The discussion covers the costs involved, with whole-body suspension requiring $120,000 and head-only neuro-suspension at $50,000, funded through pooled trust investments managed by Smith Barney. Shock describes Alcor''s 35 patients, split between whole-body and neuro cases, and addresses the spiritual implications of the process. He draws parallels to hypothermic arrest surgery, where patients are clinically dead for extended periods before being revived with full memory intact.
Art raises the possibility that physician-assisted suicide laws could transform cryonics by allowing pre-mortem suspension, potentially doubling the chances of future revival. The conversation touches on nanotechnology as the key to eventual reanimation, the Dora Kent legal controversy, and the philosophical question of whether cryonics represents a form of one-way time travel into the future.
Key Moments
Patients held at -320°F in liquid nitrogen dewars: Shock specifies that Alcor patients are stored at minus 320°F - the boiling point of liquid nitrogen - inside heavily insulated cryogenic dewars rather than mechanical freezers, because the insulated thermos design avoids breakdown failures.
Whole-body vs neuro (head-only) suspension: Alcor offers two preservation options: whole-body suspension and 'neuro-suspension' - head-only preservation, the option famously associated with Timothy Leary's discussions.
Pricing: $120,000 whole body, $50,000 neuro: Minimum funding is $120,000 for whole-body suspension and $50,000 for neuro-suspension, structured so that interest on the principal covers the roughly $4,000/year ongoing patient care without invading the principal.
Cryoprotective perfusion: replacing water with glycerol: Shock walks through the core technical defense against ice-crystal damage: a cryoprotective perfusion that replaces tissue water with glycerol to suppress ice formation, while acknowledging glycerol is itself toxic to some degree.