The novel Brain Freeze - 321ºF strikes me as a sustained attack on cryonics. If cryonicists are an ethnic group, I regard
this as a classic piece of hate literature. The novel is a parody
of the cryopreservation of Ted Williams by the cryonics
organization Alcor. The true wishes of Ted Williams to be
cryopreserved were not as well documented as they should
have been (although two out of three of Ted's children gave
sworn statements to the court that their father really wanted to
be cryopreserved). The author is apparently one of those who
chose to believe the third (estranged) child, and this may be
the source of his hostility.
Although Alcor is at the bullseye of the attack, I believe the
author is deeply contemptuous of all cryonics and cryonics
organizations. The Prologue deals largely with an Alcor view
of the “news” that Michigan had labeled cryonics facilities as
cemeteries because of the State’s view that “frozen corpses
were in fact dead” – that “cryonics was merely the freezing
of a corpse.”
The book contains many sections devoted to an attempt to
debunk the science behind cryonics which I want to discuss
before reviewing the story & style of the novel. In my view,
the author’s ignorance of biomedical science and his misconceptions
of cryonics technology make him into an inept debunker. Additionally,
the references to science are laden with emotional expressions
of disgust. Vitrification is characterized as a glassing effect of frozen
internment that turns the skin yellow and causes the investigative
journalist in the story to vomit. The journalist has another episode
of nausea upon contemplating a body thawing and exuding a mixture
of cell contents and vitrification solution.
Repeatedly the author seems to understand and not understand that
the water replacement of vitrification eliminates all ice formation.
The process is deemed irrational because it eliminates the water
required for vital processes like oxygenation and ion transport.
And yet the author refers to blood vessels bursting upon freezing
and invokes the image of a frozen strawberry turning to mush after
being thawed. The author presents the worst of both worlds – the
freezing damage that comes from water and the lack of vital function
that comes from the removal of water to eliminate freezing.
The reader is authoritatively told that the toxicity due to
cryoprotectants is irreversible. The author focuses repeatedly
glycerol, as if that is what is used for vitrification. The author
confusedly describes the blood brain barrier as the “tight cellular
junctions between each brain cell and neuron” (the BBB is actually
tight junctions of endothelial cells). He says that the BBB is
a barrier which would prevent large vitrification molecules from
reaching the brain (false). For this reason, water in the
cerebrospinal fluid would fracture the brain. The author would
presumably be stunned to learn that at the 2005 meeting of the
Society of Cryobiology a cryobiologist announced that he had
vitrified a rabbit kidney to -135oC and transplanted the kidney
into a rabbit (after rewarming and cryoprotectant washout) with
full kidney functionality.
The description of cryonics protocol is no less confused. The
injection of heparin is deemed a futile exercise because the
blood does not circulate after death. This purported non-circulation
of blood in a cryonics patient is cited as the “smoking gun” in
the Dora Kent case because of metabolized barbiturate found
in her body – which could only have been metabolized by a
functioning circulatory system to transport the drug to the liver
(meaning she was killed by barbiturate injection). Despite this
apparent ignorance of cardiopulmonary support to maintain
circulation in a cryonics patient, the author uses the phrase
“cardiopulmonary support” to describe blood replacement
with organ preservation solution in preparation for transport
to the cryonics facility. Once at the cryonics facility the patient
gets “deanimated” (a process which the author seems to confuse
with vitrification perfusion). A heart-lung machine roller pump
administers cryoprotectant while the patient is immersed in
chilled silicone oil. The head is separated from the body using
garden tools under abysmally non-sterile conditions, and placed
into a lobster pot. A professional pathologist disgustedly informs
the investigative journalist in the novel that severing the spinal
cord is irreversible and makes no sense. In any case, death is
final. Despite this reference to the finality of death, cryonics
is repeatedly described as human vivisection.
It would be far too time-consuming to explain to laypeople
everything that is wrong with the author’s mishmash of
misconceptions. But even those with a smattering of knowledge
of cryonics technology can probably appreciate the ignorance
of the author from the above description. What the author misses
in his lame-brained attempts to discredit cryonics science he
attempts to compensate for with name-calling. In his parade
of epithets cryonics is lunatic fringe, an unscrupulous travesty,
a hoax, beyond science fiction – totally lacking in scientific
merit and universally vilified by those in science and medicine.
The author would undoubtedly be shocked to see the
“Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics.” http://www.cryoletter.org/
Although the author did his homework on cryonics history, he was
a mediocre student. He refers to cryonics facilities in Europe and
describes Steven Mandell as a man who ran a failed cryonics
organization in New York. (Steven Mandell was one of the
patients who was cryopreserved at the Cryonics Society of
New York.)
I believe that the purpose of this novel is to incite hostility against
cryonics and cryonicists, portraying cryonicists as contemptible.
The author struggles to present cryonicists as both deluded freaks
and racketeers who victimize the elderly (which would imply
that cryonicists do not really believe in cryonics). The author
does not really resolve the dilemma, but makes a weak attempt
to present cryonics as a cult of deluded followers who are in
the hypnotic spell of a demi-god. The cult leader in the novel
is Justin Clement, MD, the CEO of the Arizona cryonics
company Mizaronics. An important part of the cryopreservation
protocol is at the end of the procedure when the perfusion team
gathers in a circle with bowed heads and recites in unison a
credo that expresses disdain for nonbelievers and the vision
of being revived in a second coming.
