Prediction: human hibernation will reduce aircraft emissions
Human hibernation has made some strides recently. I think a year or so ago a Wired mag article said the only significant unsolved problem is shivering. They have a cocktail of drugs that makes hibernation possible apart from the fact that people shiver at low temps.
If they solve this, I will gladly prefer to be shipped as cargo on a sail boat or airship so long as someone tends to a heart monitor to ensure a few heartbeats per min or whatever is still happening. No more Gestappo airport security, stresses of delayed flights, screaming babies, people eating Camembert cheese within 5 meters of you. You age at like ⅓ the rate in hibernation (or something like that). I’d gladly trade a week of reduced useful lifetime in exchange for a later death (experiencing more of the future than otherwise possible). The idea of being able to easily flip the middle finger to Boeing would also be a nice perk. (#boycottBoeing)
You trust those private systems every time you visit the hospital. It’s not ideal but I think a lot of people trust doctors and nurses more readily than they would trust Boeing not to sweep fatal flaws under the rug and cheap out on training pilots about those flaws. If that sounds strangely specific, well yes, it’s specific indeed. (check out the Boeing 737 Max fiasco if you’re not familiar)
Hibernation reduces probability of medical emergency
Also consider that you’re much less likely to have a medical emergency in hibernation. What happens now if you have a medical emergency on a 6 hour flight? You’re fucked if you need something other than CPR or basic medicine. In hibernation problems are much less likely to manifest than when your metabolic rate is normal (not counting what the stresses of air travel do to metabolic rate).
Hibernation increases survival rate if there is an issue
One of the main applications for human hibernation is actually medical emergencies. People being transported in ambulances are sometimes seconds away from death. So medics want to be able to put you on ice immediately & induce hibernation so that every second stretches to tens of seconds so they have time to get you to the hospital.
Thus your mortality rate drops if you’re hibernating on ground/sea transport as opposed to flying without hibernation.
UPDATE
Great timing! Shortly after saying you trust #Boeing with your safety more than medics, there is yet another safety scandal with the #737max.
Dont know where you live, but in GER most Hospitals are state owned and controlled. I wouldnt do something like full narcose in a private hospital lol.
Picture this. Instead of fighting through an airport to get on a flight, you check in to a facility next to a trucking yard. You get put under, trucked to the nearest railyard, and transported to the nearest port. There, you get offloaded to a cargo vessel and transported to a different continent. Reverse the process to get you awake and refreshed and maybe even time zone compensated at your destination.
No air travel, no aircraft emissions.
Doesn't sound like something I'd do, but I'd read a science fiction book that examined the implications.
You don’t need air travel if you can go into hibernation for a lengthy period on slower travel methods.
Also worth noting one of the main drives for human hibernation: nutrient/food intake is cut to like ⅙ when hibernating, so you can be shipped to Mars and that hugely weight-sensitive payload allowance can be cut down to a manageable amount. IIRC, 1 person eats 1 ton of food throughout the whole trip to Mars (3 years). That food weight is a substantial hinderance in sending people to Mars, at least in numbers.
EDIT: also consider that room + board on a cargo ship is currently ~$100/day, making it much more costly than air travel in addition to having to tolerate the length of the trip. Your cost of travel in hibernation would surely fall to more like ~$20/day, making it financially more attractive than flying.
Also worth noting one of the main drives for human hibernation: nutrient/food intake is cut to like ⅙ when hibernating, so you can be shipped to Mars and that hugely weight-sensitive payload allowance can be cut down to a manageable amount. IIRC, 1 person eats 1 ton of food throughout the whole trip to Mars (3 years). That food weight is a substantial hinderance in sending people to Mars, at least in numbers.
Space travel? Yes, that makes sense. But working on this just so we can attend a party on Ibiza... no, it doesn't IMO.
The reason for developing this is what bothers me and makes no sense IMO.