How it feels to die
What does it feel like to drown? If you're decapitated, how long do you remain conscious? New Scientist has a fascinating feature on how it feels to die from a variety of causes. Electrocution, fire, heart attack... what goes on in your body as you shuffle off this mortal coil? From New Scientist:
Beheading, if somewhat gruesome, can be one of the quickest and least painful ways to die - so long as the executioner is skilled, his blade sharp, and the condemned sits still.Link
The height of decapitation technology is, of course, the guillotine. Officially adopted by the French government in 1792, it was seen as more humane than other methods of execution. When the guillotine was first used in public, onlookers were reportedly aghast at the speed of death.
Quick it may be, but consciousness is nevertheless believed to continue after the spinal chord is severed. A study in rats in 1991 found that it takes 2.7 seconds for the brain to consume the oxygen from the blood in the head; the equivalent figure for humans has been calculated at 7 seconds. Some macabre historical reports from post-revolutionary France cited movements of the eyes and mouth for 15 to 30 seconds after the blade struck, although these may have been post-mortem twitches and reflexes.
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Ugghhh....
A really stomach-churning subject this is.
And especially more so after news reports in the not-too-distant past of captives being beheaded by terrorists.
Yea, but the best has to be death during sleep. Imagine, you dream, and then you just dream, and dream, and dream. Based on how effed up you were or how good you were in this life I bet that differentiates between a nightmare or a blissful rest.
Oh man, I can't wait...
No sir. I don't like it.
How could they have neglected the report of Dr. Beaurieux showing that a person with a severed head can communicate for about 30 seconds.
And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViiB_dE3Lhs
I heard forever ago that people in the Navy Seals had to "drown" in a controlled situation during training so that they wouldn't panic/be afraid in the real situation but be able to better handle themselves and hopefully prevent it from really happening again. If I'm wrong I'm wrong but it's one of those odd facts that stuck in my head.
I can't help but think of Ned Flanders:
"Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins the movie by telling you how it ends. Well, I say there are some things we don't want to know. Important things!"
One unicorn chaser, please.
Chroma: Thanks for the link. I read it. I have this to add:
jibbliejibbliejibbliejibblie jibblie!!
How about that Aztec heart removal..........now that will slow you down.
Rossifumi's right about dying in your sleep. It was quite blissful.
The terrorists hardly used sharp blades as you could hear the victims gurgling blood during the decapitation.
hey dculberson, i wanted to continue an earlier discussion that dropped off the page (boing boing forums anyone?) shoot me an email at thefoundry AT gmail.com
i just had an interesting tidbit of info that related to something we were talking about.
One thing you can't forget about is the excess in pineal gland succretion. I have read that the moment of birth and the moment of death have this in common.
I think it's called the spirit molecule.
Someone ask for a chaser?
Cpt. Tim, one of the changes we're lobbying for is an extended version of the "recent Boing Boing entries" list, to make it easier for conversations to keep running after the story scrolls off the main page.
One of my friends electrocuted himself early on this year. I found myself compelled to read the article and then really, really wished I hadn't. Unicorn chaser please!
Yeah, the terrorists kinda sawed the heads off, from the front. I think the victims felt quite a bit, but probably had lost consciousness from blood loss and/or pain before the knife went through the spinal column.
(Insert disgusted, reactionary vitriol directed at terrorists that helps nothing and would only make things worse if it were actually carried out, but whose saying feels good at the time here.)
I think that we are too nice to prisoners who commit terrible crimes, maybe we should throw them into a tank of water.
I had a rather odd college English prof who went on about this subject a lot. Pity we didn't do David Copperfield that year.
Anyone that thinks this is interesting should check out Mary Roach's book Stiff. She has a whole chapter on the guillotine and the different studies done by scholars back in the day to see how long people lived and stayed conscious.
Really good read actually.
We've got the best technology for immediate and painless execution...head explosion. All you need to do is strap dynamite or other explosive around the head and detonate it. Since we now know that the brain is where all sensation truly lies, the millisecond disassembling of the cranium would be the quickest and most painless way to die.
Of course, it makes a hell of a mess, which is why it won't happen. Cruelty over cleanliness, I suppose.
