Cebu Institute of Technology University

ENGL 021

Speech Communication

Submitted By:

Januel Zoe M. Paares

Submitted To:

Mr. Niel V. Dayandayan

The Cold Reality that is Death

We all seek immortality in some way. Death has been one of the prime terrors haunting us since humans first started realizing that every living thing dies and death is permanent. Being mortal, I get it. Likely, fifty years from now, all that will be left of my existence is the memory held by my family and medical papers; papers to prove that I was born, that I had been to the hospital and received some form of treatment, and that I died. However, death is not the only thing permanent in life; change is too. And so, with change, science evolves.

In places in North America and Europe, there is a Cryonics Institute that freezes the dead in 10-foot-high tanks for later reanimation. The institute and the people in the tanks cryostats as they are called, believe that even after being declared dead and being frozen for who knows how long, that future science may be able to thaw them, cure their ills, and, just maybe, restore them to youthful vigor. They believe that in a time yet to come, theyll rise again, with death only a temporary and reversible embarrassment easily remedied by medical know-how. Granted that even though only a relatively small fraction of the population worldwide support this movement, it is shocking that the power of wishful thinking has led industries to cater to man kinds most primal fear and desire: fear of death and desire for immortality.

Unfortunately, there remains to be obstacles to success such as legal issues, standby services and transportation, philosophical and ethical considerations, financial difficulties, and the fact that thawing and reanimating a dead and frozen body with defective cells, tissues, and organs is near impossible even with the advancement of technology.

Legally, cryonics patients or cryostats are treated as deceased persons. In some countries, cryonics is not a legal mode of body disposal, only burial, cremation, and formal donation to science are allowed. However, bodies may legally be shipped to other, less restrictive countries for cryonic freezing.

Standby and transportation is a critical phase in a cryopreservation process. Cryostats need a professional response team to stand ready for suspended animation, when the patients are legally declared as dead. Standby services ensure that the damage to the patient during transportation to the facility is minimal.

The ethical and theological opinions about cryonics tend to pivot on the issue of whether cryonics is regarded as interment or medicine. If cryonics is considered as interment or burial then religious beliefs about death and after life may come in to consideration. Resuscitation may be deemed impossible by those with religious beliefs since the soul is gone, and according to most religions only a deity or God can resurrect the dead. If cryonics is regarded as medicine, with legal death as a mere enabling mechanism, then cryonics is a long-term coma with uncertain prognosis.

People considering cryopreservation after death may come across financial difficulties. A whole body cryopreservation can cost as much as a quarter of a million dollars. Not to mention the annual membership fee because who knows how long youll be lying dead frozen until future medical science can revive you.

Lastly, the fact that a dead and frozen body is to be revived is impossible with the current standard of medical science. Revival requires repairing damage from lack of oxygen, cryoprotectant toxicity or toxins from substances injected to protect cells from freezing, thermal stress or fracturing of the cells, and reversing the effects that caused the patients death.

Clearly with these obstacles youd think that humans would have given up cheating death and accepted it instead. Do a reality check. To confront the reality of death is, without a doubt, an enlightening and powerful experience. It allows for insight, and an opportunity to make beneficial choices for self and others.

To quote Steve Jobs: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven dont want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination that we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is lifes change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. End quote.

So, to conclude, death results to change, the thing that is constant in life. Accepting death means that you have lived to the fullest. Even though you may have regrets but you were happy with what you have done and achieved. And so, because you have lived, you are not afraid of the cold reality that is death.