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This article is from the Cryonics FAQ, by Tim Freeman tim@infoscreen.com with numerous contributions by others.

9-1 Words to Use (cryonics vocabulary)

CRFT has a glossary on pp. 57 - 58.

biostasis - Synonym for "suspension".

cardiac arrest - Cessation of heartbeat.

clinical death - A person is clinically dead if they are in cardiac
arrest and their pupils do not contract when light is shined into them.

cryobiology - Biology at low temperatures. This includes organ preservation.

cryogenics - Science in general at low temperatures.

cryonics - The practice of freezing people at the end of their natural
lifespan, hoping for eventual reanimation.

information-theoretic death - A person has reached
information-theoretic death if a healthy state of that person could
not possibly be deduced from the current state. The exact timing of
information-theoretic death depends on presently unknown details of
how the brain works. The current best estimates put it several hours
after clinical death.

ischemia - Damage to tissues due to oxygen deprivation.

legal death - A person is legally dead if a doctor has signed a death
certificate with his or her name on it. This tends to happen when the
doctor believes that modern technology will not be able to restore
them to health. The criteria for legal death change with time.

neurosuspension - The practice of only freezing a person's head or
brain.

revival - The process of restoring a clinically dead person to health.

suspension - The process of preserving a person for eventual revival,
usually by freezing in liquid nitrogen. This happens after legal
death but hopefully before information-theoretic death.

 

Continue to:

• prev: 8-2. What is a cryomsg? How do I fetch one?
• Index
• next: 9-1 Words Not to Use (cryonics vocabulary)

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