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Designer Creates "Euthanasia Roller Coaster"
disco_tracy writes "Lithuanian amusement park worker and current PhD candidate in London's Royal College of Art's Design Interactions department, Julijonas Urbonas, has made a design for a hypothetical coaster that could be the future of humane euthanasia. Urbonas says that it is engineered to give a person a way to die with 'with elegance and euphoria.' From the article: 'The three-minute ride involves a long, slow, climb -- nearly a third of a mile long -- that lifts one up to a height of more than 1,600 feet, followed by a massive fall and seven strategically sized and placed loops. The final descent and series of loops take all of one minute. But the gravitational force -- 10 Gs -- from the spinning loops at 223 miles per hour in that single minute is lethal.'"
... and there isn't a thing elegant about it.
Too dangerous.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Crushed to death.
I'd rather take the barbiturates, thanks.
Stick Men
Plenty of test pilots have survived much, much more. Of course anybody on an asisted suicide ride is nowhere near flight shape. Still, you don't know who is going to survive 10 Gs. To make sure it works, the track should just end on the last hill at 200 feet up, and it should drop you on rocks, roll you through cactus, and then land you on the roof of a pillow factory.
This Julijonas Urbonas must be Le Chuck in disguise.....
Only sad he left out the lava thingie to cut the costs.
and where exactly is the "elegance and euphoria"?
I used to have nightmares that played out almost exactly that way. Also, who's going to test this and tell us they had a good time?
I have a design for a "ride" that involves a long, slow climb up a large staircase, followed by a massive fall and one strategically placed sidewalk. I think it's the future of euthanasia!
I've seen this multiple times in the last year already, late much ./?
I'm not sure a high-powered death-coaster is going to qualify as "humane" for anybody who isn't a bit of an adrenaline junky prior to their planned demise.
It lacks some of the sculptural potential; but I have to imagine that there are dozens to hundreds of possibilities taken from the anesthesiologists' "Don't do this or the patient will die." course that are at least as euphoric, quite as lethal, and not so disquieting to the inner ear...
If you're in a wheelchair, do they let you jump to the front of the line?
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Who is going to clean up all the excrement when death-induced sphincter relaxation occurs in conjunction with high G's? Eww, I don't want to ride on that - regular coasters are bad enough.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
and being 'Renewed'
that sounds like a horrible way to go. The loops will basically try to rip your internals apart. and the first loop doesnt appear to be enough to do it. so you could potentially be in sever pain for 40 or 50 seconds. Presumable there are also folks that could survive. End up at the bottom crushed bleeding internally, but still alive.
captcha: "outlive" nice
I hope it receives regular safety inspections, and they shut the ride down if it gets too worn.
~Loyal
I aim to misbehave.
What if the euphoria results in such joy that one sees all the reasons to live, thus resulting in a change of heart? Or would that be a change of mind? Is there a Stop button or is the Start button actually a Stop button? This is confusing, so I say build it and see what happens. That will clear up the confusion.
I'd hate to be on the crew which has to remove the people at the end and do cleanup. Will the riders be required to wear diapers?
The DEVASTATOR. Only at Thrill World!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU14VqcPIDo
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Anybody else seeing an ad for Roller Coaster Creator in the top right of the Slashdot page?
Obviously this is just a [stupid] publicity stunt, but most of the people that I know that would (would have) opted for euthanasia were elderly. They wouldn't be the type to board a roller coaster.
They do need an option that is better than putting a gun to the head.
So if a Carnie screws up, do people survive?
crazy dynamite monkey
Reminds me of Soylent Green. A pleasant experience followed by death, then your body is liquified and turned into green crackers.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
Someone has to drag the corpses out of the roller coaster, and that isn't going to be pretty. I think a nice long free-fall with a parachute programmed to hit an active volcano would be a bit more creative. They get to enjoy a blissful free-fall, gentle descent and quick cremation. Best of all, no mess and no fuss.
Sounds a bit like 'the solution', perhaps?
i think this is more human.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANwF2mDuOYw
For everyone else, it's:
1. Get on coaster.
2. Break a hip/rib; dislocate a shoulder on turn 1.
3. Be in horrible, horrible pain until passing out from pain and/or dying from acceleration.
Awesome. I wouldn't even call this a nice thought experiment--it's just stupid.
