8 ms·

The clear message is that if you run the body through a large grinder before burial, it will degrade far faster.

droopyEyelids 3y ago
This is already available for livestock, and if you'd like to see it in disturbing action, you can search YouTube for "Whole animal carcass shredder | shredder for bio Methanation" It's useful for methane production, as well as extracting lipids for industrial purposes. Efficiency in disposal of human remains is a disturbing topic and I'm not sure thats what we should be optimizing for!
- alanbernstein 3y ago
  > Efficiency in disposal of human remains is a disturbing topic and I'm not sure thats what we should be optimizing for! It may be important for space colonization one day!
  - seabass-labrax 3y ago
    Isn't space colonization one of the potential ways to get rid of undesirable persons for whom you would otherwise need that efficient human remain disposal for?
    - __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
      Do you mean people like telephone sanitisers, account executives, hairdressers, tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, public relations executives, and management consultants?
    - alanbernstein 3y ago
      Certainly not an efficient way
toomuchtodo 3y ago
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-water-cremation-become-the-new-american-way-of-death-180980479/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-water-cremat... (Smithsonian Magazine: Could Water Cremation Become the New American Way of Death?) > During alkaline hydrolysis, a human body is sealed in a long, stainless-steel chamber, while a heated solution of 95 percent water and 5 percent sodium hydroxide passes over and around it. In low-temperature alkaline hydrolysis, the solution reaches a temperature just below boiling, the process is performed at atmospheric pressure, and the body is reduced over the course of 14 to 16 hours; in a higher-temperature version of the process where the mixture tops 300 degrees Fahrenheit and creates more pressure, the body is reduced in four to six hours. The process dissolves the bonds in the body’s tissues and eventually yields a sterile, liquid combination of amino acids, peptides, salts, sugars and soaps, which is disposed of down the drain at the alkaline hydrolysis facility. The body’s bones are then ground to a fine powder and returned to the deceased person’s survivors, just as the bones that remain after flame cremation are returned to families as ash.
- projektfu 3y ago
  It also retains more mass in the ash than cremation, so less of your loved one goes up the smoke stack (or down the drain).
  - appplication 3y ago
    I recall when I received my father’s remains it felt like almost an inconveniently large amount of ashes. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think mass efficiently is really a primary concern. I’d have been just fine with a little vial. I recall being self conscious after attempting to spread the ashes at the beach on a mildly windy day and inadvertently creating a large dark cloud of human dust. And then wondering what to do with the pile of ash in the sand? I guess I’ll kick this about a bit to spread it around? It was all weird and a little funny, but things you don’t really think about until you do it.
    - projektfu 3y ago
      Yeah the classic scene from the Big Lebowski comes to mind, with the Dude getting a face-full of ash downwind.
KMnO4 3y ago
Isn't it interesting how we immediately get uncomfortable with that thought? I’m sure I’m not the only one. Logically, there’s no reason to get upset about bodies being ground up after they’re dead (since, well, they’re dead). But something about the (cultural?) sanctity of death and burial turns a whole lot of gears in my brain that I can’t explain.
- orbital-decay 3y ago
  That's purely cultural - sky burial is a thing in some parts of the world.
  - boulos 3y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial For those that don't know the term
- vore 3y ago
  Personally, I feel like I'm not any more uncomfortable with it anymore than I am with cremation – both would be pretty gnarly if they happened to you if you were alive!
  - hunter2_ 3y ago
    If we're using applied while alive as a guide, burial might be the worst on account of duration...
- jeffrallen 3y ago
  I can't explain it either, but I'm the total opposite of you. My body will be trash, do whatever with it. Compost me, who cares. My spirit will live in the memories of others, which is why the things I do and say now are important. Hofstadter explains this concept of self, spirit, and memory in I am a Strange Loop: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Strange_Loop https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Strange_Loop
- jabroni_salad 3y ago
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

This is already available for livestock, and if you'd like to see it in disturbing action, you can search YouTube for "Whole animal carcass shredder | shredder for bio Methanation" It's useful for methane production, as well as extracting lipids for industrial purposes. Efficiency in disposal of human remains is a disturbing topic and I'm not sure thats what we should be optimizing for!

alanbernstein 3y ago
> Efficiency in disposal of human remains is a disturbing topic and I'm not sure thats what we should be optimizing for! It may be important for space colonization one day!
- seabass-labrax 3y ago
  Isn't space colonization one of the potential ways to get rid of undesirable persons for whom you would otherwise need that efficient human remain disposal for?
  - __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
    Do you mean people like telephone sanitisers, account executives, hairdressers, tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, public relations executives, and management consultants?
  - alanbernstein 3y ago
    Certainly not an efficient way

toomuchtodo 3y ago

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-water-cremation-become-the-new-american-way-of-death-180980479/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-water-cremat... (Smithsonian Magazine: Could Water Cremation Become the New American Way of Death?) > During alkaline hydrolysis, a human body is sealed in a long, stainless-steel chamber, while a heated solution of 95 percent water and 5 percent sodium hydroxide passes over and around it. In low-temperature alkaline hydrolysis, the solution reaches a temperature just below boiling, the process is performed at atmospheric pressure, and the body is reduced over the course of 14 to 16 hours; in a higher-temperature version of the process where the mixture tops 300 degrees Fahrenheit and creates more pressure, the body is reduced in four to six hours. The process dissolves the bonds in the body’s tissues and eventually yields a sterile, liquid combination of amino acids, peptides, salts, sugars and soaps, which is disposed of down the drain at the alkaline hydrolysis facility. The body’s bones are then ground to a fine powder and returned to the deceased person’s survivors, just as the bones that remain after flame cremation are returned to families as ash.

projektfu 3y ago
It also retains more mass in the ash than cremation, so less of your loved one goes up the smoke stack (or down the drain).
- appplication 3y ago
  I recall when I received my father’s remains it felt like almost an inconveniently large amount of ashes. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think mass efficiently is really a primary concern. I’d have been just fine with a little vial. I recall being self conscious after attempting to spread the ashes at the beach on a mildly windy day and inadvertently creating a large dark cloud of human dust. And then wondering what to do with the pile of ash in the sand? I guess I’ll kick this about a bit to spread it around? It was all weird and a little funny, but things you don’t really think about until you do it.
  - projektfu 3y ago
    Yeah the classic scene from the Big Lebowski comes to mind, with the Dude getting a face-full of ash downwind.

KMnO4 3y ago

Isn't it interesting how we immediately get uncomfortable with that thought? I’m sure I’m not the only one. Logically, there’s no reason to get upset about bodies being ground up after they’re dead (since, well, they’re dead). But something about the (cultural?) sanctity of death and burial turns a whole lot of gears in my brain that I can’t explain.

orbital-decay 3y ago
That's purely cultural - sky burial is a thing in some parts of the world.
- boulos 3y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial For those that don't know the term
vore 3y ago
Personally, I feel like I'm not any more uncomfortable with it anymore than I am with cremation – both would be pretty gnarly if they happened to you if you were alive!
- hunter2_ 3y ago
  If we're using applied while alive as a guide, burial might be the worst on account of duration...
jeffrallen 3y ago
I can't explain it either, but I'm the total opposite of you. My body will be trash, do whatever with it. Compost me, who cares. My spirit will live in the memories of others, which is why the things I do and say now are important. Hofstadter explains this concept of self, spirit, and memory in I am a Strange Loop: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Strange_Loop https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Strange_Loop
jabroni_salad 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]