The Real Fate of Cryogenically Frozen Corpses.

I’m not saying it is impossible, and I firmly believe that the recording of personality will be feasible some day. I don’t buy that we can do it today, at least not without damaging enough of the brain so that the person who wakes up won’t be brain-damaged enough to be someone different.

But the real problem is who would want all these corpsicles? Sure the future would wake up Walt Disney, but the average Joe. If they had this capability 400 - 500 years ago, we’d revive Galileo, Shakespeare and Leonardo, but not hundreds of third rate dukes. The only possible reason would be some weird fertility crisis, but the technology which could repair the damage from freezing could probably fix any fertility problems also.

Not to mention who would support all these revived people, who wouldn’t be able to do any sort of skilled labor. Which reminds me of a joke:

A man who was frozen wakes up in the future. He’s happy to be alive, and quite confident, since he carefully established a safe investment account before he went under.

“Is my money safe?” he asks.

“Definitely,” comes the answer. “You have 100 million dollars.”
He’s ecstatic. He is not only alive, but rich. Everything works by credit card, so he takes his card and leaves the hospital. He is hungry, so, seeing a number for a restaurant in an ad in the hospital, he decides to make reservations, and goes to a payphone on the corner. <it’s an old joke.>
He lifts up the receiver and hears a recorded voice say
“Deposit 3 million dollars for the first three minutes, please.”

Has this part actually happened yet?

Some charity, most likely. And frankly, if the future doesn’t HAVE any charity they probably are better off not being restored.

They melt.

This American Life.

[quote]
It’s the late 1960s, and in the new technology of cryonics, a California TV repairman named Bob sees an opportunity to help people cheat death. But freezing dead people so scientists can reanimate them in the future is a lot harder than it sounds. Harder still was admitting to the family members of people Bob had frozen that he’d screwed up. Badl

That is a great, great episode of TAL.

I already have my contract! I’m to be revived in June 23, 2373. I shall meet with my lawyesr that afternoon, (Moore, Pine & McLough, 1297 Boylston St., Boston, to collect my trust fund).
This throws a monkey wrench into my cold sleep plans!