In our lives, the development of technology has made many seemingly impossible things possible. For example, humans can travel through space, explore the deep sea, and even freeze the human body in the hope that one day it will be resurrected.
One of the most surprising of these attempts is the story of the American billionaire Robert A. Brandeis. The businessman and philanthropist chose to refrigerate himself in a "frozen center" in Russia in 2017 and hopes to be awakened at some point in the future.
So, four years on, what is the current situation in Bedford?
First of all, we need to understand how the process of freezing people works. Generally, the selected freezer needs to go through a series of physical examinations and preparation procedures before entering the freezer. In this process, doctors try to reduce the patient's body temperature to near zero as much as possible and protect their organs from damage with special chemicals.
When all the preparations are done, the patient is placed in a giant metal jar called a "liquid nitrogen container". In this container, they will be kept at a very low temperature for decades or more.
For Bedford, he opted for the longest service period – 60 years of cryonics. This means that when he is awakened, he is already a 98-year-old human being.
However, during this four-year wait, we didn't hear anything about Bedford. His family has also not publicly expressed their attitude towards the practice. Therefore, we have no way of knowing if he had any problems during the freezing process, or whether he is in good physical condition.
Theoretically, though, as long as the freezing process is carried out correctly, the patient should be able to successfully resuscitate one day in the future. Experts estimate that it only takes about 20 minutes for a person to return to their normal body temperature.
Be that as it may, freezing death is not an act without risk. Because once the patient is thawed, if his brain has been permanently damaged, then he has the potential to lose consciousness forever.
Therefore, although cryonics technology has brought infinite possibilities to mankind, there are still many challenges to overcome in practice. It's only when these issues are addressed that we can truly see more people continue their lives in this way.