So-called cryonics, the science that promises “resurrection”, freezes “patients” with the aim of bringing them back to life when science has advanced enough. Keeping the dead in freezing cold and thawing them later – cryonics scientists hope that this will lead to a second life. Whether this will ever work is unclear. Why do they believe in it anyway?

When Klaus Sames’ life comes to an end, one thing is certain for him: “I don’t want to be a corpse,” says the 85-year-old. Cryonics is intended to prevent this: Sames’ blood is replaced with a medical antifreeze and his body is cooled with liquid nitrogen to -196 degrees Celsius. This process is called cryopreservation. In the distant future, Sames wants to be unfrozen again – when deadly diseases can be cured and aging can be reversed. However, critics do not believe this will ever be possible. Sames is considered one of the pioneers of cryonics in Germany. He is actually a gerontologist and after his retirement spent a long time researching and living near the city of Ulm. He has since moved to Herzbruck in northern Bavaria. He says he once wanted his research to contribute to the abolition of aging. But he didn’t succeed. That is why he now focuses on cryonics – also known as biostasis – and sees it as a logical continuation of his work. “Medicine is life support, and we’re just expanding the possibilities,” says Sames.

Critics speak of a wrong attitude towards life

Cryopreservation has been used for some time for sperm, eggs and embryos. Stefan Slatt, Professor of Reproductive Medicine at the University of Münster, believes that it is unrealistic to expect this to work for organs and whole bodies, as the complexity of the process is too high. “We’re getting better and better at freezing, but there’s not going to be any magic formula,” says Slatt. He certainly does not think it is desirable, since he argues that “this is the wrong attitude towards life”. Every living thing has an internal clock that starts ticking when it reaches sexual maturity. “It’s extremely important to evolution that living things die and make room for the next generation,” says Slatt.

The fountain of youth as a promise

So what drives people like him? “In principle, cryonics promises the fountain of youth,” says medical expert Eckhard Nagel from the University of Bayreuth. “It is practically a compensation for the fear of death and an expression of the inability to come to terms with one’s finitude.” However, the idea is absurd, says Nagel. “Even if it were possible to address the cause of a person’s death in the future and actually manage to extract a function from a body flooded with antifreeze, in most cases it would simply awaken a dead body at the end of its physical existence in a life without prospects”, he explains. Still, Sames sees no alternative: “Death or cryonics,” he says. The chance to be given a new life in the distant future will cost him dearly. He pays $28,000 to the Cryonics Institute in the US to keep his body suspended upside down in a cooling tank.

According to the institute, 250 people are already saved this way and nearly 2,000 more have contracts like Sames. The other major US provider, Alcor, has similar figures but charges $200,000. Both were founded in the 1970s and describe themselves as non-profit organizations.

And many young people are focusing on cryonics

The whole thing could be dismissed as a quaint idea for old people who fear death at the end of their lives. But many young people are also dealing with the question of what comes next and whether life really has to end at some point. Two years ago, doctor Emil Kenciora founded the start-up Tomorrow Bio in Berlin, which offers cryopreservation in Europe. According to him, 400 to 500 people are now under contract, including himself. The majority of them are between 30 and 50 years old, says the 38-year-old.

The company has converted several ambulances into mobile treatment rooms. Ideally, the team is already on the scene just before someone dies, Kenciora says. Once the client is declared clinically dead, cryopreservation can begin. Storage takes place in a facility in Switzerland. The whole process costs 200,000 euros – with the bulk, 120,000 euros, going to a foundation that invests the money to fund the storage of the bodies indefinitely, Kenciora explains. Bayreuth physician Nagel recalls the sale of pardons in the Middle Ages. This exploited people’s lack of information and their fundamental fear of burning in hell forever in order to make them pay. “That’s exactly what cryonics is doing today. Obviously, it has lost nothing of its topicality, nor its reprehensibility,” he says.

Reproductive medicine expert Slatt also finds this morally questionable: “It’s an incredibly disgusting speculation in the hope of something that will never happen,” he says. “You’re betting to a degree on future technologies.” Kenchiora rejects this. “I could make better money elsewhere,” he says. The company’s goal is to make cryopreservation more affordable – and it will be, if more people decide on it. However, he confirms that the whole thing is fraught with uncertainty: “You’re betting to a degree on future technologies.” He also sees many unanswered questions and problems. This explains it to all customers. “I don’t want anyone to decide on cryopreservation if they don’t know that.” Sames and Kenciora are optimistic about the progress of nanotechnology. Still, much research is needed, says Sames. A major hurdle is warming the body after cryopreservation without damaging it. At present, many promising methods are being developed. A key problem remains: methods to reverse aging and its associated pathological changes. It will certainly take 200 years for medicine to be ready, says Sames. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

Edited by: Sofia Kleftaki