Chapter 8 Hyper Longevity: How to Make Death Obsolete 293 you is still there. The cryonics process halts physical decay and preserves you as you were at the moment of legal death. Robert Ettinger founded the Cryonics Institute in 1976 in Clinton Township, Michigan. They house 150 patients in cryostasis. A monthly membership fee (usually financed from an annuity) pays to house them in cryostasis. The other well-known cryonics facility is Alcor in Scottsdale, Arizona. As of July 2015, it has another 150 patients in-house who have been cryopreserved. Also, there are facilities in Russia and Switzerland that have a handful of patients. Another facility is being built in Australia and should be opened by 2017. There are an estimated 300 people in cryostasis in facilities across the United States. Not all have whole bodies vitrified. Some have opted for preservation of just their heads. This is called neuropreservation. The theory is all that is you is encoded in your brain tissue, and in the future you will be able to grow a new body to replace the one that isn’t frozen. One of the most notable patients at is baseball great Ted Williams, whose head was cryopreserved by his children. The Costs of Cryo Costs to be cryopreserved upon your death vary wildly. However, there are three components: 1) An annual membership to the non-profit for between $150 and $700. 2) An allocation to the company of $28,000 for the Cry-onics Institute or $200,000 for Alcor. 3) Cost to transport your body to the facility, although Alcor includes transportation in its $200,000 fee. Costs to cryopreserve just your head is $80,000, and is only available at Alcor. Cryo-Pets, Anyone? For those of you that haven’t been able to get over the loss of a furry family member, there’s good news. You can opt to freeze Spot or Fluffy for a future reunion, as well. In the various facilities around the world there are more than 50 pets that have been cryopreserved by their owners. Get Frosty Do you find all this cryonics info super interesting? Learn more details in this great blog post: and l
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