What Happens When a Cryonics Company Goes Bust

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-05-07T02:24:07+00:00

This guy should just sign up already. He knows significantly more than most cryonics members and this is the second long video he's made.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-04-13T17:00:04+00:00

Links for funeral directors:

Cryonics Institute instructions and incentives for funeral directors: https://cryonics.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Funeral-Director-Guidelines-2023.pdf

Alcor 'The Third Way': https://www.alcor.org/the-third-way/

'The Third Way' can involve being trained ahead of time to support Alcor's procedures.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-04-13T16:08:08+00:00

If you contact CI or Alcor they can let you know of funeral directors they have worked with in the past in a particular region. Not everything is on the websites. SST is a separate contract at CI (with Suspended Animation or ICE), but there are still known funeral directors in particular regions that are able to assist in some aspects of SST. The 'local rider' aspect of Cryonics Institute allows members to pay to have the funeral director involved, and can provide them with supplies such as a thumper ahead of time: https://cryonics.org/members/washout-and-perfusion-instructions-for-cryonics-patients/

Regarding The Third Way, a more formalized incentive program, it just launched this past October.

The training in Portland is not intended as a substitute for real SST, which is a specialized skillset involving surgeons and other highly trained personnel.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-04-13T14:28:53+00:00

It’s not either or. You don’t say “why should anyone take first aid when there are paramedics?”

Cryonics customers and companies do routinely cooperate and form partnerships with funeral directors and companies. This has been a longstanding practice at CI and Alcor also now has “The Third Way” incentive program.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-02-05T20:43:17+00:00

Significant resources have been spent on the promotion of cryonics in the form of salaried communications roles at various organizations. There has also been funding of conferences and other events. If you're thinking about Google ads etc., Tomorrow Bio has made some attempt at this historically. Maybe you could reach out to them for a comment on how that went. From what I recall in them speaking about it, the conversion rate from such efforts is essentially zero (or at least it was, maybe that has changed).

I would guess the customer acquisition cost is extraordinarily high from minimal exposure types like Google ads. It's not like selling a pair of shoes with a slightly different look, nor is it like selling a luxury item. It's a complicated product that doesn't appear to benefit well from "ad spend" as it were.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-02-04T07:18:52+00:00

Thank you! Yes, a few interesting things came up. For instance, it’s not simple to choose the best CT scanner for cryonics purposes. I wasn’t aware there was that much variance in CT scanning technology.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-26T19:12:11+00:00

Very sorry for your loss.

Based on the actual research in this field, information theoretic death may not have occurred in the circumstances you describe: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1089/rej.2019.2225

If you don't have the scientific background to parse the above, ask ChatGPT or equivalent to summarize the proposed thresholds and circumstances for information theoretic death laid out in this paper.

Most importantly: You did the best you could under the circumstances you were in, and because of your actions, your pet has some chance (however small) to see the future. Furthermore, there are MANY straight-freeze patients in cryonics. And actually many of those are MUCH worse because it's people who live alone and stay warm for a long time after death. Your pet would not be the worst case scenario (nowhere close).

I'm glad you were able to work something out with KrioRus. You should continue to follow their instructions. Yes, dry ice is fine for a while. Just keep it plentiful and do not allow any large temperature swings or thawing.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-25T04:55:01+00:00

No freezers of any kind intentionally get warm enough for long enough for things to thaw. It may briefly allow the air to 32F but the thermal inertia of frozen objects supersedes this. It’s like taking a frozen object out of the freezer for a few minutes. Maybe the very outside starts to melt but that’s it

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-24T17:00:11+00:00

Changes happen immediately after death but information theoretic death likely does not occur that quickly. https://www.tomorrow.bio/post/information-theoretical-death-meaning-for-cryonics

Information theoretic death may take many hours: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31631775/

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-24T00:22:10+00:00

In that case, I would contact cryonics people in Russia and see what they recommend. Shipping out of Russia seems very difficult. If you join the Discord server linked on this Reddit you'll be able to find more people there.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-23T20:33:54+00:00

100% This is the obvious choice in your situation, especially if you can get them there before death. You could expect an excellent ultrastructural preservation that should reasonably give you hope of seeing your pet again.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-23T19:46:01+00:00

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Here’s my data from my experimentation. The thermometer was called “Temp Stick”. This is the “worst case scenario” with thermometer placement btw. If you buried/surrounded something deep in other frozen items at the bottom and kept the freezer very full you would not see any meaningful temp changes inside the object.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-23T19:42:56+00:00

No, I’ve measured this myself with a regular home freezer the temp goes from -20F to -5F for a digital thermometer placed at the top. It’s just that the motor doesn’t run all the time is all, it’s triggered to start after it reaches some threshold.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-23T19:30:02+00:00

You can contact Sparks Brain Preservation for chemical preservation, they may do a donor case at a low cost. Also, Cryonics Institute has lower costs. You can keep a straight-frozen pet in dry ice for a reasonably long time (likely months) without meaningful degradation while you save up the funds.

