Stored in ice: challenging the notion of death and access to cryonics as an alternative corpse disposal method

Ever since Ettinger’s first speculations on cryonics (1972), this practice has been defined as the freezing, immediately upon death, of people who have suffered from rare or incurable diseases. The purpose of the process is to store the body and prevent decomposition until a cure for the cause of death can be found (Gordon 1975: 132). This practice might be considered as a temporary Corpse Disposal Method (CDM), in which a frozen body will stay in more or less one geographic location while time marches onwards (Yorke and Rowe 2006: 75). The existence of class distinction after death is not new (Kephart 1950). We can assess that social status impacts the number and ways in which a person can be buried (especially being able to sustain higher expenses and even the ability to move a body form one place to the other). Cryonics falls under this category, as it needs large sums of money to be sustained and for the body to be transported to the institute in question. The aim of this study is thus to assess the narrative attributed to cryonics as a CDM and how it relates to other burial methods usually reserved to a rich clientele. At the same time, it would be interesting to explore how less affluent people are prevented from certain types of corpse disposal practices. To do so, an analysis of newspaper articles containing narratives of cryonics as a burial method (also related to other burial systems) will be carried out, in order to find more insight on the narrative related to cryonics as a burial system that challenges the mainstream notion of death. Expected results The study is expected to highlight whether and, if so, why less affluent people are prevented from using cryonics and other alternative methods, and what impact such methods have on society, in particular regarding how they are perceived by mainstream society. References Ettinger, R. C. (1962). The Prospect of Immortality. New York: Doubleday. Gordon, W. T. (1975). The vocabulary of cryonics. American Speech, 50(1/2), 132-135. Kephart, W. M. (1950). Status after death. American Sociological Review, 15(5), 635-643. Yorke, C., & Rowe, L. (2006). Malchronia: Cryonics and bionics as primitive weapons in the war on time. Journal of Evolution and Technology, 15(1), 73-85.