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." --Groucho Marx
How long until they try to sell overpriced souvenir photos to the family?
If what I just said sounded like a troll, it was probably just a failed attempt at humor.
well-played. I suggest downloading "StairDismount" and "TruckDismount", if you can still find those. Consider them euthanasia simulators.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
A new roller coaster for youth in asia? Is this something China is doing, to deal with unwanted daughters?
I want to die in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like the people in the back seat of his car.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
I wonder if the coaster car can withstand such force without breaking apart.
I had always imagined that the most euphoric way to die would be fulfilling some religious or quasi-religious mission. So if you hype yourself up to, say, mass killing for your cause and the prospect of a glorious afterlife, the seconds before you hit the detonator must feel wonderful.
Fortunately, I'm not a thrill-seeker, I don't like killing people, and - most importantly of all - I don't think random attacks on civilians for political causes are likely to be effective. Especially not since the IRA has moved on and the US propaganda machine tells the world to dislike the current crop of boogeymen.
That's nothing compared to the death traps I made on Roller Coaster Tycoon 1
Sure it kills but it's incredibly painful and stressful up until you pass out. Anybody go on a roller coaster to relax and unwind?
This roller coaster has not been created. It is has been proposed. This is a slight difference there.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
.. would I want to subject myself to that when there are painless ways to do it?
Note: Designer. Not someone who would actually have to build, run, use, fix, or clean up such a thing.
just have the person OD on recreational drugs of some type.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
I bet this ride would be huge with young people in the far east.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The best euthanasia would be being trampled to death by a harem of attractive woman.
Might need something work for women and people who don't like women; and its not as painless, but it'll be awesome.
I have an easier and cheaper alternative...once they embark on a roller coaster ride for an attempted suicide, they will go on a small trip on a roller coaster small enough for children to go on, but at random intervals and random locations, you will have specific neck level guillotines (adjustable based on height of the person).
As the person rides, they will encounter at last second a blade that whips out from nowhere, and slices the head clean off....if the person is willing to go through a roller coaster 1600 miles long, then I guess they are determined as hell to go...so why not make it easier...
They can set it up right next to the Tooth Chipper & the Screamatorium!
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
anyone else remember the LOBO comic about the suicide theme park?
Had hydrogen bomb testing still been active, placing yourself at the epicenter would make the event painless. Of course, it be better to do this in space where no further harm would occur to others. Perhaps a blaze of glory may be some ritual in the far off distant future.
This is what Slashdot has become?
How to Fix Slashdot.
1. Bring back Cmdr Taco
2. Fire samzenpus.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
"Lithuanian amusement park worker and current PhD candidate in London's Royal College of Art's Design Interactions department, Julijonas Urbonas,
I do not think this word means what you think it means.
Or a simple inert gas like Nitrogen? Which should give the same euphoria as well...
Well, for me this wouldn't work, because roller coasters activate my hyper-barf reflex. So, not only would I know I'm about to die, I'd be getting covered in my own vomit in the process.
Nitrogen asphyxiation is probably the best way to go. The body doesn't realize when it's running out of oxygen. It only senses a high level of carbon dioxide. Therefore, inhaling only nitrogen will result in death but there won't be any gasping or discomfort because the body thinks that everything is just groovy.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
Wow, there are people here actually taking this seriously. For those people I have a bridge, some prime bottom-land in Louisiana, a derivative-based mutual fund, and homeopathic medicine to sell you.
For the rest of us: Bah! This is old news! John Cleese had a better proposal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2PyeXRwhCE
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
I made the same thing in Roller Coaster Tycoon last week, but the intended goal was murder, not euthanasia.
What do they do if people have an epiphany in the first couple of minutes of the ride and want to live? Ejector seats?
I guess this would be the only roller coaster without "Keep your arms and legs inside the car" and "Do not ride if you have a bad heart/stomach/brain/back condition" warning. I guess the only restriction would be "one ride ticket per customer".
No, Mr. Bond... I expect you to ride.
Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 73 percent of all accidents involving falling objects. -Dave Barry
'He considers this research in "Gravitational Aesthetics."' Really? "Research" in a topic you just make up? It appears that this art department doesn't have any problem allowing gratuitous language to give motivation for what they do.
