182
Billionaires first
Put it in space, they'll all compete to get to it first
2001: a space odyssey but the monolith is just bait to lure billionaires into suicide pods. Somebody make this happen!
Not going to lie...interested. Not for today obviously, but having survived heart issues requiring major surgery, and cancer, I have come to appreciate the option to be able to go on my own terms and before extensive suffering.
euthanasia is a distinct possibility for me as well but i don't know that i need a space ship to wack off and die in
Just in case: International Suicide Hotlines.
I find it quite interesting that we can provide someone with a calm and peaceful death, but prisons in many countries can't do any better than "ouch that looks pretty terrible" to "oh my god that's torturous!"... Nevermind the morals around whether the state should kill someone.
It’s humanity theater, it’s intentionally awful as a deterrent.
I'd rather people kill themselves cleanly, painlessly and successfully, that fail to do it, suffer and be made prisoners of others more than they were already of themselves.
Engineering geek here.
Curious why you would need a whole pod? Wouldn't something small, like a scuba mask connected to a gas supply work?
the pod is so you can't change your mind once you press "on"
If you are alone in an apartment you wouldn't want to accidentally flood your whole apartment with nitrogen after you die, it could be dangerous to anyone who finds you. Similarly it wouldn't be good to release nitrogen everywhere with neighbors so close.
While a scuba mask is doable, other articles say your loved ones are in the room. So it's a way to say goodbyes.
the family members don't have to put on the mask
Just a guess but I think not having any medical gear strapped to my face would feel more comfortable.
I would NOT want to be the person who had to get in that thing for those press photos.
The article is weird - the title is what it is, but there's barely anything inside of it that mentions anything about it being legal, except for a single sentence, with the rest of the article just saying how it works. Digging a bit deeper (by looking up the pod on a search engine lol), it doesn't seem that the pod is actually approved or made legal or anything, but it was apparently supposed to be made open-source in 2019, in 2021 the creator only sought legal advice about the pod and after that - no more news. Maybe I missed something though.
tl;dr the article's title might be misleading
Terry Pratchett made a very insightful documentary on euthanasia, including filming someone choosing to die at the Swiss dignitas foundation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett:_Choosing_to_Die
Yeah universal healthcare!
When universal healthcare takes care of assisted suicide you don't need pods. In Spain either the doctor will administer the drugs in hospital or you can take them home and do it yourself. At home method consists of drinking pentobarbital solution.
I had a friend who's niece, an American, was able to travel to use these. It was a difficult path to research and get these services, as well as expensive, but it definitely helped them a lot.
One step closer to the suicide booths in Futurama.
"I’ve always wanted to remove the role [and the] need for professional people to prescribe difficult drugs to use."
You probably will still need a doctor to declare death and in case anything fails. The drugs are not difficult to use. You just take a pill to suppress vomiting and after an hour drink 100ml of liquid. If anything goes wrong the doctor will inject drugs while your still unconscious. Maybe some people would prefer the pod but for me it looks like a gimmick.
what was wrong with the iv with a self-administerable dose via death button approach? not expensive enough for dead people or what
would the current methods for administering nitrogen not work?
Yeah I'd rather have my last moments being held by my loved ones as it's currently done than alone in a pod.
Just when I thought the world couldn’t get any shittier
On the one hand I think this is a humane option that people should have during palliative care.
However, I am also reasonably confident this will be used to facilitate capital punishment as well. I have mixed feelings about the use of the death penalty, but generally this does seem like a preferable solution to the other available methods so maybe that too is a small mercy in of itself.
Why would you tie this to capital punishment? That isn't even legal in any of western Europe.
Well for one thing because this (see link) was already a national news story earlier this month. So, it isn't exactly that far of a leap in logic for these suicide booths to be replicated for use in capital punishment in places where it is still utilized, like the United States.
One could even argue that it makes the process less morally objectionable, and therefore might make it harder to justify banning the practice. I am simply playing devil's advocate here because this is precisely the kind of logic that is already pervasive in US politics when justifying otherwise morally objectionable decisions.
After looking over the article you linked, it seems like inhaling nitrogen could be dangerous because:
- a doctor said it could induce nausea and choking on your own vomit. When asked for sources, he countered that there was not enough research on the topic.
- a priest said so
- the gas might escape the tubes, therefore those around the gas might be at risk - valid point, to which I would suggest everyone leaving the room and/or wearing oxygen masks
??
The process of capital punishment is already morally objectionable enough. The original article isn't about that, it's about assisted suicide. And tbh, I think the US needs to figure out first how to not kill people who don't wanna die, and only then tackle assisted suicide. Let your politicians prove they care about rehabilitation and preserving life. Until then, you're asking the wolves to make laws (and choices) for the sheep.
this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
182 points (97.4% liked)
Hacker News
3871 readers
1 users here now
This community serves to share top posts on Hacker News with the wider fediverse.
Rules
0. Keep it legal
- Keep it civil and SFW
- Keep it safe for members of marginalised groups
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS