While we are on the topic I'd like to remind everyone that the absolute best thing that you can do for your family, friends, and loved ones in the event of your death is plan for it ahead of time. If you're sick or elderly consider prepaying for whatever services you'd like. The death industry is shady as fuck and it's easy to take advantage of the bereaved, who are in a fragile emotional state, just to make a quick buck. You have the ability to properly do your research, comparison shop, and plan rationally beforehand so use it.
When she reached 90 my great grandma prepaid for all her funeral services and had everything all set, including the dress she wanted to be buried in. Nobody had to worry about a thing. Of course, you risk some places going out of business, so this should be done only if your life expectancy is around, say, 5 years or so.
Here in The Netherlands you can insure yourself for a lot of things. Life insurance is one of the insurances to consider; it is generally good idea. If you start with it from your youth you pay less per year than if you start paying on from say your mid 30s.
Its also interesting how the elder go to retirement homes here, while in the USA it is normal to have your (grand)parents live with you if they're old age. Basically unheard of here in NL.
This is a good idea and a great relief for the family. Make sure you leave all the documentation in a place where your loved ones can find it, though. We’re pretty sure that my grandfather had paid for his burial plot decades before he died but didn’t have the records. Meanwhile the cemetery had a record of a plot reserved but somehow no payment....
I went to a funeral company, met a distinguished guy ready for his role of grieving with me over the loss of someone, and was completely taken off guard when I wanted to discuss the details of my funeral in 40 years or so. There was no way to prepare this with him and I doubt it is possible with any other company.
Although I don't like the thought of my body rotting somewhere, I do think it's probably just fair if my available biomass is turned after something useful after I'm dead, considering how much I will have consumed during my life. It's still only a symbolic gesture, but in that sense I'd prefer being liquefied and used as fertilizer to just being burned to relatively useless ash.
I wonder what the most ecologically useful way of disposing of a body is.
> Instead of burying the corpse, Zoroastrians traditionally laid it out on a purpose built tower (dokhma or 'Tower of Silence') to be exposed to the sun and eaten by birds of prey such as vultures.
There's an interesting concept I saw a few years back of the mushroom body suit: http://grist.org/living/mushroom-burial-suit-turns-dead-bodi.... It's essentially a bag laced with mushroom spores. You put it on an unembalmed body and bury it and the mushrooms use the corpse as fuel. Something like that and a backyard burial is probably the most ecologically friendly way of disposing of a body.
There's an eco-friendly cremation process that was developed within the past two decades, where the body is flash-frozen using liquid nitrogen, and then pulverized into powder with vibration. Whatever happened to that? I'm finding articles on it from 1997, but it looks like it never gained much popularity.
Ecologically useful is leaving it out to be broken down in a warm biologically active wild. Minimum energy spent, and it will provide energy throughout the local biome.
You could look at "green burial", a small but growing option in the US. All natural materials for the casket, no embalming, a more or less natural site for burial. You can also be buried green-ly on your own land in certain more rural/wild jurisdictions.
"normal" burial is pretty eco IMO. Your body goes back to mother earth, especially if the Jewish /Muslim tradition of just wrapping the dead person in a cloth is adapted.
A girlfriend in medical school said she wish she had a cadaver like my body for anatomy class. She said that she and nearly everyone in the class had to cut through inches of fat to get to the organs, also covered in fat. Such bodies may represent today's population better, but she said you could learn better without it.
Once they're done using your body, they still need to dispose of the remains. By "giving your body to science" you are avoiding having to make a decision at a personal level, but it doesn't answer the question of the best way to dispose of our deads at a societal level.
The New York Times had a fascinating article trying to track down the people who ended up being buried in "Potter's Field". One story that stuck with me was of a wealthy, accomplished woman who donated her body to science. Once the New York University School of Medicine was done with her, her remains "now lies with 144 strangers in Trench 359."
"The bodies are not placed on the ground because their presence would corrupt the earth. For the same reason, Zoroastrians do not cremate their dead, as it would corrupt the fire.