In debates about Christianity, there are two groups: those looking for answers, and those looking to just ask questions.
do you get a free ride?
Yes, inert gases are the way to go. That would be my choice for suicide. Carbon dioxide is no good because your lungs know that isn't healthy, but there are inert gas mixes that the body doesn't react to. You feel fine, then a little giddy, then you start getting high and hallucinating, then you pass out. If oxygen isn't provided, you'll be dead in a few minutes. There was a programme on UK TV about this -- I can't remember who by, though -- some politician.
Where was this guy when Hitler needed him?
That is all.
Many believe there is actually a euthanasia hotline
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14938984
Call 09141, and wait to be called back...
Laxatives
Lithuania is Europes testing ground for devestating IMF policy. They where screwed out of thier agricultural real wealth, now advised to be a knowledge economy, close hospitals, have elite and make euro's so important. Find a preppy girl to suggest what is an economic good idea : get rid of old people..
Didn't this come out like a year ago?
I specifically remembering reading about this before.
I hope the seats double as toilets cuz this is gonna be messy!
but is it safe?
M0571y H@rml355.
Recreational drugs - even nitrous oxide - don't produce euphoria via anoxia. Breathing pure nitrogen would probably be exactly like breathing air except you pass out.
The guests arrive in the entrance hall here, are carried along the corridor on a conveyor belt in extreme comfort and past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives. The last twenty feet of the corridor are heavily soundproofed. The blood pours down these chutes and the mangled flesh slurps into these large containers. None of your blood caked on the walls and flesh flying out of the windows inconveniencing passers-by with this one.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
is strapping yourself to (or sitting against) a good-sized nuke. With a remote in your hand to fire it. As soon as you do that you will be vaporized before anything happening even reaches your nerves, much less your brain. One moment you're there, the next you're just vapor as part of a rapidly expanding mushroom cloud.
A bit messy in a way, though.
I think a Carousel would be more fitting. Maybe with a bright red light at the top, and electric zappy things, and can we wear masks?
Why is this making it to the front page?
I want to suggest it's designer with the Phd takes it first himself for a testdrive. And we decide if the test provided sufficient results. All in the name of science of course :p
I'd still prefer death by snu snu
That's the way to go.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Dude, that's seriously fucked up.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
EOM.
more cowbell
There's nothing euphoric about being CRUSHED. 10gs killing you, does this.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
While I enjoyed getting an "incentive ride" in the F-16D I crewed, I'll observe that Gs themselves aren't pleasant.
Wanna croak? OD on opiates. A large syringe of Fentanyl should do the trick nicely.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
This reminds me of a short story called "The Carnival" by Michael Fedo. I read it in junior high school. It was a good creepy read. I've always thought it would make a good Twilight Zone episode.
http://youtu.be/e2PyeXRwhCE
No sooner do I get over one, then you put a better one right next to me. Bastards.
Many coaster enthusiasts keep records of all the roller coasters they ride and try to rack up as many different roller coaster "credits" as possible - for no real better reason than bragging rights. "Credit and forget it" is an expression one uses when you ride a kiddy coaster or other unremarkable ride that you just rode to get it on your list. Somehow the expression seems appropriate here.
Without arguing the right and wrong of it, if this roller coaster method is good enough for euthanasia, is it good enough for capital punishment? Nobody could object using the "cruel and unusual" argument.
So what if somebody doesn't die on it? Is there a suicide booth at the end and do you have to drop a quarter into it?
You can't handle the truth.
Oxygen deprivation is hardly something new. Mountaineers have long known to recognise the signs. There is a period of euphoria before the passing out. Tends to be rather short though. I've also read of people getting high from huffing empty aerosol cans that use nitrogen as a propellant.
The problem with that is that all the fun ones don't kill you. Marijuana doesn't even have a LD50. LSD's LD50 is so high you'll likely die of a very unpleasant heart attack first. Mushrooms also give a particularly nasty death that generally involves suffocating.
The rest of them are far too unpleasant to even consider. Who wants to die of a crack overdose?
This is a fine idea, as stupid as it is :)
Yeah. Another century of eating frozen pizza, driving to the mall and playing Super Mario Brothers. What's not to like?
...that you are trying to make that sound bad for some reason.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Cause it belongs there.
