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Euthanasia Coaster
- tiku 13y agoI'm getting flashbacks to Rollercoaster Tycoon..
- izzydata 13y agoYea, I had coasters way worse than this, but customers only ever complained that it was awful. You weren't able to kill them with excessive G-forces.
- Agathos 13y agoI thought there was a way to fatally catapult them into a neighboring park and then, because they died there, the game engine would penalize that park for killing its guests. But I might be thinking of a different amusement park simulator.
- fixermark 13y agoI feel like this wouldn't work. I'm not a doctor, but I was under the impression that the brain could survive lack of blood flow for several minutes. How long is this ride supposed to last?
- wellboy 13y agoI think the body can survive the lack of oxygen for several minutes, because there is always oxygen left in the body that the brain can use. However, if the brain cells consume any oxygen at all, because there is nothing there, they can die pretty quickly such as within 30 seconds.
- unwind 13y agoThe ride time is 3:20 according to the linked-to page. I thought this was horrible. I guess it's "art", but still. Yuck.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago>> "I thought this was horrible." What about it did you find horrible? If you wanted to end your life it seems like a relatively pain free way to do so. Artistically it's also pretty interesting imo.
- nsxwolf 13y agoI find euthanasia to be horrible, so a euthanasia roller coaster is automatically horrible.
- JohnBooty 13y agoI, too, am offended by people wanting control over their own deaths. They should die when and how I tell them to die, not die with dignity at a time of their choosing!
- nsxwolf 13y agoThere is no such thing as death with dignity. The body is always corrupted. "Death with dignity" is a silly loaded catchphrase designed to put opponents off balance, and is offensive to those who have chosen to die another way - some might say, with courage.
- venomsnake 13y agoThere is no such thing as death with dignity. But there are different grades of death with indignity. And I am free to choose how when (hopefully in a long long time) it comes to that...
- aqme28 13y agoYou've said "those who have chosen to die another way," but people don't have that choice and are forbidden from making it. While you're opposed to euthanasia, would you be okay with giving people the option for euthanasia if they so chose?
- 13y ago
- rytis 13y agoI guess if they inverted it, so that the passengers get exposed to negative g force it would be "safer". It seems that -3g is enough to kill, so 7 loops of -10g would be sure death. EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force#Vertical_axis_g-force http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force#Vertical_axis_g-force
- TylerE 13y agoNegative G is much more uncomfortable than positive G.
- cobalt 13y agonot necessarily, some would black out pretty quickly. Lateral Gs are the by far most uncomfortable G forces (and other non vertical i suppose)
- TylerE 13y agoYou will never black out from negative G. You will RED out as blood rushes into your eyes. The reason you black out from positive G is that your blood pools in your legs and feet, starving the brain. Negative G is more uncomfortable because our organs are not designed for it, as it isn't encountered in nature.
- sdfjkl 13y agoMuch more difficult to secure against accidental ejection though.
- venomsnake 13y agoIt is indeed terrible to crash accidentally yourself to death when you want to crush yourself to death on purpose.
- sdfjkl 13y agoI was thinking of the cleanup crews. People are always very inconsiderate of those when killing themselves :-/ Ever saw the mess it makes when somebody jumps in front of a train?
- Udo 13y agoI do have some medical training, and I'm inclined to agree with your suspicion that it doesn't actually work. The "critical" portion only lasts a few seconds, up to a minute. Depending on the direction of the force, 10g for a minute would be close to the edge for untrained people but not expected to have long-lasting harmful effects in most cases. There are several ways in which high g forces cause harm to humans. The article mentions blood flow, specifically applying the amount of acceleration necessary to stop oxygenated blood from reaching the brain. Completely stopping the flow of blood for 60 seconds will result in a loss of consciousness, but the designers of the coaster seem to be under the impression that achieving this even for a moment kills people. They're wrong. If normal blood flow is restored after 60 seconds of anoxia, no adverse effects are to be expected at all, not even in the short term. Of course statistically there will be cases where the heart enters one of several possible failure modes under these conditions (again mostly in humans with pre-existing health problems) and while I expect it to be rare among the healthy population, those people would indeed need immediate medical attention - but they too can be expected to make a full recovery if they receive it. High g forces can also damage blood vessels due to simple overpressure, causing them to rupture. This will happen with body parts located in the direction of the force applied. In this design, this will be the lower extremities, where this damage - if it occurs - will be minimal. But if you suspended people "upside down", that would be another story. Overpressure in the blood vessels of the brain is a dangerous thing. Again, I'm not sure 10g for 60 seconds is enough, but I'd intuitively say if there was any way of inducing fatalities with this coaster that would be the way to go. Especially people with existing defects and weaknesses of the blood vessels in their brains would be most at risk, people with aneurisms for example. Lastly, high g forces can cause tissue trauma due to compression or internal impact damage. 10g for 60 seconds would not be enough to cause that in healthy organs. But if the coaster's design was changed to 20 or 30 g, delivered over an extended period, injuries and fatalities due to organ trauma (including the brain) will occur. So on final consideration: this roller coaster will cause people to pass out for up to a minute. However, this effect is completely reversible. In healthy people, no lasting damage is expected.
- brightsize 13y agoThat's great information. I assume though that healthy people wouldn't be euthanizing themselves just for laughs. They'd normally be sick to begin with. This ride would be great for fraternity hazing. The frat would get some yuks as the pledges went round and round, and the school would have plausible deniability - "the University understood that they were simply enjoying a day at the amusement park".
- ds9 13y agoThis could never succeed here in the US - (a) general opposition to euthanasia and (b) the amusement park industry would lobby against it because it would scare people away from the regular, milder roller coasters. It seems mostly academic, as there are much less costly, and not-unpleasant methods - overdose of opiates for example.
- peteretep 13y ago> This could never succeed here in the US Dang, ya think?
- gadders 13y agoI bet repeat business would be appalling.
- izzydata 13y agoUh... I can't tell if you are being serious or not. I'll assume you are joking.
- davidw 13y agoOregon was one of the first places in the world to legalize euthanasia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_United_States#Oregon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_United_States...
- sinkasapa 13y agoSo they'll probably be one of the first to build this coaster. It's inevitable. :-)
- urschrei 13y agoOh, you don't need it; your healthcare system is far more effective.
- nkozyra 13y agoI rode this, wasn't scary at all!
- esquivalience 13y agoI'm interested that it's designed by an art student. I'm not sure whether it's intended as art, but if so I suppose it lies in the dichotomy - horror of death vs the very functional combination of entertainment and euthanasia. In that case it would certainly the most interesting piece of 'artistic research' I've seen. And the "ultimate" designation is a nice mockery of brand hype!
- earljwagner 13y agoTrey Brackish: "I'm standing here at Thrill World where this roller coaster continues taking the lives of innocent people. Earlier today we spoke with John Oakfellow of the Red Cross." John Oakfellow: "We're doing what we can, but the casualties continue to mount." Mr. Show "The Devastator" http://youtu.be/p5Oi57fqdU0 http://youtu.be/p5Oi57fqdU0
- zerohm 13y ago+1 for sending me down a Mr. Show youtube hole.
- maaarghk 13y agoConsidering this in a purely pragmatic sense, my main concern is that if you were one of the "particularly robust" "customers" yourself, you might end up covered in someone else's vomit in your last moments.
- ygra 13y agoI guess at 10 g, when the body isn't able to pump blood to the brain anymore, your stomach would have difficulties expelling its contents as well. At least if I understood the operating principle correctly.
- hellbreakslose 13y agoHow did he even tested that?
- dkhenry 13y agoAfter seeing a close friend die slowly over three weeks from stage 4 ovarian cancer. I think this would be worlds better then the slow euthanasia by morphine drip that we currently use.
- jobu 13y agoTotally agree. There are so many ways that a person can die a prolonged, horrible death that is medically sanctioned and supposedly more ethical than euthanasia. After watching my father wither away with dementia I've decided to take up skydiving after I retire (and pack my own parachute). If my mental state becomes too poor to properly pack the chute I think hitting the ground at 200 mph would be a decent way to go.
- fixermark 13y agoThis is an open secret in the healthcare profession; people really don't like to talk about it, but doctors definitely will allow the administration of a lethal dose of morphine to a suffering patient because there is quite literally no better alternative. There's even a safety interlock on the infusion machine that the doctor has to provide the override codes for to go beyond the safe dose.
- rimantas 13y agoDamn, something related to my country at the top of HN and it's about suicide more or less. Sad fact: Lithuania is among the top countries regarding suicides :(
- gpcz 13y agoI know it's taboo to bring up the Holocaust in Internet discussions, but this coaster and the verbiage that the Wikipedia article uses ("unloading of corpses" in particular) creeps me out at a level similar to the industrial processes the Nazis invented to perform mass murder. The coaster would probably be horrifying to watch, too -- people would scream for the first drop and the first few inversions, and then you would hear an eerie silence.
- userbinator 13y agoEspecially this part: Subsequent inversions would serve as insurance against unintentional survival of particularly robust passengers.
- logfromblammo 13y agoThe thing I found to be most offensive is that it does 24 passengers at a time. That's really what makes it creepy. It's like they're not even trying to make your death special. If I'm going to die on the most lethal roller coaster ever designed, I don't want the last thing I see to be the backs of 22 screaming heads. And do you really need to kill 360 people an hour? Is demand for suicide really that high? I don't think so. Pull out 23 of those seats and put in a few video cameras. And play me Ride of the Valkyries or something on the way down so I can go out feeling like a badass. And don't "unload" me. You build a massive corpse ejector into that train that launches my body through the air across the people waiting in line onto a giant trampoline over a body funnel. I'll roll right into the plastic souvenir coffin, which my family can purchase at the photo booth along with the final video for $49.99, with free drink refills included for the duration of their stay at the park.
- easymovet 13y agoblackout for sure, but 60 seconds of oxygen starvation shouldn't kill you right? 10g's might snap you neck though.
- iLoch 13y agoI would think that the severity of hypoxia depends on where in the body it happens. As far as I know (not much, admittedly) exhaling then counting to 60 is different than not allowing any oxygen into the brain. If you look at the Wikipedia page on Hypoxia you'll see a picture of a person with Hypoxia in their hand. Can't imagine your brain would do very well if the same thing occurred there.
- aaronem 13y agoExhale and count to 60, and your brain keeps running off the oxygen still in your bloodstream. Evacuate your brain of blood, and it can't do that; as deaths go, this one would probably be faster than a neck tourniquet, but slower than the .50 BMG to the head I mentioned elsewhere in this thread. (How can St. Peter tell who died that way? They're the ones who ask him "What the hell was that?")
- jackschultz 13y agoWhat's with that last sentence of the intro? This is an article about a roller coaster that kills people, not an argument for or against euthanasia. I come to this page wanting to read about a death coaster and then I'm thrust into a debate on whether it is moral to euthanize people. Also, the source isn't really that solid. It's one sentence in a post on Metro which, since it looks like it's based in the UK, I don't really know much about. If you want to include criticism for something make it a separate section or something, not a sentence in the introduction. It looks like this was the revision where that sentence was added in: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Euthanasia_Coaster&diff=426076801&oldid=426042569 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Euthanasia_Coaster...
- SandB0x 13y agoMetro is a free commuter newspaper. Mostly adverts. It's not exactly the New York Times.
- DanBC 13y agoMetro is a low quality free tabloid given away. It's found on buses and trains.
- bshimmin 13y agoPublished by the same people as the Daily Mail, no less.
- GotAnyMegadeth 13y agoThis is completely anecdotal and not exaggerated. I don't read the Metro much. But, I have literally never read an article/headline in the Metro that I have believed.
- cmiller1 13y agoI want to get off Mr. Bones Wild Ride.
- facesonflags 13y ago"Not with a bang but a whimper." http://aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Poem.htm http://aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Poem.htm
- djanogo 13y agoSeems like lot energy just to euthanize.
- marknutter 13y agoSomebody needs to make an Oculus Rift demo of the Euthanasia Coaster.
- GrinningFool 13y agoIn related news: http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode17.htm http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode17.htm
- nilkn 13y agoRealistically, I think it would be much better to just use one of those centrifuge machines. I imagine that actually riding this roller coaster, before you faint, would be pretty painful. In a centrifuge you could probably strap in the passenger a lot better and provide much more cushioned seating and neck support so there's no pain involved.
- njharman 13y agoThat does not sound fun. 2 min to contemplate you've made wrong choice but with no way out. Then terror and passing out. There's definitely more enjoyable ways to end your misery.
- mjamil 13y agoAny conversation about individuals having the right to control their lives (including the means to end them) seems to me to be a good thing. Similarly, on a larger scale, I also find talking about the (often shady) efforts by various governments to control population to be a welcome thing. Vonnegut's "Welcome to the Monkey House" touches on both topics; it's worth a read.
- facesonflags 13y agoThe artist's focus seems to be more on gravity than killing: http://www.julijonasurbonas.lt/t/gravitational-aesthetics/ http://www.julijonasurbonas.lt/t/gravitational-aesthetics/
- ssprang 13y agoReminds me of "The Centrifuge Brain Project" http://vimeo.com/58293017 http://vimeo.com/58293017
- lotsofmangos 13y agoIt is less stupid and tasteless than the experiments being performed on humans in Oklahoma at the moment.