The dakhma is a wide tower with a platform open to the sky. Corpses are left on the platform to be picked clean by vultures, a process which only takes a few hours. This allows a body to be consumed before dangerous corruption sets in."
Yes but the problem with sky burials are the environmental contamination of leaving hundreds of bodies (or whatever remains after the vultures have their supper) to slowly decompose in one single spot. You can easily google for images of typical Zoroastrian "Towers of Silence" and see that quite a lot of stuff is left over, which the villagers just sweep off the ledge into the center hole. The idea that the corpse is "picked clean" is really debatable and demonstrably false in many cases, as you can clearly see in the images of Towers of Silence. I don't pretend to be privy to the facts -- and perhaps someone will correct me with a citation -- but from my understanding, "environmental contamination" is often one of the arguments against allowing the construction of Towers of Silence.
I'd like to undergo taxidermy stretched over a robotic skeleton. With a bank of Li-ion batteries and a charging port on the belly button. And of course a few hard drives and a board or three and lots of sensors.
That way I can pre-program a bunch of activities for myself after death and finally catch up on all the stuff I meant to do but never got around to.
I wonder if this "alkaline hydrolysis" effectively destroys prions. With 1/9 people over 65 afflicted with Alzheimer's - and that's diagnosed - I am of the unconventional suspicion that prions are a culprit[1], though I am aware it is not a well-received suspicion. We've known for years that plants can uptake prions. We've verified that in cases of chronic-wasting-disease (etiology = prions) animal droppings from infected wildlife contain prions, which implies that humans may also pass prions through fecal matter and are perhaps more easily spread than popularly accepted. With the common application of Sludge (municipally treated and redistributed sewage) and the primarily bacterial means of processing it, it too seems a source of spreading prions. I wonder if more caution is due regarding the spreading of such a persistently virulent thing, and if the risk of prions isn't underestimated in many respects.
It makes sense. Some comedian used to joke about the best land being taken up by golf courses and cemeteries. So, that has always stuck with me and I've long since planned on getting cremated.
I'd prefer a sky burial but that's difficult, or so I am told.
My goal is to become a fossil - literally - and take a message to the future with me. I'd need to be buried in soil likely to become sedimentary rock, something like a bog, or maybe a muddy river delta. For my message, I'd take something like a wooden abacus or astrolabe, something that will petrify like my mortal remains. I know, the chances are missions to one my fossil will ever be found, and we can only imagine by whom or what. But what a story that fossil will tell!
I’d be down for this if my current plans are still too expensive to be an option when I die.
I’d like to be flung out of a mass driver towards interstellar space, naked, in the “starfish position.”
Starfish position for the uninformed is arms out, legs out. You know, the position you take when you drop onto your bed exhausted at the end of a long day.
Except my final bed would be emptiness, forever cartwheeling into the abyss...
I keep telling people I want a Viking funeral. And not one of those silly, historically accurate ship burials. I want to be pushed out to sea in a longship with a sword laid across my chest, with an expert longbowman to set me on fire with flaming arrows.
Is it anachronistic? Yes. Am I a badass Scandanavian warrior? Not even a little. Do I actually worship Thor? Only on census forms. But it makes me laugh about my death so I'll keep telling people that's what I want.
In my actual will, I'm an organ donor and donate anything left over to science, but no one needs to know that just yet.
Is that technique really "greener" than cremation ? Maybe you're not generating as much CO2 on-site but sodium hydroxide is made by electrolysing salt so it consumes a lot of energy.
>The environmental benefits of alkaline hydrolysis are significant. Its carbon footprint is about a tenth of that caused by burning bodies. Mr. Wilson said liquefaction uses a fraction of the energy of a standard cremator and releases no fumes.... the [effluent] is sterile and contains nutrients, so much so that it can be and is used as a fertilizer. Rick Vonderwell, who manages Tails Remembered, a pet crematory in Delphos, Ohio, uses the effluent at his farm, as do several large universities.