"John Stapp was subjected to 15 g for 0.6 second and a peak of 22 g during a 19 March 1954 rocket sled test. He would eventually survive a peak of more than 46 g, with more than 25 g for 1.1 sec.[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force#Human_tolerance_of_g-force
While Mr. Stapp's tests were short, the coaster doesn't appear to sustain the high level of g's necessary either.
Apparently Aperture Labs are considering offering him a job.
Don't go to a brothel if you want to buy broth
Breathing pure nitrogen would probably be exactly like breathing air except you pass out.
Certainly seems to be the case.
"I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
Not screaming in terror like his passengers.
Have gnu, will travel.
I can assure you that taking absurdly large quantities of LSD is not fun. At all.
Coke/crack or meth overdose, yeah, that would be pretty horrible. Heroin or morphine on the other hand... I could think of worse ways to go.
Marijuana doesn't even have a LD50.
Actually, it does.
However, for all intents and purposes, it might as well not. The amount one would have to consume is so far beyond anything we'd even be capable of that it doesn't matter. However, it would be totally possible to distill the THC down into pill form and overdose that way, if one were so inclined. Given my excessive familiarity with the effects of marijuana, though, I doubt anyone with that much weed would want to waste it by making suicide pills out of it...and certainly not the motivation required to actually do it.
Wanting to end it all on an adrenaline high? Get a batwing/flying suit/squirrel suit and give the sport a try.
I can't imagine anything more exhillarating than flying in one of those, and then when you eventually mis-judge a flyby or gap in the trees/rocks, you are guaranteed instant death on contact.
meh
take the ludes, man
And not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
I think I can come up with a more enjoyable way to shuffle off this mortal coil. Actually, pretty much every way I think I can come up with would probably be more enjoyable. If you're really into it, though, you could try this!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
NASA report contradicts publicity seeking artist
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19980223621_1998381731.pdf ...and how surprising is that, really.
-- Terry
When I clicked to read more comments, Slashdot displayed an ad for RollerCoaster Rush.
I did not click on it.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Sounds like a coster added to the finale of Soylent Green http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green
1) 3 ounces of pharmaceutical cocaine.
2) 6 young and beautiful prostitutes.
3) a bathtub full of baby oil.
4) a room full of mattresses.
You can guess the rest ... and if you cannot, that means more cocaine and whores for me !
Horrible idea. And then squished to death. Wow, what a genius. His mom must be proud
Sounds like "Mr. Bonestripper" from the 1991 movie "Nothing But Trouble".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enUo-1TjdEs
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable" - JFK
For some reason this article reminded me of this wonderful piece of work. The Architect Sketch by MP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2PyeXRwhCE
and understandably as the guy is from ex communist block. Substantial savings can be made by doing away with the loops and have the coaster just go straight down.
But the feel good drug apologists want the world to know that all recreational drugs are safe and healthy, and that Big Pharma and the War On Terror are misleading people about the benefits of crystal meth and heroin.
Going by what they say, it's just darn near impossible to OD on these wonderful magic drugs that should be made legal and furnished to every man, woman, and child on the planet.
I think I'll pass. But did anyone else read this and think of the song "Wall of Death", from the album "Shoot Out the Lights" (by Richard and Linda Thompson)?
Didn't the recent episode "The Tip Of The Zoidberg" conclude with a roller coaster designed to help the Professor suicide?
And what about "Mr. Bonecrusher" in the Chevy Chase movie "Nothing But Trouble"?
...of coaster fan clubs... They'll all want to try it ("I bet it beats Matterhorn!") and if it works as advertised... no more coaster fans.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
It was one of those dystopian short stories that seem to crop up in high school. Our protagonist was, himself, in high school, and had just gotten, to his parents' consternation, a free trip to the amusement park... run by the Bureau of Population Control, or somesuch. He's elated, but somewhere lets slip that one-in-seven leave the park in a body bag. He goes on various rides, and, occasionally, folks in seats/carts/whatever next to him meet their untimely demise, by way of crashes, electric zaps, and so forth. Eventually, so does the protagonist.
Odd story, it was. And this sounds freakishly close. "Weird minds think alike."
Generally falling from a great height works just as well, although somewhat messy. The long fall is quiet (except for wind noise) and serene, and the landing at terminal velocity is so swift and destructive that the brain simply doesn't have time to process it.
