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Byrne has been dead for 200 years. The reason he wanted to be buried at sea, was so he would not be dissected. That ship has sailed long ago. There is also no o

Byrne has been dead for 200 years. The reason he wanted to be buried at sea, was so he would not be dissected. That ship has sailed long ago. There is also no one alive that knew Byrne personally. Thus, the only reason to bury Byrne at sea according to his wishes is to feel good about ourselves and to revel in our superiority over the unethical people of the past. In addition, burying the bones at sea, would also bury the story of Byrne in a large way. The better thing to do is to continue displaying the bones but with a prominent plaque that tells his story and how easy it is for people who think they are doing good for humanity in general (and Hunter certainly thought so) to do very bad things to actual humans. That is a lesson that will need repeating for a long time.

jonathankoren 8y ago
Flip this around. What's the reason for keeping him displayed against his wishes? Because, that's what what we're already doing? Just because something was done for a long time isn't a reason to keep doing it. The question is if the reasons for doing it in the past are still relevant today. Let's be honest here. He was stolen, boiled and stuck in a box. Then shown off for arguably educational purposes. But whatever scientific benefit the bones had is long since exhausted as the a DNA sample was already taken. The benefit for public viewing could easily be accomplished by a plastic model. So why shouldn't he be buried at sea? Why should we not correct obvious wrongs? What benefit does it serve? To show that people can do bad things with impunity? That we don't care? If the whole point of keeping his skeleton is to stick a plaque on it, why not just put up the plaque? What's the point of the skeleton at all?