shoot myself. Either way.

 

[Exterminas]

Naa, I wouldn't have any chance to make a living in the future, because I lack any knowledge or qualification. Imagine a blacksmith from 1500 stumbling around in today's job market.

 

[BOBdotEXE]

I already have 2,041 unread NONspam Emails, so why not?
except for the resin "nothing good comes from cryosleep"
I will most likely be awoken by hostile aliens!

 

[Samwise137]

With my luck, I'd end up as Fry. Not a chance.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Nah, I'm good. I'd miss too many people. Maybe when I'm really old, in case there's immortality technology or some such.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

Read Transmetropolitan and then ask your self if you really want to be frozen. Personally i might do it if i was fairly sure i'd be given the said training to survive in the new world. And if i wake up and the world has gone to shit i could always jump off a cliff or somthing.

 

[L4hlborg]

I'm adaptive and interested in the future. I might do it at some point in my life.

The only problem I have with this is the fact that I have to count on something to get me back to life. Whatever the system is, there is a chance of failure. If humans were to bring me back to life, they might be afraid of how amazingly handsome and muscular my body is and leave me frozen. Or if a machine were to do it, it might go insane and kill everyone. Never trust AI, especially female voiced ones.

 

[icyneesan]

Can I be frozen in a really cool pose?

 

[Theraz]

I would do it only if Yahtzee would come with me !