If you're unfamiliar with the concept of cryonics and cryopreservation, this video is a good primer on it:
Let's assume that the technology works and that it is possible to one day restore the individual so preserved via technology, whether through molecular repair at the cellular level via nanotechnology or by mind uploading. We know at the very least the preservative aspect of it works - and we know that various animals, including frogs, nematodes and even dogs can survive freezing and resuscitation on much shorter timescales.
If one had the money (and there's a wide range of techniques, and consequently costs, from a $1,000 "brain pickling" by Oregon Cryonics to a $150,000 fully body cryopreservation at Alcor), what would stop anybody who was disappointed with this time period for whatever reason but didn't want total cessation of existence from contracting with one of these companies and then immediately killing themselves?
The legal situation surrounding it is tricky: there are some methods, like aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (which 'glasses' the brain precisely, intended for use with mind uploading forms of resuscitation) that essentially require an assisted suicide to pull off, meaning that it would only be legal in five U.S. States and a handful of European countries. Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC) is exclusively intended for use with hypothetical mind uploading technology, and requires freshness of the brain to an exacting degree - the brain material begins to degrade immediately upon death. Hence it requires basically dying on-site.
However, the more "traditional" forms of cryopreservation are less structurally demanding, though they still require a relatively fresh corpse for success (the way this works in situations in which the cadaver is not near one of the three locations this is done at in the United States - Scottsdale, Arizona, Salem, Oregon and Clinton, Michigan - is that the body is cooled in dry ice and shipped off to those sites. The longer the body is in transit, the greater the risk of damage to it.)
There's also the matter of an autopsy, which this thread demonstrates is necessary to avoid:
The best way to avoid this would be to leave a note or video demonstrating the method of death, and again to do it on location, very near to where the cryopreservation organization operates.
It seems to me it would be possible, again assuming one had the money and the inclination, to contract out with one of these organizations and then immediately kill one's self to hasten the process and minimize suffering (the only caveat being that you would have to have the funds yourself - these are typically paid for via term life insurance policies, which of course won't pay out on the event of suicide. However, Cryonics Institute in Clinton, Michigan is rather affordable at $28,000, excluding the price of transit, which can increase the cost to as much as $60,000 - you would be well advised to kill yourself in Clinton if you wnt this route.) You'd be limited in your choice of exit also: shooting yourself in the head would be out, and asphyxiation, which damages parts of the brain, would also be out. N, SN, charcoal, etc. would seemingly still.be viable.
And of course there's always the caveat that there's absolutely no guarantee you'd be able to be revived - perhaps revival is impossible for humans, perhaps current cryotechnology isn't sufficient for it, perhaps society completely collapses before the technology to reverse the process is developed, and perhaps the company you contract with goes bankrupt (though apparently the few companies specializing in the technology are trying to find ways around this, to avoid a situation that occurred in the 1970s where frozen bodies were being discarded when the company that handled them couldn't pay the bills). And even if it were possible, there's no guarantee you'd be happy in the time you find yourself in. But at least the possibility of trying exists.
Related: on cryopreservation and memory/identity:
This rotifer survived 24,000 years in ice.
Let's assume that the technology works and that it is possible to one day restore the individual so preserved via technology, whether through molecular repair at the cellular level via nanotechnology or by mind uploading. We know at the very least the preservative aspect of it works - and we know that various animals, including frogs, nematodes and even dogs can survive freezing and resuscitation on much shorter timescales.
If one had the money (and there's a wide range of techniques, and consequently costs, from a $1,000 "brain pickling" by Oregon Cryonics to a $150,000 fully body cryopreservation at Alcor), what would stop anybody who was disappointed with this time period for whatever reason but didn't want total cessation of existence from contracting with one of these companies and then immediately killing themselves?
The legal situation surrounding it is tricky: there are some methods, like aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (which 'glasses' the brain precisely, intended for use with mind uploading forms of resuscitation) that essentially require an assisted suicide to pull off, meaning that it would only be legal in five U.S. States and a handful of European countries. Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC) is exclusively intended for use with hypothetical mind uploading technology, and requires freshness of the brain to an exacting degree - the brain material begins to degrade immediately upon death. Hence it requires basically dying on-site.
However, the more "traditional" forms of cryopreservation are less structurally demanding, though they still require a relatively fresh corpse for success (the way this works in situations in which the cadaver is not near one of the three locations this is done at in the United States - Scottsdale, Arizona, Salem, Oregon and Clinton, Michigan - is that the body is cooled in dry ice and shipped off to those sites. The longer the body is in transit, the greater the risk of damage to it.)
There's also the matter of an autopsy, which this thread demonstrates is necessary to avoid:
The best way to avoid this would be to leave a note or video demonstrating the method of death, and again to do it on location, very near to where the cryopreservation organization operates.
It seems to me it would be possible, again assuming one had the money and the inclination, to contract out with one of these organizations and then immediately kill one's self to hasten the process and minimize suffering (the only caveat being that you would have to have the funds yourself - these are typically paid for via term life insurance policies, which of course won't pay out on the event of suicide. However, Cryonics Institute in Clinton, Michigan is rather affordable at $28,000, excluding the price of transit, which can increase the cost to as much as $60,000 - you would be well advised to kill yourself in Clinton if you wnt this route.) You'd be limited in your choice of exit also: shooting yourself in the head would be out, and asphyxiation, which damages parts of the brain, would also be out. N, SN, charcoal, etc. would seemingly still.be viable.
And of course there's always the caveat that there's absolutely no guarantee you'd be able to be revived - perhaps revival is impossible for humans, perhaps current cryotechnology isn't sufficient for it, perhaps society completely collapses before the technology to reverse the process is developed, and perhaps the company you contract with goes bankrupt (though apparently the few companies specializing in the technology are trying to find ways around this, to avoid a situation that occurred in the 1970s where frozen bodies were being discarded when the company that handled them couldn't pay the bills). And even if it were possible, there's no guarantee you'd be happy in the time you find yourself in. But at least the possibility of trying exists.
Related: on cryopreservation and memory/identity:
This rotifer survived 24,000 years in ice.
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