Musings

By Marta Sandberg

You first read about my story in a woman’s magazine and where it was billed as the Love Story of the Century. Maybe that is true. Certainly, Helmer had a lot to do with my choice. But it is not the whole story. I still miss Helmer. I still love him. We were together for over twenty years and they were years of joy and contentment. Cryonics doesn’t stop grieving, but the hope that cryonics offers helps. I’ve learned to live without him. My reasons for staying with cryonics now are more self-centered.

Putting it very simply – I think that cryonics have a reasonable chance of success. And if there is a chance then I intend to grab it. Most ‘outsiders’ assume that you decide on cryonics because you either fear death or want to live forever. It isn’t true for me (and I suspect for most cryonicists) It is subtler than that. I want to be able to choose when I will die. That’s my philosophy – I want to live just long enough. I’m sure the time will come when my life feels complete, when it’s reached its natural end. But I don’t think that time necessarily coincides with me getting old or sick. I don’t want to die because one cell in my body turns cancerous or because a blood vessel in my heart becomes blocked – I don’t even want to die because my body is worn out.

I want to decide when it is time for me to die. That’s a controversial statement. It’s considered unnatural to want to take control over your own death. I’ve always found it a rather strange attitude, as we have already taken control of the other side of the process. We decide when we want to start a life. It’s called birth control. The beginning of life is too important to be left to chance!

This freedom is a recent development. My parents had only one effective method of preventing pregnancy – keep your legs crossed and say no. It was a reality of life and that’s why I have a great-aunt called Dussina. By the time her parents had their twelfth child they had simply run out of names. That was normal for the times. It was also normal for the times that only four children survived to adulthood.

In just one generation, it changed. An earthquake that shook the foundations of our society. The sexual revolution in the Sixties, equality between the sexes, a rather frightening increase in living standards. All this is (partially) due to our ability to take control over birth. I think cryonics will have a similar impact – taking control over death. Some things will become better. And some things will become worse. It’s almost impossible to predict the consequences.Every action has a reaction. Everything we do has consequences. Both as a society and as an individual we have difficulty in really considering the long-term impact of what we do. As a result of this, we are now very busy clearing up problems whose foundations were laid down a century or more ago. At the same time, we are creating new problems that will bear fruit well into the next century. We are mopping up our after fathers’ father, and we are creating messes for our childrens’ children.When you have a life expectancy measured in decades, that’s how things always will end up. It’s fine to say you have to be a better citizen of the world and you only hold the earth in trust for your grandchildren – but does anyone really believe that!Certainly we don’t act as if we do.In the bustle of day-to-day living, it’s hard to make serious sacrifices for your possible future decedents - who probably won’t even know your name. It’s much easier to act out of self interest and concentrate on the things that will benefit you in the long run

That’s where cryonics comes in. If you seriously believe you may wake up in the Twenty-Second century to have another go, then it’s easier to become motivated about creating a better future. Not for your children’s children, but for yourself. I think I have found the secret of becoming a better citizen of the world. It’s called long term self interest and you need cryonics to do it. The future I wake up in will be different. I hope it will be populated by people who have learnt to take the long view – because they expect to live to see the results of all their actions. Remember, for them cryonics will be a reality as they’ll know that it works. There are more things I would like to see. One of them is ‘healthy oldies’.We may delude ourselves that it is already occurring, but the reality is different.

I’ve seen it happen often. People reach a certain age and they change. Something ignites inside them. You can almost see how they re-evaluate their lives. "I’ve been a good parent. I’ve saved enough money. I’ve done my duty. Now I want to do something more.’ They take their life experiences and hard gained wisdom, and take a big free step into a new exciting life. They are some of the most phenomenal people I have ever met. But it doesn’t last. At the same time as their mind soars, their body is starts to crumble. Old age and decrepitude stalks them. An inevitable slide downward. It is a Golden Age that only lasts briefly. They are late autumn Mayflies. We can’t conquer aging – yet. That is where cryonics comes in. It gives us time for old, worn bodies to wait until we learn how to make them young again.

And that’s the world I would like to wake up in again. Old minds in young bodies. Wisdom with physical vigor. Centurians on rollerblades. That actually brings up another point. Dying is a waste. I hate to see good people fade from illness and then die. The futility of death makes me angry.

Let me tell you a story that is over two centuries old. It started out so simple – a fly that drowned in a glass of wine, a hand that plucked it out and set it on the table, the fly dried out, revived and flew away, the mind attached to the hand saw it all and began wondering and dreaming.

. The man was Benjamin Franklin. After a lot of thought he wrote a letter to a friend, Jacques Duborg that said

I can share his feelings and I’m sad I will never meet him - because he was born too early. Let me summarize. There are lots of reasons why I want cryonics to work. Some of them are selfish, I also genuinely believe that it will make society better (even if the transition period can be confusing) and I’ve also grown to dislike death and how it affects the dying and their family and friends. Remember, cryonics is about life. Of course, I want a chance to meet Helmer again. That is a big part, but even this obvious reason isn’t as simple as it may seem.

It will be a strange meeting. I will have lived half my life without him, but for him time stopped at the point we became separated. There will be a lot of catching up to do. We will have to get to know each other again. We will have to fall in love again. . . .I’m rather looking forward to that. And I would have liked to have a chance to meet Benjamin Franklin. He sounded so wistful. . . . . .