Cryonics in the UK Press
The recent cryosuspension of Robert Ettinger has led to a flurry of press articles; this is one of the better ones: "British photojournalist Murray Ballard, who has documented every aspect of cryonics there is to see (beyond the currently unachievable final stage, of course). Ballard's project began while he was studying photography at the University of Brighton, when he was inspired by the story of a French couple who had held hopes of being revived after their death; unfortunately the freezer storing their bodies broke down. Intrigued, the photographer's research led him first to a group of enthusiasts based just along the Sussex coast in Peacehaven, and before long he and his camera made their first trip to the three main cryonic storage sites in the US and Russia. There are around 1,000 people around the world like those in Peacehaven who have signed up to be preserved in the hope they can be reanimated in the future - with 459 having signed contracts with Ettinger's non-profit organisation - but Ballard says that most of those he has met understand it is very much an experimental and unproven science. ... During his project he paid two visits to Ettinger's institute, as well as three visits each to the KrioRus plant just outside Moscow, where another 15 'patients' are currently held in cryostasis, and the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona which holds 104. ... Essentially all you need is the brain. The theory is that the brain is like a hard drive that stores all your memories and your personality. When you are revived at some point in the distant future, a new body will be grown to house your brain, or an entirely new brain may be built for them to somehow upload your personality into it."