The Prospect of Immortality
The Prospect of Immortality

Author: Robert C. W. Ettinger

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780974347233

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In the 1960s Robert Ettinger founded the cryonics (cryonic hibernation) movement and authored THE PROSPECT OF IMMORTALITY. (And in the 1970s Ettinger would help initiate the transhumanist revolution with his MAN INTO SUPERMAN.) Ettinger sees "discontinuity in history, with mortality and humanity on one side -- on the other immortality and transhumanity." [[P: ]] This 2005 edition (ISBN 0-9743472-3-X) contains an exact replica copy of the complete first edition of Ettinger's 1964 cultural classic, THE PROSPECT OF IMMORTALITY. (The Cultural Classics Series By Ria University Press is edited by Charles Tandy, Ph.D.) Additional (2005) materials include comments by others -- "Developments In Cryonics 1964-2005" -- written especially for this 21st century edition: (1) "The State of Cryonics -- 2005" (By Jim Yount); and, (2) "A Brief History of Cryonics" (By R. Michael Perry). A new (2005) Introduction by Charles Tandy is entitled "Ettinger's 1964 Thesis: Indefinitely Extended And Enhanced Life (Immortality) Is Probably Already Here Via Experimental Long-Term Suspended Animation" [[P: ]] James Bedford began his journey as "the first cryonaut" on January 12, 1967; as of 2005, he and many others remain in cryonic hibernation. According to Ettinger, cryonic hibernation (experimental long-term suspended animation) of humans may provide a "door into summer" unlike any season previously known. Such patients (individuals and families in cryonic hibernation) may yet experience the transhuman condition. Ettinger argues for his belief in "the possibility of limitless life for our generation." We should become aware of the incorrect, distorted, and oversimplified ideas presented in the popular media about cryonics. He believes that the cool logic and scientific evidence he presents should lead us to forget the horror movies and urban legends and embrace great expectations.

Forever for All
Forever for All

Author: R. Michael Perry

Publisher: Universal-Publishers

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 647

ISBN-13: 1581127243

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This book considers the problems of death and the hereafter and how these ages-old problems ought to be addressed in light of our continuing progress. A materialistic viewpoint of reality is assumed, denying the likelihood of supernatural or other superhuman assistance. Death, however, is not seen as inevitable or even irreversible; it is maintained that the problem can and should be addressed scientifically in all of its aspects. The book thus follows recent, immortalist thinking that places hopes in future advances in our understanding and technology. A functionalist, reductionist argument is developed for the possibility of resurrecting the dead through the eventual creation of replicas and related constructs. Meanwhile, it is urged, medical advances leading to the conquest of biological death should be pursued, along with cryonics: freezing the newly deceased for possible, eventual reanimation. A common ground thus is sought between two hitherto largely independent strands of scientific immortalism, the one based on hopes in a remote but hyperadvanced future, the other on the nearer-term prospects of presently advancing technology. The resulting philosophy, encompassing both past and future, is directed toward the long-term interests of each sentient being, and it thereby acquires a moral dimension. The immortalization of humans and other life-forms is seen as a great moral project and labor of love that will unite us in a common cause and provide a meaningful destiny. A rational and thorough exploration of human potential. Few have considered, much less visualized, the profound changes set to occur over the next few decades through exponential advances in science and philosophy. Mike Perry has, and he shares his vision with eloquence. --Jim Halperin, author of The Truth Machine and The First Immortal.

The Prospect of Immortality
The Prospect of Immortality

Author: Murray Ballard

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781910401033

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A fascinating photographic study of the small but dedicated international cryonics community.