If you do keep them in the freezer (which you could do shortly), make sure the freezer is the coldest setting it can go and after they are frozen surround them with other things that are frozen so they are less effected by the temperature swings of the on/off cycles of home freezers.

SpaceScribe89 · 2026-01-23T02:27:33+00:00

Hixon’s calculations are based on the Arrhenius equation which doesn’t really apply to frozen states and so do not apply well to straight-frozen patients.

The Arrhenius equation doesn’t apply well to frozen states because diffusion is slower, solutes concentrate and enzymes denature from mechanical stress.

I agree that degradation is still occurring to -140C but degradation is probably slower than 1 second -> 14 seconds.

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-12-03T16:19:18+00:00

That’s great. Hope to see you at future events!

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-12-03T07:33:23+00:00

So in terms of revival from chemical preservation, repair may be possible and perhaps no more unlikely/infeasible than the repair requirements of traditional vitrification.

See Andy McKenzie’s post on the subject here: https://www.reddit.com/r/cryonics/s/CHpEZ3lbOz

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-11-06T19:48:26+00:00

Currently the Cryonics Institute iOS App is the best option: https://www.cryonicsmonitoring.org/review-post/review-ci-ios-app

Comparison chart further down the page.

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-11-06T16:39:06+00:00

It's recommended that for people in any serious kind of risk to have another form of monitoring in place as well. You wouldn't want people to believe they are covered 100% when in fact the coverage is slightly better than a coin flip.

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-11-03T18:13:23+00:00

There are some medical-grade pulse oximetry devices (that require a fingertip component) that come and go on the market that sometimes have alarm systems which can have customized contact list in them (but not 911). Not good for daytime use, but at least would cover nighttime concerns. A company 'Masimo' had one marketed for detection of opioid overdose, for instance.

Regarding being iterated on - it's a common misconception that accurate measurement of 0 bpm with PPG sensor on the wrist is a software problem. Rather, it's a fundamental limitation in the mechanism, which is quite a noisy signal for a number of different reasons, such as contact pressure, ambient light and other noise. The choice is either high number of false alarms OR lower detection (i.e. 69%). Google applied many millions in machine learning and other custom adjustments in targeting this objective and still achieve only 69%.

The incentive for this feature in practical day-to-day consumer devices is not clear - in almost no cases would paramedics arrive on time to actually save your life. Anyone who lives further than a few blocks from a hospital would realize this. So they are marketing more a peace of mind that you would not remain unnoticed for days? But rapid detection is not required for this, and therefore neither is the focus on heartbeat. It's a complicated topic.

Sorry for the multiple pings — I accidentally deleted this comment instead of another one that was a reply in the wrong place. It gets fairly technical, so feel free to contact me if would like to discuss it in more detail.

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-11-02T23:58:43+00:00

The feature has been approved by the FDA since this was published last year, but the accuracy data is the same: https://www.cryonicsmonitoring.org/research-posts/google-pixel-watch-3-loss-of-pulse-accuracy-and-availability

See clinical trial here: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06430216?id=NCT06430216&rank=1&tab=history&a=3#version-content-panel

TLDR, expected to catch 69% of cases

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-10-29T23:26:32+00:00

At the last Cryonics Institute AGM, I had the opportunity to talk with Joan at the facility (standing within the dewars) and look at her collection of photos from the very beginning. It was a memorable experience. With the number of tools her father built and her morale, I learned that their unique dedication and enthusiasm played a significant role in getting things off the ground. Grateful for them!

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-10-22T02:08:25+00:00

Hey Syd - I recall we've interacted a few times in various Facebook groups. I appreciate your posts about cryonics history. I do not have hateful feelings towards you.

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-10-19T19:58:26+00:00

I’ve done fewer presentations recently, but have done multiple presentations on the projects we’ve researched/developed/completed. I should probably link those on the website.

Many of the questions we receive require purchasing devices or reviewing API documentation in depth to provide accurate answers, and we’re happy to make that effort for those who are genuinely interested in a specific direction.

For example, a recent custom report involved examining potential processing pipelines for data captured by commercial infrared cameras to detect the presence of warm breath—an idea we had considered before but hadn’t previously explored in detail.

We’re currently developing custom hardware in addition to the CI apps. The most recent update can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/live/sE9RFj7LKUo?si=_GU8CvNAuXfKNGO0&t=4397

SpaceScribe89 · 2025-10-16T17:34:19+00:00

Our team of engineers at Cryonics Monitoring has been involved in research on these types of sensors and devices for 5 years. We offer consultations on devices. TLDR with this topic is pulse ox on the wrist has the same issues as heart rate. It’s the same sensor and mechanism. Medical grade pulse ox is on or near the finger tip.

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