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If you could live in the future, what would you want it to look like?
If revival technology for human cryopreservation was eventually developed, many things could change. The world would be profoundly affected by societal developments where one could choose how long they wanted to live. Medicine could make great strides, saving lives that were once untreatable. How might we live if we knew we had much more time at our disposal? How would we behave if the future was no longer a distant vision but a tangible timeframe? Could humanity learn how to embrace a forward-looking perspective?
If we think of it from an evolutionary perspective, in order to survive, the here-and-now was (and still is to some extent) crucial. Being 'on the ball' could mean the difference between life and death. To make sure that this quality evolved, nature created an incredible immediate gratification system.
Think about it. Satisfying your needs at the moment is highly pleasurable. Sleeping when you are tired or eating when you are hungry gives you a rewarding feeling that is hard to resist. Should you take a nap now, or stay awake a couple of hours longer to study for an exam that will allow you to graduate and possibly improve your future life? Should you eat fast food on the way or wait until you get home to cook something healthy? Depending on whether you think in the short-term or long-term, the answers to these questions will be diametrically opposed.
Many brands use what Tim Urban, writer and author of the blog Wait But Why, calls the Instant Gratification Monkey to their advantage. A multitude of glossy advertisements recommend that we buy things we don't really need instead of saving for the future. We want to purchase fast fashion clothes even if they are openly bad for the planet, and spend hours playing on our smartphones, postponing more important things in life.
Now, not everyone has problems with planning for their future. Yet, the current environmental crisis speaks volumes. We haven’t yet learnt to think about the consequences of our actions related not only to our life but to that of our grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. But, what if we told you that cryonics could help us develop this (very) long-term thinking?
You may ask: will cryonics make us wiser? Perhaps the experience of living in different decades and centuries will help us learn a thing or two. But that isn't the point.
When a person signs up for cryonics, they expect to live in the future. The question is whether it will be a livable place. If the future were to be dystopian, medical technology may not develop to the point where future revival from cryopreservation could be achieved. Or perhaps the technology might develop, but the economic or political situation would limit its application. Or, if climate change were to lead us to a life of starvation, there would be no point in having extra mouths to feed. Simply put, specific medical, technological, and social conditions are needed for revival after cryopreservation.
Therefore, if a member of a cryonics organization wants to have a chance to be revived in the future, they will have to do something about it.
Have you ever heard of the concept of Sustainable Superabundance?
Many transhumanists, most notably London Futurists Chair David Wood, predict a future in which resources will be plentiful. So much so that every person on the planet will have enough to live a comfortable life. Work may be no more than a mere pastime, detached from survival and economic need.
Sounds like a dream, right? However, there’s still a long and winding way to go. According to Wood, there are 7 spheres of human life we will have to deal with to reach that future: energy, nourishment, material goods, health, intelligence, creativity, and collaboration. Only when we have abundance in all these areas will we reach the condition of “superabundance”.
So, what can members of cryonics organizations do to build a future worth living in? Obviously, we aren’t all engineers and researchers. Few of us can actually work on developing sustainable solutions and futuristic technologies that will change the world for the better. What we can do is adopt long-term thinking into our everyday actions. Keep in mind that the future isn’t that far away, and our actions can influence it. The fields mentioned by Wood are diverse and in our own small way, we can contribute to their development.
We expect that, over the years, cryonics will become mainstream. More and more people will get involved in this field, embracing more long-term behaviors. Interest and interventions to build a better world will grow. Perhaps human cryopreservation will one day become accessible to everyone. Humanity might manage to build a sustainable world, where there will be no more scarcity.
This is what cryonics is all about. If your interests overlap, perhaps it’s time to join cryonics. To do so, click on this link. Otherwise, schedule a call with a member of our team and ask us any questions you may have.
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