https://doi.org/10.4081/mem.2025.1631
From autonomy to automatons: the technocratic threat posed by cryonic suspension
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This paper examines the implications of creating a technocratic society where advancements in such medical technologies as cryonic suspension pose significant threats to human autonomy and individualism. A cryonically suspended body and its hypothetical revival in the future could embody characteristics akin to an automaton (e.g., lack of agency, suspended autonomy). To validate this argument, an example of cryonic suspension and what if a cryonically- alive society existed has been used. I then examine to what degree cryonic suspension contributes to creating a technocratic society and how such a society will be in the future. The three main themes that emerge from this research are: a) A cryonically-alive technocratic society puts technology over ethics, b) A cryonically-alive technocratic society adopts Reductionist Approach to solve complex social problems, and c) Technological Elitism will thrive in such a society because of unequal access to the technology and cryonically-alive societies will have the potential to create a new, disproportionately powerful upper class by elevating the stature and influence of technological experts. The conversation emphasizes how such technologies run the risk of escalating socioeconomic disparities while diminishing individuality to mechanical concepts by questioning conventional ideas of the natural life cycle, self-determination, and across generations equality. The paper argues for a more comprehensive ethical framework to assess these developments in the backdrop of fairness, control, and shared responsibility by exploring the concept of death from a scientific, legal and ethical perspective.
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