The life extension / cryopreservation gunk is something that has roots in a thought form of 'extropism' that you'll see in rationalist forums like lesswrong.
I think it's the other way around - some people saw the possibilities and formalized their thoughts as extropism. It's not the first group to have these thoughts. See Russian Cosmism, for example.
I think it's deeply flawed and anthropocentric.