TV Show Seeks Terminally Ill Volunteer for Mummification

Terminal illness got you down? Does your future seems bleak? Channel 4 and production company Fulcrum TV would like to brighten your day by making you the star of an upcoming documentary. They would like to offer you the chance to be mummified on TV and maybe even displayed in a museum afterward. An advertisement for the project reads: "We are currently keen to talk to some one who, faced with the knowledge of their own terminal illness and all that it entails, would nonetheless consider undergoing the process of an ancient Egyptian embalming."

Comments

Creepy

[Psychotic_Wrath]

Let me be the first to say thats kind of creepy. Are they gonna suck their organs out of them just like the egyptians used to? Cuz thats kind of weird.

Re:Creepy

[DarkOx]

Because having you blood drained and replaced with embalming fluid and you body covered in makeup and posed like we do today commonly is perfectly rational.

Is there anyone not terminal?

[BetterSense]

I am "faced with the knowledge of my own terminal illness" in that I am alive. I know that I will die, sooner or later. I understand that people who are terminally ill have a better idea as to the possible maximum, but we all have a possible maximum, and as you get older it will be looming for you, too. It annoys me when people are like "He KNOWS he's going to die, that must be so depressing". We all "know we are going to die". Nobody lives. Everyone dies. You should live accordingly.

We can never satisfactorily "cure" cancer or any other disease. "Curing" a disease is defined as letting you live long enough to die from a different one. Numbers show that millions of lives have been saved by antibiotics, but have they? Just give them a bit more time. They will die sure enough. The only reason the "terminal illness" part is relevant to this TV show is they need the person to die on their TV schedule.

Re:Is there anyone not terminal?

[wizardforce]

That is like saying that solar power isn't a renewable resource because eventually the Sun will die in 5+ billion years. It may be technically true but not meaningfully so.

Re:Is there anyone not terminal?

[Tomfrh]

We all "know we are going to die"

Well yeah, obviously, but that's completely different to being told "two months".

Re:Is there anyone not terminal?

[symbolset]

And slashdot, of course.

Re:Is there anyone not terminal?

[Hognoxious]

It may be technically true but not meaningfully so.

No it isn't.

It's technically true that everyone will die sometime, but it isn't really meaningful in the context of making a film about it in the near future, which I presume the story is about (no, of course I didn't read it).

Re:Is there anyone not terminal?

[Tom]

We all "know we are going to die".

Not really, no. I'm serious. One thing that humans are fascinatingly good at is ignoring this "knowledge". There's some brain research that shows evidence of our brains actually being wired up so that we avoid facing this, on very low-levels. In other words: It's not a conscious decision, not even an unconscious one. Runs a lot deeper than that.

So, it's only true for broad definitions of "know". Yes, the fact is recallable from memory. But your brain goes to great lengths to ignore it, and almost always when you actually do recall it, it has about the same emotional impact as last year's sports numbers. Actually, for sports fans, less than that. But it shouldn't. Ever wondered why that is? Now you know. For some definitions of "know". :-)

Re:Is there anyone not terminal?

[2obvious4u]

There is a very obvious reason for why this is. If we actually really understood what being dead meant and really thought about it on the deep levels we would be in such a panic that we couldn't function as a society.

The more I think about my own mortality the more I view Religion as a coping mechanism.

Re:Is there anyone not terminal?

[Hognoxious]

I doubt TV production companies (sorry to bring up the actual frikkin subject under discussion yet again) plan their filming schedule using eons as a unit.

Re:why terminal?

[coastal984]

Because obviously they'd like to get some filming done before May Sweeps... this is show business, you know. Can't be waiting for you to croak 20 or 30 years down the line...

Re:why terminal?

[GrubLord]

Because they're looking to cash in on the morbid fascination of seeing a sexy, healthy-looking person who died of some non-obvious disease (such as certain cancers) get stripped down and cut to pieces.

It's much less can't-look-away horrifying if they're cutting up an 80-year-old. Who'll want to buy ads in THAT half-hour?

Re:Not a bad idea

[Interoperable]

It's for science!

No, it's for "science."

Good.

[Cryacin]

So it's not just me that sees shows like Mythbusters as an intellectual version of Jackass.

Re:why terminal?

[Redfearn]

Sexy, you said? You're on to something. Death sells, but add sex, and just watch the ratings soar!

Re:Sequel?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats Because Slashdot Thinks It's Cool To Capitalize The First Letter of Every Word

I may be taking crazy pills, but I'm pretty sure it's appropriate to use title case for titles.

Season 2

[aliquis]

Staring the most famous politicians of the world!

Then do a follow up season with dictator leaders, soap opera celebrities, ..

Re:why terminal?

[Anonymous Coward]

Presumably the same advertisers that advertised during Channel 4's Anatomy or Beginners

What the hell do you care?

[KingSkippus]

What the hell do you care? It's not like you're going to be lying there thinking, "Aw man, this really sucks!"

My family has approached me a few times about what I want to be done with my body when I die. My answer is always the same. I want what organs might be useful donated. After that, I really don't care. Bury me, cremate me, donate me to science, do whatever gives you what comfort and solace you need, because that's not me.

When my mom passed away, which is by far the single most gut-wrenching experience I've ever been through in my life, that thought was the only thing that got me through the funeral without totally falling apart. My mom was a lot more than just the collection of organic molecules that lay before me, and she's gone. I appreciate the body that lay before me; it was her "house" for 60 years and allowed me to see her, talk to her, interact with her, and love her. But the house was now empty. Sad, for sure, but it wasn't the loss of the house I was mourning.

So yeah, once I'm gone, you can pull my brains out through my nose and make gut soup for all I care. It was just my house, and I don't live there any more.

Re:What the hell do you care?

[Anonymous Coward]

After that, I really don't care. Bury me, cremate me, donate me to science, do whatever gives you what comfort and solace you need, because that's not me.

Assholes don't care. Here is an idea: Tell them what to do in writing same as you would communicate any wishes via a will with your possessions (whether a lot or a few). Otherwise, when you kick the bucket, your loved ones will be arguing over whether or not to spend $20,000 on a cemetary plot or leave you in dumpster behind Denny's. That corpse may not be "you", but it is your responsibility.

Re:retarded actually

[thelonious]

They weren't strange to the Aztecs!