How might cryonics fail?
The degree to which cryonics is successful for a particular patient will depend on how much of the patient’s original memory and personality survives the cryopreservation and restoration process. Assuming future medical capabilities are as effective as we expect, complete molecular repair and tissue regeneration should permit recovery of perfect health after any injury other than complete physical destruction. Unlike medicine today, which can leave a patient alive but suffering from chronic and incurable physical or neurological deficits, mature medical capabilities based on molecular repair should be able to cure almost all medical conditions — with the notable exception of permanent memory loss. Even here, it is important to distinguish between (1) loss of memory caused by failure of the retrieval mechanisms (which could eventually be cured), and (2) loss of memory caused by obliteration of the memory trace itself (which even future medical technology would not be able to repair). S