Immortality
Immortality

Author: Stephen Cave

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2012-04-03

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0307884937

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If you could live forever, would you want to? Both a fascinating look at the history of our strive for immortality and an investigation into whether living forever is really all it’s cracked up to be. A fascinating work of popular philosophy and history that both enlightens and entertains, Stephen Cave investigates whether it just might be possible to live forever and whether we should want to. He also makes a powerful argument that it’s our very preoccupation with defying mortality that drives civilization. Central to this book is the metaphor of a mountaintop where one can find the Immortals. Since the dawn of humanity, everyone – whether they know it or not—has been trying to climb that mountain. But there are only four paths up its treacherous slope, and there have only ever been four paths. Throughout history, people have wagered everything on their choice of the correct path, and fought wars against those who’ve chosen differently. In drawing back the curtain on what compels humans to “keep on keeping on,” Cave engages the reader in a number of mind-bending thought experiments. He teases out the implications of each immortality gambit, asking, for example, how long a person would live if they did manage to acquire a perfectly disease-free body. Or what would happen if a super-being tried to round up the atomic constituents of all who’ve died in order to resurrect them. Or what our loved ones would really be doing in heaven if it does exist. We’re confronted with a series of brain-rattling questions: What would happen if tomorrow humanity discovered that there is no life but this one? Would people continue to please their boss, vie for the title of Year’s Best Salesman? Would three-hundred-year projects still get started? If the four paths up the Mount of the Immortals lead nowhere—if there is no getting up to the summit—is there still reason to live? And can civilization survive? Immortality is a deeply satisfying book, as optimistic about the human condition as it is insightful about the true arc of history.

The Book of Immortality
The Book of Immortality

Author: Adam Gollner

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-09-30

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1439109435

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An exploration of one of the most universal human obsessions charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions and enters the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality.

Man Into Superman
Man Into Superman

Author: Robert C. W. Ettinger

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 9780974347240

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Ettinger asserts that cryonic hibernation of humans may provide a "door into summer" unlike any season previously known and argues for his belief in "the possibility of limitless life for our generation."

Freezing People Is (Not) Easy
Freezing People Is (Not) Easy

Author: Bob Nelson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2014-03-18

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1493007793

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Bob Nelson was no ordinary T.V. repairman. One day he discovered a book that ultimately changed his entire life trajectory --The Prospect of Immortality by Professor Robert Ettinger. From it, he learned about cryonics: a process in which the body temperature is lowered during the beginning of the dying process to keep the brain intact, so that those frozen could potentially be reanimated in the future. A world of possibilities unfolded for Nelson, as he relentlessly pursued cryonics and became the founder and President of the Cryonics Society of California. Working in coalition with a biophysicist, in 1967 Nelson orchestrated the freezing of Dr. James Bedford, the first human to be placed in cryonic suspension. Soon thereafter he began freezing others who sought his help, obtaining special capsules and an underground vault. Underfunded, Nelson struggled desperately, often dipping into his own savings, and taking extraordinary measures to maintain his patients in a frozen state. His fascinating memoir reveals his irrepressible passion for life and chronicles the complicated circumstances that comprised his adventures in cryonics.

Recipes for Immortality
Recipes for Immortality

Author: Richard S Weiss

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-02-19

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0190450517

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Despite the global spread of Western medical practice, traditional doctors still thrive in the modern world. In Recipes for Immortality, Richard Weiss illuminates their continued success by examining the ways in which siddha medical practitioners in Tamil South India win the trust and patronage of patients. While biomedicine might alleviate a patient's physical distress, siddha doctors offer their clientele much more: affiliation to a timeless and pure community, the fantasy of a Tamil utopia, and even the prospect of immortality. They speak of a golden age of Tamil civilization and of traditional medicine, drawing on broader revivalist formulations of a pure and ancient Tamil community. Weiss analyzes the success of siddha doctors, focusing on how they have successfully garnered authority and credibility. While shedding light on their lives, vocations, and aspirations, Weiss also documents the challenges that siddha doctors face in the modern world, both from a biomedical system that claims universal efficacy, and also from the rival traditional medicine, ayurveda, which is promoted as the national medicine of an autonomous Indian state. Drawing on ethnographic data; premodern Tamil texts on medicine, alchemy, and yoga; government archival resources; college textbooks; and popular literature on siddha medicine and on the siddhar yogis, he presents an in-depth study of this traditional system of knowledge, which serves the medical needs of millions of Indians. Weiss concludes with a look at traditional medicine at large, and demonstrates that siddha doctors, despite resent trends toward globalization and biomedicine, reflect the wider political and religious dimensions of medical discourse in our modern world. Recipes for Immortality proves that medical authority is based not only on physical effectiveness, but also on imaginative processes that relate to personal and social identities, conceptions of history, secrecy, loss, and utopian promise.