I thought you were completely dissolved to the core making some kind of primordial soup, it was beautiful, until I read there are still bones at the end they can put in an urn. Could be better. The device is still worth it. Maybe the 500k model can do it?
I like the fact you go into the sewage system or be used as fertilizer (if you are a pet). At the end, you can be drunk or eaten by other people.
Only beaten by: A/space burial to the sun or frozen in the middle of total vacuum B/cryo C/science.
Cryonics + post enough incentive for someone to wake you up. The best incentive for someone to wake you up I came up with is putting lots of money in cryptocurrency and remembering the private key and writing "Will pay X BTC to anyone who wakes me up"
I started a beach Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Erie, PA 17 years ago called Don't Give Up The Disc. It's become many people's favorite weekend of the year and though I no longer run it I've made it back all but 1 year.
My plan is to be cremated and to have my ashes scattered on Beach 11 at Presque Isle State Park at the opening of the tournament following my death.
Bonus points if they can get some custom 175g frisbee made with my ashes mixed in the plastic, as they did with Ed Hedrick.
"[Damon] Runyon died in New York City from throat cancer in late 1946, at age 66. His body was cremated, and his ashes were illegally scattered from a DC-3 airplane over Broadway in Manhattan by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker on December 18, 1946."
[+] [-] astura|8 years ago|reply
When she reached 90 my great grandma prepaid for all her funeral services and had everything all set, including the dress she wanted to be buried in. Nobody had to worry about a thing. Of course, you risk some places going out of business, so this should be done only if your life expectancy is around, say, 5 years or so.
[+] [-] Fnoord|8 years ago|reply
Here in The Netherlands you can insure yourself for a lot of things. Life insurance is one of the insurances to consider; it is generally good idea. If you start with it from your youth you pay less per year than if you start paying on from say your mid 30s.
Its also interesting how the elder go to retirement homes here, while in the USA it is normal to have your (grand)parents live with you if they're old age. Basically unheard of here in NL.
[+] [-] dpark|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BrandoElFollito|8 years ago|reply
I went to a funeral company, met a distinguished guy ready for his role of grieving with me over the loss of someone, and was completely taken off guard when I wanted to discuss the details of my funeral in 40 years or so. There was no way to prepare this with him and I doubt it is possible with any other company.
[+] [-] Asdfbla|8 years ago|reply
I wonder what the most ecologically useful way of disposing of a body is.
[+] [-] signal11|8 years ago|reply
> Instead of burying the corpse, Zoroastrians traditionally laid it out on a purpose built tower (dokhma or 'Tower of Silence') to be exposed to the sun and eaten by birds of prey such as vultures.
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/zoroastrian/ritesrit...
[+] [-] trowawee|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cyeb|8 years ago|reply
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-burial-machine-that-...
[+] [-] zanny|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] moogly|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Gargoyle|8 years ago|reply
http://www.us-funerals.com/funeral-articles/directory-of-gre...
[+] [-] curun1r|8 years ago|reply
There seems to be a lot of TED talkers focusing on this question:
https://www.ted.com/talks/jae_rhim_lee
https://www.ted.com/talks/katrina_spade_when_i_die_recompose...
https://www.ted.com/talks/caitlin_doughty_a_burial_practice_...
[+] [-] na85|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tryingagainbro|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] spodek|8 years ago|reply
A girlfriend in medical school said she wish she had a cadaver like my body for anatomy class. She said that she and nearly everyone in the class had to cut through inches of fat to get to the organs, also covered in fat. Such bodies may represent today's population better, but she said you could learn better without it.
[+] [-] visarga|8 years ago|reply
Such a compliment
[+] [-] dorfsmay|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jbuzbee|8 years ago|reply
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/15/nyregion/new-...
[+] [-] helipad|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zaroth|8 years ago|reply
Pre-med have all the best pickup lines.
