Robert Ettinger, founder of cryonics, now CIs 106th patient

post by Paul Crowley (ciphergoth) · 2011-07-25T12:11:52.631Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 13 comments

Ben Best: Robert Ettinger deanimated today at around 4pm Eastern Time. He was under hospice care and had an ice bath sitting by his bedside.

Obituaries: Mike Darwin, Washington Post, Telegraph

Wikipedia

13 comments

Comments sorted by top scores.

comment by Normal_Anomaly · 2011-07-27T01:14:13.578Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I'm glad to hear the suspension went smoothly. I hope to congratulate Robert in person someday.

comment by Clippy · 2011-07-25T17:18:35.788Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

There exist only 106 Cryonics Institute patients???

Replies from: NancyLebovitz
↑ comment by NancyLebovitz · 2011-07-25T20:56:42.835Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

At first I was surprised, but if it's the number frozen rather than the number signed up, it doesn't seem wildly off.

Replies from: ciphergoth
↑ comment by Paul Crowley (ciphergoth) · 2011-07-25T22:49:45.903Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Alcor have about the same number, KrioRus 15, so about 227 total worldwide. About two thousand people are signed up.

Replies from: Clippy
↑ comment by Clippy · 2011-07-26T15:04:47.097Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

There exist only two thousand people worldwide who have signed up for cryonics?

Replies from: ciphergoth, MartinB
↑ comment by Paul Crowley (ciphergoth) · 2011-07-27T09:54:07.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

There are other services, but I think they all only have a handful of members between them, bringing the total up to less than two thousand.

"That's a high upper bound on the number of people on Earth who can reliably reach the right conclusion on massively overdetermined issues"

Replies from: Clippy
↑ comment by Clippy · 2011-08-02T15:09:54.565Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

That's stupid. I'd sign up for cryonics, if my identity could only be instantiated in biological hardware now.

↑ comment by MartinB · 2011-07-27T17:47:25.056Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Yes. My own estimate was off my a magnitude of 2 as well. It is really that low!

comment by Hyena · 2011-07-28T04:17:07.186Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

1918 - ?

comment by lsparrish · 2011-07-25T16:26:01.812Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Glad to hear he went into stasis under good conditions. This probably increases the chance that he can be repaired with nanotech/biotech rather than being scanned to a digital substrate. (He always hated the idea of being uploaded.) Congratulations on a good start to your trip through time, Robert.

Replies from: ciphergoth
↑ comment by Paul Crowley (ciphergoth) · 2011-07-25T22:37:12.999Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

If he gets reanimated, he will deserve to feel extremely smug.

Replies from: nazgulnarsil
↑ comment by nazgulnarsil · 2011-07-28T09:15:25.473Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

hoped for first words: "HA! Suckers!"

Replies from: ciphergoth
↑ comment by Paul Crowley (ciphergoth) · 2011-07-28T10:23:09.341Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I was sorry not to hear that his "last words" were "well, fingers crossed!"