Comprehensive survey of United States internet users’ sentiments towards cryopreservation

Abstract

Medical cryopreservation is the speculative practice of using low temperatures and medical-grade cryoprotective agents to halt the decay of a recently-deceased person’s brain and body for the prospect of future resuscitation and restoration of function. We conducted a survey of 1,487 internet users in the United States to measure familiarity with, interest in, beliefs about, and attitudes towards cryopreservation. The majority of respondents (75%) had previously heard of the topic. Respondents tended to underestimate the cost of cryopreservation and number of previous cases but overestimate the number of providers. While many respondents expressed interest in signing up (20%) or had actively researched the topic (21%), a much smaller fraction have decided to be cryopreserved (6%). This level of interest is much greater than the number of previous preservation cases would indicate. We found that respondents’ attitudes towards death significantly correlated with their general sentiments towards the topic, with those expressing a desire for longer life or to see the future being more interested and positively inclined. Fear of death was not associated with interest in cryopreservation. Negative sentiments towards cryopreservation were less common than respondents perceived. For example, 14% of respondents believed that “most people” think cryopreservation should be illegal, but only 4% of respondents actually did. Many respondents (42%) were pessimistic regarding the likelihood of cryopreservation being successful, but the mean estimate of time until revival of cryopreserved bodies would be possible was 82 years.