G'day Mates!
I recently took some time off from the rat race and went on a long road trip. Of course, I want to share some of the bizarre stops along the way. If you're here for that sorta thing, you're in for a treat. I have lots of surprises in store!
Let's hop right in, shall we?
I hope you've seen the flick Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz, because this posting will make much more sense. This movie came out in 2001, so if I spoiler alert you, in all due respect and all fairness, you've had two decades to rent it.
In Vanilla Sky, the viewer learns at the end that Tom Cruise's character really did kick the bucket when Cameron Diaz (aka Crazy Bitch) drove him head first off a bridge. What people didn't quite grasp (at least I didn't 20 years ago) is that Tom Cruise's character had purchased life extension upon his death. Therefore, he was able to thrive in suspended animation and live out the destiny he chose through album covers and suggestive animated reality. Albeit, he experienced some severe glitches in the programming, and at the end, he had the choice to dive head first out of the life extension hoping for reincarnation as a cat...leaving us with that famous line: "we will meet again in another life when we are both cats."
However, Vanilla Sky was not straight fiction. There are a few Cryonics, or life extension, organizations around the country. What is Cryonics? Cryonics is the science of preserving life by suspending the dying process utilizing subfreezing temperatures with the intent of restoring perfect health with the science of the future. Just like life insurance, cryonics or life extension is much cheaper if you purchase it in your youth. The older you get, the more expensive suspended animation becomes.
"At the point where the current legal and medical system gives up on a patient,
they aren't really dead."
Eliezer Yudkowsky,
"You Only Live Twice"
Ensue theme music:
I introduce ALCOR in Scottsdale, Arizona. One would think a life extensions facility would be out on a farm with lots of acres and flourishing landscapes. Nope. The facility was located in an industrial strip, nestled next to factories, warehouses, corporate offices, and an airport. The reason the facility has to be located near an airport is because time matters with getting your body frozen.
In fact, ALCOR is located right next to an airport, because minutes, even seconds matter when it comes to cryonics. They will freeze your body OR brain until there is a cure for your illness or the aging process is cured. ALCOR suggests freezing only your brain since that's where your personality, character, and quirks originate. Essentially, they feel as if your brain is you.
The bizarre thing is that ALCOR Life Extensions has been around since 1972 (for 49 years); however, they have a body in cryonic state since the 1960s (which can only mean they were freezing bodies before they got the business up and going). Fred and Linda Chamberlain incorporated ALCOR in California. Fred is currently cryoperserved and Linda still works there! Currently there are 1,353 members and 182 cryoperseved patients.
Quick fact to catch...get out your glove: Ted Williams, famous baseball player, is frozen...errr, I mean, cryogenically life suspended here.
Bonus Irony: The street name where the facility is located is Acoma Drive...a coma? A coma? Really?
As a member of ALCOR (averaging $55/month), you can receive the following benefits:
Standby Assistance - A medical team by your bedside ready to start the process upon your legal death.
Cryopreservation for as long as the future takes to cure aging - Either your entire body or your brain will be cryopreserved at the Scottsdale facility.
Long term care - cryopreserved patients are kept in secure long-term cryogenic dewars at a consistent -196 degrees Celsius (-320 degrees Fahrenheit). Whether you stay in cryogenic storage for 30, 50, 100, or 150 years makes no difference at this temperature.
Potential Revival - the goal is revival and reintegration into future society. Patients can even put back money into an interest bearing account for the future.
Me reading the brochure +
wondering if I want to piss away money to freeze my brain...
(additionally, I was trying to become a brochure model for Cryogenics)
When I arrived at ALCOR, unfortunately they were not too welcoming. Usually they will do some tours of the facility. However, between COVID and the fact I called the same day of arrival, they could not accommodate a tour. Also, they would not allow any pictures of the inside of the facility.
Okay, so here's inside the facility (or the lobby, rather...the highly-fabled, illusive, unicorn...an inside ALCOR picture)
The lady who allowed this is probably fired...additionally, this is my little brother going "am I high, dreaming, or is this real?"
Bitchin' skylight! The only thing that would have been better is a Star Trek command module.
If you're anything like me, you wonder...but, what happens in the middle of the apocalypse when we lose power? Luckily, cryonics doesn't rely on power but on liquid nitrogen to keep the sub frigid temps to preserve the brains and bodies. So, there's that...just in case anyone else was wondering. Also, your brain is a lot cheaper to cryopreserve than your whole body. So, here's another question: what do they do with your body?
Do they put it in a coat closet "hanging your birthday suit up"
Do they donate it to a medical facility (if they're all about science like they claim)
Do they taxidermy and put you on a mantle?
(so many questions...)
If you learned something new by reading this far...then HECK YEA! My job is done here.
Only you can know if Life Extension is right for you.
As for me, I'm going to the Spirit in the sky...that's where I'm gonna go when I die.
Love,
Kimmie
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