Cryonics procedures can begin only after clinical death, and cryonics "patients" are legally dead. His methods were influential in the theories of cryonics (the cryopreservation of humans). In 1976, Ettinger founded the Cryonics Institute; his corpse was cryopreserved in 2011. Cryonics is generally regarded as a fringe pseudoscience. In 2009, writing in "Bioethics", David Shaw examines the ethical status of cryonics. Kurzweil has joined the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a cryonics company. Merkle is on the Board of Directors of the cryonics organization Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Medical science and cryobiologists generally regards cryonics with skepticism. Cryonics is regarded with skepticism within the mainstream scientific community. Some scientific literature is claimed to support the feasibility of cryonics. Outside the cryonics community, many scientists have strong skepticism toward cryonics methods. He served as legal counsel to the Cryonics Institute and the Immortalist Society. Relatively few stories have been published concerning using cryonics for medical time travel. Bedford is the only cryonics patient frozen before 1974 still preserved today. Minsky was an atheist, a signatory to the Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics.