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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 si

by KGIII 9y ago

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.

amelius 9y ago
I prefer the land in my neighborhood being used for cemeteries rather than for industry.
- KGIII 9y ago
  Well, there are other choices. I don't think it's limited to cemeteries or factories. There are houses and parks, things of that nature.
- anonytrary 9y ago
  Human death is an industry and cemeteries are some of the players. Cemeteries would be obsolete if all humans had evolved the habit of cremation instead of isolated burial. Cremation costs zero units of space, isolated burial costs a finite amount of space in a world with scarce space. If the market prefers isolated burial, then there's a market for space-consuming cemeteries. This probably costs a lot in government regulations, so cemeteries have to be big enough to absorb the initial costs. Cemeteries are kind of a dumb idea and part of a backwards industry, driven by some silly need to bury people in quaint suburbs of death. That sentiment is my bias showing, but it's kind of a no brainer: cemeteries are superfluous and are basically societal debt at this point. Let's hope we can count on people to move towards more economically friendly means of disposable: 1. Dump your dead friend in the woods. 2. Dump your dead friend in the ocean. 3. Dump your dead friend's ashes somewhere. These are all better options than hogging some space, digging a hole, dumping your dead friend into the hole, then telling everyone that this land forever belongs to someone who can no longer use it.
  - Brendinooo 9y ago
    I like cemeteries. They're a neat mix of history, nature, and art. They're often isolated, beautiful, and quiet. Important people get monuments in public squares; all but the most poor throughout US history get a small plot and a little headstone. It's fun to think about people who otherwise have been completely forgotten: the eras they lived in, the family members they're buried with, the countries where they came from, their accomplishments in life, and sometimes the sacrifices they made for me. They're no dumber than any other monument you see to anyone anywhere else, except these are the monuments for the 99%, figuratively speaking. Visiting a cemetery also reminds me that I'm mortal and one day my fate will be the same. There's an extremely fair case to be made against cemeteries from environmental and/or space concerns, and you can accomplish a lot of the above goals in other ways. However, the dismissal of a very human desire to remember and/or be remembered deserved a response.
    - anonytrary 9y ago
      Yeah the aesthetic argument is one I can't really argue against. I also like cemeteries for aesthetic reasons, but there's no reason why we couldn't preserve a forest and then plant monuments there, followed by cremation. Are physical monuments getting more or less popular? I mean, my whole history and life is basically on Facebook, which acts as a more thorough monument than any limited gravestone ever could. Remembering people through electronics seems like a complete eco-friendly replacement for altars and other space consuming habits.
icebraining 9y ago
Some comedian used to joke about the best land being taken up by golf courses and cemeteries. That was the great George Carlin: https://youtu.be/lncLOEqc9Rw?t=5m53s https://youtu.be/lncLOEqc9Rw?t=5m53s
- KGIII 9y ago
  That'd be him, thanks! He is buried in a cemetery, according to Google. I wonder why? He seems to have been rather principled and I'd have not expected him to do so. The other thing is that some really good thoughts come from comedians. Beneath the humor, there is frequently some good thoughts, intellectual thoughts. I wonder why this is? Psych is, obviously, not my domain. I don't really understand why we do many of the things we do, but I will avoid too much digression.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    Maybe the Google reference was wrong; at least, Wikipedia says his ashes were scattered: "In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered in front of various nightclubs he played in New York City and over Spofford Lake, in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, where he attended summer camp as an adolescent."
    - KGIII 9y ago
      Yeah, it looks like you're right - though he may have a tombstone, or the images of it might be faked. That makes more sense, as Carlin seemed (if nothing else) principled.

by KGIII 9y ago

amelius 9y ago

I prefer the land in my neighborhood being used for cemeteries rather than for industry.

KGIII 9y ago
Well, there are other choices. I don't think it's limited to cemeteries or factories. There are houses and parks, things of that nature.
anonytrary 9y ago
Human death is an industry and cemeteries are some of the players. Cemeteries would be obsolete if all humans had evolved the habit of cremation instead of isolated burial. Cremation costs zero units of space, isolated burial costs a finite amount of space in a world with scarce space. If the market prefers isolated burial, then there's a market for space-consuming cemeteries. This probably costs a lot in government regulations, so cemeteries have to be big enough to absorb the initial costs. Cemeteries are kind of a dumb idea and part of a backwards industry, driven by some silly need to bury people in quaint suburbs of death. That sentiment is my bias showing, but it's kind of a no brainer: cemeteries are superfluous and are basically societal debt at this point. Let's hope we can count on people to move towards more economically friendly means of disposable: 1. Dump your dead friend in the woods. 2. Dump your dead friend in the ocean. 3. Dump your dead friend's ashes somewhere. These are all better options than hogging some space, digging a hole, dumping your dead friend into the hole, then telling everyone that this land forever belongs to someone who can no longer use it.
- Brendinooo 9y ago
  I like cemeteries. They're a neat mix of history, nature, and art. They're often isolated, beautiful, and quiet. Important people get monuments in public squares; all but the most poor throughout US history get a small plot and a little headstone. It's fun to think about people who otherwise have been completely forgotten: the eras they lived in, the family members they're buried with, the countries where they came from, their accomplishments in life, and sometimes the sacrifices they made for me. They're no dumber than any other monument you see to anyone anywhere else, except these are the monuments for the 99%, figuratively speaking. Visiting a cemetery also reminds me that I'm mortal and one day my fate will be the same. There's an extremely fair case to be made against cemeteries from environmental and/or space concerns, and you can accomplish a lot of the above goals in other ways. However, the dismissal of a very human desire to remember and/or be remembered deserved a response.
  - anonytrary 9y ago
    Yeah the aesthetic argument is one I can't really argue against. I also like cemeteries for aesthetic reasons, but there's no reason why we couldn't preserve a forest and then plant monuments there, followed by cremation. Are physical monuments getting more or less popular? I mean, my whole history and life is basically on Facebook, which acts as a more thorough monument than any limited gravestone ever could. Remembering people through electronics seems like a complete eco-friendly replacement for altars and other space consuming habits.

icebraining 9y ago

Some comedian used to joke about the best land being taken up by golf courses and cemeteries. That was the great George Carlin: https://youtu.be/lncLOEqc9Rw?t=5m53s https://youtu.be/lncLOEqc9Rw?t=5m53s

KGIII 9y ago
That'd be him, thanks! He is buried in a cemetery, according to Google. I wonder why? He seems to have been rather principled and I'd have not expected him to do so. The other thing is that some really good thoughts come from comedians. Beneath the humor, there is frequently some good thoughts, intellectual thoughts. I wonder why this is? Psych is, obviously, not my domain. I don't really understand why we do many of the things we do, but I will avoid too much digression.
- icebraining 9y ago
  Maybe the Google reference was wrong; at least, Wikipedia says his ashes were scattered: "In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered in front of various nightclubs he played in New York City and over Spofford Lake, in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, where he attended summer camp as an adolescent."
  - KGIII 9y ago
    Yeah, it looks like you're right - though he may have a tombstone, or the images of it might be faked. That makes more sense, as Carlin seemed (if nothing else) principled.