Characters in a novel are puppets in the hands of the novelist,
so it is not surprising that Dr. Clement is arrogant, rude and
insulting. The author editorializes dialog in a way I have never
seen before: “’I have no comment on anything … anything you
have asked or stated,’ Clement reiterated with absurdity.” Clement
spends his time away from work with expensive prostitutes until
one of his employees, fearing for her job, gives him oral sex in
his office.
Although the novel was clearly inspired by the Ted Williams
case, the frozen star in the novel is a black baseball player
(“Reggie Sanford”) who struggled to establish himself in face
of the racial barriers of the early days of baseball. Although
Mizaronics is proud to have the black baseball hero,
Dr. Clement does not hesitate to use the “N word”. The
implication that cryonicists are racists is less significant than
the emphasis on the indignity of cryonics procedures applied to
such a great man who had already arisen above persecution. This
device also allows Ted Williams to be a living figure in the novel
where he can express his “true feelings” of absolute contempt
for the crazy and disgraceful practice of cryonics – repeatedly
and profanely. Being cryopreserved is regarded in this novel
the same way Americans regarded the 1993 dragging of the
bodies of killed US soldiers through the streets of Somalia,
where they were subjected to abuse and refuse.
Unlike the Ted Williams case, which involved a dispute
between children of the cryopreserved parent, Reggie
Sanford is cryopreserved by his only son. Although Reggie
had requested cremation in his Last Will and Testament, the
son had discussed cryonics with his father – and they had
made a verbal pact that the father would be cryopreserved.
The author clearly believes that the written document takes
priority and gives no credence that verbal agreements can
express true wishes. Unlike the Ted Williams case, there
is no complication of an oil-stained note or the fact that
two children gave sworn testimony of a pact with their
father for cryopreservation.
Reggie’s son had requested whole body preservation, but
the perfusion team accidently began a neuro procedure. In
the confused mind of the author this somehow prevented
proper perfusion of the brain. (If a neuro procedure is
accidently begun, why wouldn’t it continue in the usual
fashion. The author’s confusion is hard to fathom.) So the
perfusion team drilled about nine holes in Reggie’s head in a
feeble attempt to inject cryoprotectant through the holes. Then
the mutilated head and torso of Reggie are stashed in the
ghastly chamber of “frozen absurdity” – deprived of dignified
finality. Not only was the great man’s body desecrated, but his
fans were left without a proper place to put flowers. (The author
is untroubled about the fact that cremation could have the same
result if ashes are scattered.)
The mutilation of Reggie’s body might have remained a secret –
even to Reggie’s son – had it not been for a brave young Mizaronics
employee named Jonathan who risked his job by going to an
investigative journalist named Rachel to expose the dastardly
deed. Jonathan is fired and subjected to death-threats, spray-painting
of his apartment with graffiti and other abuse. He is accused of
stealing confidential photos and documents. To add spice to the
story, however, Jonathan and Rachel become beautiful lovers.
And Ted Williams congratulates Jonathan for rising above
personal need to do something noble for a great cause.
In the middle of the night a pair of commandos moves with skill
and precision to take the Mizaronics night watchman by surprise,
blast their way into the building and make away with the head
of Reggie Sanford – leaving a bumper sticker that says “Free
Reggie”. The depiction of the commandos is an extraordinary
piece of confused characterization for a novelist. He portrays
them as both idealists and extortionists. Why would they demand
money and the release of Reggie’s torso in exchange for Reggie’s
head? Why could they not have taken both the head and the torso
in such a skillfully-executed raid? The commandos then abduct
Rachel and take her to their squalid shack where she is raped and
abused. Pregnant with Jonathan’s child, Rachel forced herself to
comply with their demands to prevent injury to the baby. The
expert commandos have been transformed into incompetent,
disgusting slobs who negligently allow Reggie’s head to thaw
and then try to cremate it in a pot.
The extortionists then demand the exchange of Rachel for
Reggie’s torso. It is unclear how the extortionists are expected
to benefit from this exchange unless it is a noble effort on their
part to “free” Reggie and cremate his torso as they did with his
head (which reportedly had not been their original intention).
Reggie’s son had come to his senses and demanded the release
of his father’s torso in respect for his father’s written wishes.
Dr. Clement would not respond to the son’s attorney and he
refused to exchange the torso for Rachel’s life. Clement added
that Rachel was to blame for the consequences of her
reprehensible journalism.
Jonathan, under the mistaken impression that Rachel had been
killed, hijacked a freshly fueled Mizaronics corporate jet and
flew it into the Mizaronics facility, incinerating it completely,
along with himself. A SWAT team located Rachel, killing
one of her abductors and arresting the other. When the families
of the cryonics patients sued Mizaronics, Dr. Clement went
into hiding. This might be a happy ending for the author, but
the reader is left with the tragedy of Jonathan, Rachel and their
unborn child – fulfilling the author’s apparent purpose of
leaving the reader with more reasons to despise the cryonicists
who are to blame.
The cartoon characterizations of cryonics science and of
cryonicists presented in this book are light-years from reality.
A valid critique would accurately represent the science & technology
of cryonics and would present cryonicists as they are (at worst
deluded, but sincere), not as cultists with evil motives. However,
in my opinion the impetus for writing this book was the author’s
perception that Ted Williams did not really want to be
cryopreserved. I think that cryonicists should make great efforts
to ensure that the only people who are cryopreserved are those
who have documented those wishes indisputable – particularly
celebrities.