I saw the terrorist-head-cut-off and it will haunt me for the rest of my life. I wish I hadn't seen it. (The horror of the gurgles as sporadic bursts of "Allah Akbar" could be heard. Man. Gives me the willies just thinking about it.)
I'm going to watch Teresa's chaser.
thanks Teresa, that would be cool
Giovanni (#20), Yes, good call. I really enjoyed Roach's Stiff. Here's a post from last year where I mentioned it in the context of Discover's list of "20 Things You Didn't Know About Death." Link
Have I got a great read for you! It's called Severance. Short stories. By necessity.
...Agreed on extending the past threads listing. Since the changeover to the new format, and the number of threads per day practically increased by 1/4th thanks to BBTV, threads are scrolling off the main page sometimes before the day is up it seems!
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/94/3/833:
"The fainting lark: voluntary self-induced instantaneous syncope. The fainting lark is a maneuver that combines effects of acute arterial hypotension by gravity and raised intrathoracic pressure with cerebral vasoconstriction in response to hypocapnia (64, 81). The maneuver induces almost instantaneous syncope in volunteers (95). The fainting lark has been used by children, high school students, and recruits as entertainment and also in the laboratory for research (64, 81, 95). Squatting in a full knee bend is combined with hyperventilation. The subject then suddenly stands up and performs forced expiration against a closed glottis. The maneuver provokes a precipitous and deep fall in arterial pressure, hyperventilation further reduces CBF, and the subject loses consciousness"
- because no blood enters the brain. The anecdote of the decapitated (De-bodied?) head focusing on Dr. Beaurieux s is pure BS.
With reference to decapitation, this is one reason I'm totally against halal meat. The animal's throat is cut (with a sharp knife) and it bleeds to death in agony, slithering around in its own blood. I don't care how sharp your knife is, that's the kind of thing you're going to feel. This is done in the name of religion. There was a call to ban it in the UK a couple of years back, but the religion flag was waved and religious freedom took precidence over cruelty to animals. Again.
With reference to decapitation, this is one reason I find halal meat unconscionable. The animal's throat is cut (with a sharp knife) and it bleeds to death in agony, slithering around in its own blood. I don't care how sharp your knife is, that's the kind of thing you're going to feel. Done in the name of religion, there was a call to ban halal meat in the UK a couple of years back, but the religion flag was waved and religious freedom took precidence over cruelty to animals. Again.
In Saudi Arabia, beheading is the preferred choice for today's legal extinction enablement technician.
The executioners have to be very careful when handling the newly liberated heads as they have a tendency to bite for quite some time afterwards. Revenge being a dish best served VERY cold.
About the spirit molecule from comment #14, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-meo-dmt. So I guess someone could actually experiment the 'feeling' of dying but it is against the law to take those drugs so I wouldnt recommend it.
About the spirit molecule from comment #14, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-meo-dmt. So I guess someone could actually experiment the 'feeling' of dying but it is against the law to take those drugs so I wouldnt recommend it.
Re: decapitation...I was lead to believe that it wasn't the lack of oxygen per se that caused unconsciousness, but rather the massive and instantaneous drop in blood pressure.
My preferred method for humane execution would be a slight variation on the method employed by the state during the Soviet Era. The condemned would be alone in a room where they could contemplate their condition in silence not knowing if or when they would be dispatched. A marksman using a hidden opening would fire a shot to the head at close range. The speed of the bullet, which is faster than the speed at which sensation can travel from one neuron to another, insures a painless death free of the anxiety from seeing the path one is condemned to take. Ironic, isn't it, that ourown system, obsessed with the idea of not being cruel has devised what to my mind is the ultimate horror device in which the human mind can agonize as it has a lot of time in which to think and project itself into the most horrible sense of loss and pain.
Two things.
1) (#22) It sucks that the words "Allah Akbar" give you the willies, since you will forever relate it to decapitation. "Allah Akbar" is one of the truest proclamations one will ever hear. It means that "the Creator is Great" and truer words can never be spoken.
I hate those bastards hijacking my religion and having satanic fun with it.
2) "Halal Meat", why did you leave out "Kosher Meat"??? The animal is executed in the same way.
Go to Peta, there are FAR WORSE ways Corporations kill livestock (electrocution, clubbing, ETC) The sharp knife on the jugular is the most logical method for Homo-Sapiens to slaughter their food.