Why Is Cryonics So Unpopular?
People are clearly interested in cheating death. Why, then, do they chase all sorts of magical thinking and pseudoscience rather than one of the few methods that should actually work? From Depressed Metabolism: "In his 1998 essay 'The Failure of the Cryonics Movement' (part 1, part 2), Saul Kent stresses that cryonics has remained so unpopular because nobody thinks it will work. ... The view that acceptance of cryonics is being held back by the perception that it is not technically feasible is hard to reconcile with the observation that increased technical progress in cryonics does not translate into rapid membership growth. It is also hard to reconcile with the fact that millions of people hold on to views that cannot be falsified with any scientific method whatsoever. Perhaps there is a scientific tipping point beyond which people will sign up in droves for cryonics. For example, some cryonics activists argue that demonstration of reversible vitrification of a small animal will have such an effect. This may or may not be the case, but it still leaves the puzzle unresolved as to why cryonics organizations were not swamped with membership requests after publishing electron micrographs that demonstrated excellent ultrastructural preservation of brain tissue after vitrification."
Link: http://www.depressedmetabolism.com/2008/05/29/why-is-cryonics-so-unpopular/