I got the idea from an expert commenting on The Falling Man and other jumpers from the doomed WTC towers. He stated that this man - falling head first from the top floors - would hit at terminal velocity and the nerve impulses from the impact would not even have left the nerves when the brain was destroyed. And as there's zero pain nerves in the brain itself, death would be completely painless.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
"The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride."
Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it.
I think Slashdot hit rock bottom, not to mention 180 degrees off topic, on this one. Trying to figure out how to mod this down but my first try didn't work. The author's pending Ph.D. seems like a parody of the proliferation of useless degrees issued by colleges and universities these days, and may be a tip-off that this is a put-on. Or maybe it's an extreme advertisement for some current or actuallyh proposed amusement ride. The appeal of a lot of these seems to be some illusion of danger. I've been on some big ones at Six Flags etc. and far and away the scariest ride I've ever been on was a little portable one at the county fair. Now what someone might do with this is hook up with Al Gore and the rest of those who talk about reducing the population of the world by a third and maybe you can get a big government grant or loan from Obama or Rick Perry, blow the money on riotous living, go broke, and do it again. who are Suicide happens to be one of the things upon which I have become an expert in my life and career. It is almost always an irrational act. People I know who have somehow survived having shot themselves in the head, taken cyanide, staken 2 poerful sleeping pills with alcohol, hung himself off a railroad trestle with 20' of new rope that broke, etc., much less had their attempts interrupted unexpectedly, are glad they didn't die. I've been with a dozen people who were suffering suicidal depression and not one of them agreed that any of the others should die even when they thought they should. These included teachers, lawyers, bankers, pharmacists, and other smart and educated people, and people lI consider valuable. I'd rather be governed by a lot of the people I knew who had been psych hospital patients for suicidal depression than by a lot of the politicians of both parties I know. I've represented young pre-school kids on up who have attempted suicide and know of completed suicides as young as 8 or 9. A school superintendent showed us figures for suicides, suicide attempts, and other life-threatening behaviors among school kids, and the percentage who had attempted and those who had seriously contemplated suicide were both shocking. After dropping, the rate among yhoung people is moving significantly back upward. Experts I have good reason to believe are right argue convincingly that the decision whether they would kill themselves if things got bad enough in their eyes is often made at about age four or five, too young to comprehend death or the significance of life, and then kill themselves later when triggered by some event back to the ego state of a hurt four year old Child. Almost always, to quote one of the leading professional experts in America, "Treatment and therapy, not suicide, is indicated." This is not something people should be encouraging.
I rather have the helium bag over my head.
I can imagine GLaDOS saying "Weeeeeeeeee" on the way down...
You really only need half, and an ungodly amount of Ben+Jerrys
10 G's won't kill you. Lots of videos on line (search for "10 G's centrifuge" for them). Admittedly, I don't see a video that continues spinning an unconscious subject at 10 G's until he dies.
I also question the "euphoria" part. G's are painful, not euphoric. Low or zero-G (that first long drop) may be a bit euphoric to some (like me, who never gets airsick and loves acrobatics and violent fair rides) ... but most people will be puking their guts out as soon as they begin that descent.
Nope, helium bags sound like a much better idea.
Of course if this fool actually convinces someone to build this sucker, I'll be in the line! Especially if there's a big prize for the survivors.
since when spinning loops generate gravitational force?
... of course there are no repeat riders...
Yes because I want to be scared witless just before I die, that's how I would preferably like to go.
Am I the only one who was reminded of the "Rollercoaster of Death" from "The Curse of Monkey Island"? LeChuck would use it to create his undead pirates by having regular pirates ride it and have the last part end with a dip through molten lava. http://www.miwiki.net/The_Carnival_of_the_Damned
caffeine is a lesser drug of course, but the toxic level of caffeine is also too high to reach during normal consumption, yet possible with pills: at least a few grams.
it takes about 18 12-ounce cans of Mountain Dew (55mg each) to reach even 1 gram. Even on my most wired days, I've consumed only a few hundred milligrams.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
do you have to be "this" tall before you can ride it?
in Rollercoaster Tycoon once, all they do is puke...
Thats the real future of the Youth-in-Asia!