Posted on 05/04/2009 4:50:36 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Picture this: The wealthiest guy in your town or city passes away due to either illness or old age. In the following days his funeral takes place and grieving relatives are seen following his coffin. They weep as the coffin is lowered to the ground and covered in dirt: only there is no body in the coffin. It is empty, perhaps weighed down by rocks. The body of the deceased has in fact been swiftly removed to be snap frozen until such time as technology exists that will allow the dead to be returned to life.
This is what is jokingly referred to by many who work in the funeral business as the ‘Cryonic Conspiracy’. Wealthy individuals who would rather it not known that they are planning to be put on ice after they pass away. More and more employees and managers of funeral parlours in the top-end of town are said to know about it. ‘It’s real’ noted one employee of one of Manhattan’s most posh funeral houses who chose to remain anonymous.
Cryopreservation, which is the act of freezing the body of a deceased person with a desire to one day revive it, is offered by a few organisations in the USA. The main group offering the service is the Cryonics Society, headquartered in Michigan.
‘Basically these groups have realised that they can go out and actively sell their service: they needn’t wait for individuals to come to them.Lists of wealthy individuals are purchased and then prospects are discreetly contacted. It is these folks who often due to their alleged religious beliefs or as a result of outright embarrassment don’t want people to know’ The employee continued.
‘Most people contacted decline the service. Many feel that when their time is up their time is up. A certain percentage do take up the offer’ concluded the employee.
At $250,000 it doesn’t come cheap although some might argue that it is worth the money. Technology might one day mean that even death isn’t the great equaliser it was once cracked up to be.
)
Someone needs to point out that the units need to be defrosted every 24 years.
;)
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Star Trek: The Next Generation thawed out three late 20th century cryonically stored Americans and called the episode “The Neutral Zone”...
The first season comes to a close with Captain Picard being called to an emergency conference on Starbase 718. While waiting for him to return to the ship, Data and Worf investigate the wreckage of an old space capsule they find, one that was launched from Earth in the late 20th century. On board the capsule are three humans in suspended animation: a businessman, an artist, and a housewife. Each were frozen at the moment they died from fatal diseases, hoping that sometime in the future they could be thawed out and cured. Meanwhile, Picard brings the Enterprise into the neutral zone to investigate the destruction of a few remote outposts. Rumor has it, after 50 years of quiet, the Romulans have returned to annoy and fight against the Federation. The gravity of the situation is lost on the unfrozen humans, particularly the blowhard businessman who is itching to find out how his stocks are doing after more than 300 years.
American Idolatry: Simon Cowell wants to live forever
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 9:51:54 PM · by slomark · 10 replies · 282+ views
IHateTheMedia.com ^ | 02/25/09
In a move sure to make thousands of singers wish they were dead, American Idol judge has announced that he wants to live forever. The caustic American Idol judge wants to be frozen upon his death so he can be revived in the future. “I have decided to freeze myself when I die. You know, cryonics,” he announced to dinner guests at Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s residence. ....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.