The Prospect of Immortality Fifty Years Later
The Prospect of Immortality Fifty Years Later

Author: Charles Tandy

Publisher:

Published: 2014-12-25

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 9781934297216

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The Prospect of Immortality Fifty Years Later is "the definitive anthology in cryonics, full stop." (Dr. Steve Fuller, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK). "Cryonics is an experiment. So far the control group isn't doing very well." (Dr. Ralph Merkle, inventor of public key cryptography). The Prospect of Immortality Fifty Years Later is edited by Charles Tandy, Ph.D. (ISBN 978-1-934297-21-6 is the Hardback edition and ISBN 978-1-934297-22-3 is the Paperback edition.) ................... This 534-paged anthology is a fifty year celebration and update of Robert Ettinger's 1964 cryonics classic, The Prospect of Immortality. The Prospect of Immortality was published by Doubleday in 1964 after being vetted as scientifically plausible by none other than the famous pseudoscience debunker, Isaac Asimov. Its author, Robert Ettinger, became known rather quickly as the father of cryonics. Ettinger himself has now been in cryonic hibernation since 2011. The first cryonaut, James Bedford, has been in cryonic hibernation since 1967. Hopefully at some point in time, it will become feasible to place (future) cryonauts in (perfected long-term) suspended animation instead of in cryonic hibernation. ................... Healthspan extension and enhancement (immortality as prolongevity) is the goal of cryonics. Cryonics is a biomedical experiment in long-term suspended animation or practical time travel. It is based on our present state of knowledge of existing technology and on our present state of knowledge of future technology. Accordingly, "unbelievable" (i.e., amazing) experimental results (prolongevity) should not prove surprising. Biomedically, this is a case where the experimental group has much to recommend it over the control (burial/cremation) group. ................... The present update, after fifty years, includes seven parts (topics) totalling 18 chapters: ..... (Part One: Cryonics And Death) ..... 1. Redefining Death Amid Biomedical Advance (by Charles Tandy) ..... (Part Two: Cryonics And Science) ..... 2. Scientific Justification Of Cryonics Practice (by Benjamin P. Best) ..... 3. Temperature Effects On Medical Nanorobots (by Robert A. Freitas Jr.) ..... 4. The Technology Of Revival, Repair, And Rejuvenation (by York W. Porter) ..... (Part Three: Cryonics And Religion) ..... 5. Buddhism And Cryonics (by D. J. MacLennan) ..... 6. Christianity And Cryonics (by John Warwick Montgomery) ..... (Part Four: Cryonics And The Law) ..... 7. Cryonics Law In The Service Of Cryonics Care: The Swiss Option (by F. A. B. Cortese) ..... 8. How To Protect Your Cryonics Arrangements From Interference By Third Parties (by Rebecca Lively) ..... 9. Legal Issues With Cryonic Suspension (by John Warwick Montgomery) ..... (Part Five: Cryonics And Economics) ..... 10. How Has The Cryonics Institute Weathered The Economic Ups And Downs Since Its Inception? (by Patrick A. Heller) ..... 11. The Economics Of Immortality Revisited (by Rudi Hoffman) ..... 12. Long-Term Survival Of The Alcor Life Extension Foundation (by Max More) ..... 13. Ettinger's Void (by David Pascal) ..... 14. How Has The American Cryonics Society Weathered The Economic Ups And Downs Since Its Inception? (by James R. Yount) ..... (Part Six: Cryonics And Personal Identity) ..... 15. The Wonder Of Indeterminacy (by D. J. MacLennan) ..... 16. The Self Persistent: Rethinking Ettinger's Position On The Problem Of Identity (by R. Michael Perry) ..... 17. Non-Cruciality Of Personal Identity: Immortality As Possibility (by Melanie Swan) ..... (Part Seven: Cryonics And Future Society) ..... 18. There's No Place Like "Fhome" A Personal View Of Our Future-Home: The Pilgrim's Progress (by Charles Tandy) ................... The editor's postscript, entitled How Presentday Ethics And Laws May Be Used To Support Your Right To Cryonic Hibernation, begins on page 491. The INDEX begins on page 507. On page 519, there begins an Addendum: Scientists' Open Letter On Cryonics."