[+] [-] scandox|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Ice_cream_suit|8 years ago|reply
"The bodies are not placed on the ground because their presence would corrupt the earth. For the same reason, Zoroastrians do not cremate their dead, as it would corrupt the fire.
The dakhma is a wide tower with a platform open to the sky. Corpses are left on the platform to be picked clean by vultures, a process which only takes a few hours. This allows a body to be consumed before dangerous corruption sets in."
http://www.avesta.org/ritual/funeral.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/zoroastrian/ritesrit...
https://www.thoughtco.com/zoroastrian-funerals-95949
[+] [-] fapjacks|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrec|8 years ago|reply
Beyond the symbolic aspects, it's practical in regions where there's very little wood for cremation, and the ground may be too hard for actual burial.
[+] [-] wybiral|8 years ago|reply
Don't tell Soylent about this.
[+] [-] nate_meurer|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mythrwy|8 years ago|reply
That way I can pre-program a bunch of activities for myself after death and finally catch up on all the stuff I meant to do but never got around to.
[+] [-] eth0up|8 years ago|reply
[1] James Ironside on prions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlIYGYA5q0s
[+] [-] KGIII|8 years ago|reply
I'd prefer a sky burial but that's difficult, or so I am told.
[+] [-] icebraining|8 years ago|reply
That was the great George Carlin:
https://youtu.be/lncLOEqc9Rw?t=5m53s
[+] [-] amelius|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeDaDude|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adrianN|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lwansbrough|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alex_dev|8 years ago|reply
Don't people know what happens to the body's blood during embalming? Goes down the drain.
I've already told my family that this is my preferred burial method.
[+] [-] odammit|8 years ago|reply
I’d like to be flung out of a mass driver towards interstellar space, naked, in the “starfish position.”
Starfish position for the uninformed is arms out, legs out. You know, the position you take when you drop onto your bed exhausted at the end of a long day.
Except my final bed would be emptiness, forever cartwheeling into the abyss...
Until I hit an asteroid or something.
[+] [-] CydeWeys|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stult|8 years ago|reply
Is it anachronistic? Yes. Am I a badass Scandanavian warrior? Not even a little. Do I actually worship Thor? Only on census forms. But it makes me laugh about my death so I'll keep telling people that's what I want.
In my actual will, I'm an organ donor and donate anything left over to science, but no one needs to know that just yet.
[+] [-] KboPAacDA3|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ilaksh|8 years ago|reply
The only thing to get past is the way the idea reminds me of an episode of Breaking Bad.
[+] [-] ajnin|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] astura|8 years ago|reply
>The environmental benefits of alkaline hydrolysis are significant. Its carbon footprint is about a tenth of that caused by burning bodies. Mr. Wilson said liquefaction uses a fraction of the energy of a standard cremator and releases no fumes.... the [effluent] is sterile and contains nutrients, so much so that it can be and is used as a fertilizer. Rick Vonderwell, who manages Tails Remembered, a pet crematory in Delphos, Ohio, uses the effluent at his farm, as do several large universities.
[+] [-] Ileca|8 years ago|reply
Only beaten by: A/space burial to the sun or frozen in the middle of total vacuum B/cryo C/science.
Btw, it's the mobile version of the page. Here is the full one: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/business/flameless-cremat...
[+] [-] dorfsmay|8 years ago|reply
I'm not a pet, but would love to be used as fertilizer.
[+] [-] kozikow|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ada1981|8 years ago|reply
My plan is to be cremated and to have my ashes scattered on Beach 11 at Presque Isle State Park at the opening of the tournament following my death.
Bonus points if they can get some custom 175g frisbee made with my ashes mixed in the plastic, as they did with Ed Hedrick.
[+] [-] mcguire|8 years ago|reply
I heard it was a B-17, but Wikipedia says that.
[+] [-] listic|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mavhc|8 years ago|reply
https://www.ted.com/talks/jae_rhim_lee
Does cost a lot though, $1500 http://coeio.com/