Euthanasia Coaster

[Sojoez]

Title says it.

Quote for the designer site:

?Euthanasia Coaster? is a hypothetical euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster engineered to humanely ? with elegance and euphoria ? take the life of a human being. Riding the coaster?s track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in aeronautics/space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful. Celebrating the limits of the human body, this ?kinetic sculpture? is in fact the ultimate roller coaster: John Allen,former president of the famed Philadelphia Toboggan Company, once said that ?the ultimate roller coaster is built when you send out twenty-four people and they all come back dead. This could be done, you know."

Link to original: http://www.di.research.rca.ac.uk/content/home#
Edit:
Looks like a fun way to go. If I had the death penalty I would ask for it! (that or death by snu-snu) After lot of misinterpretation, and wrong discussion. This part is IF you could choose your own way to die after beeing either terminal ill or sentenced to death! It is NOT part of the article. Read it!

What do you people think?

 

[Vault Girl]

that is pretty messed up, i agree witht he right to euthanasia but death should not be the end result of fear. to feel fear before death must be a horrific thing. would rather go calmly and peacefully.

hell why not tie a barrel of gunpowder to someone and catapult them in to an active volcano, would probably give you same result with less expense to do

 

[Rockchimp69]

I think it's pretty fucking sick if I'm honest.

Not sure why either, just a gut reaction.

The death penalty is a pretty sick thing, but at least with this there is no pain, and they go out with the happy feelings that even the worst people deserve.

 

[cryogeist]

ehhh just shoot me in the head XD
im scared shitless of rollercoasters

 

[emeraldrafael]

So its not the Death Panels, but the Death Coasters we should worry about. I see.

Actually, other then that, that looks like a really fun rollercoaster, though I'm not sure how its supposed to kill you. Though I dont think things like this will fly for very long if they hit American.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Actually, other then that, that looks like a really fun rollercoaster, though I'm not sure how its supposed to kill you.

Mostly this. If you hadn't told me that said coaster would be lethal, I'd likely be in line right now.

 

[CrystalShadow]

The death penalty is a pretty sick thing, but at least with this there is no pain, and they go out with the happy feelings that even the worst people deserve.

There's just something about the thought of basically killing people the same way as a shaken baby that disgusts me. Blood loss and whiplash isn't a dignified way to die.

I don't really think that's what the design is based on.

Looking at the schematics, it's essentially a rollercoaster built out of a series of loops with increasingly smaller diameters.

That means each loop induces increasingly higher G-force, with the associated effects, which, to be honest, are quite different to what you're thinking of.

Basically, it's what fighter pilots experience when they pull manoeuvres at the limits of human ability, except that this design clearly is intended to push beyond those limits.

This thing will make you pass out due to lack of blood to the brain. And the effects of high g-forces are very well documented by a huge number of people.

If you want to know what this would be like prior to it becoming fatal, ask an air force pilot.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

What is this I don't even...

...If you can do it, you must do it, I guess.

 

[The Cake Is Annoying]

Title says it.

Quote for the designer site:

?Euthanasia Coaster? is a hypothetical euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster engineered to humanely ? with elegance and euphoria ? take the life of a human being. Riding the coaster?s track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in aeronautics/space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful. Celebrating the limits of the human body, this ?kinetic sculpture? is in fact the ultimate roller coaster: John Allen,former president of the famed Philadelphia Toboggan Company, once said that ?the ultimate roller coaster is built when you send out twenty-four people and they all come back dead. This could be done, you know."

image removed (my edit)

Link to original: http://www.di.research.rca.ac.uk/content/home#

Looks like a fun way to go. If I had the death penalty I would ask for it! (that or death by snu-snu)

What do you people think?

I've seen the model for this in the science gallery in Dublin. As a purely hypothetical project I've no objections to it. I think the reactions to it are more interesting than the project itself. People's obsession with treating death as a solemn and sacred event shrouded in ritual and tradition is stranger still to me.

 

[Rockchimp69]

The death penalty is a pretty sick thing, but at least with this there is no pain, and they go out with the happy feelings that even the worst people deserve.

There's just something about the thought of basically killing people the same way as a shaken baby that disgusts me. Blood loss and whiplash isn't a dignified way to die.

To the person it's just like experiencing the most thrilling euphoric experience imaginable and then just kind of fading out into a happy blur of sensation...

If I understood the OP properly.

And hey, it's not about us it's about the person on the rollercoaster.

Interesting stuff.

 

[CrystalShadow]

This thing will make you pass out due to lack of blood to the brain. And the effects of high g-forces are very well documented by a huge number of people.

If you want to know what this would be like prior to it becoming fatal, ask an air force pilot.

That's what I meant by blood loss, the whiplash comes when you load terminally ill and frail people onto a rollercoaster.

I know I'm going to get blasted for this because I am against something online but there's just something about that mental picture that is horrifying.

Eh. Probably it would be. But who knows.

Euthanasia is a messy subject. Two of my relatives have been Euthanised. (Both had cancer, and before you ask, the first one, I think, wasn't strictly speaking legal, but the second was. - Both were in one of the few countries known to support assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.)
Knowing what the lives of these people were like beforehand, I don't know what to think of it as an idea.

But, as to how it's done, that's a wholly different question. And yes, something as bizarre as a 'suicide' rollercoaster does have issues that are better not thought about really.

But as a general concept, there are much worse ways to die that I can think of.

 

[LordFisheh]

Unless there turns out to be some form of higher being to make the judgement for us, death has no more meaning than people care to assign it. I wouldn't like to die that way but I don't think we can brand it as 'sick', or as somehow wrong for making light of death. If people choose to die that way, fine by me.

 

[KeyMaster45]

*snip*

Yeah, I think if I had to pick a way to go it would be that because it would be even more badass if by some slim margin I survived. Still when people would ask my family how I died I would take comfort before hand knowing their response would be "Grandpa died riding the most bitchin' roller coaster known to mankind"

Hey if you're going to off yourself why not do it with a bit of style?

 

[Zykon TheLich]

All se

 

[Sojoez]

Look, just for one minute indulge me mister clever rollercoaster designing fighter pilot surgeon.

You winch a bunch of sick people up a slope to the top and drop them down a sharp slope. Their heads go forwards and back because, now trust me on this, when someone's near the end of their rope they're very weak. They can well get whiplash from that, the average person no...but a terminally ill person?

Also be more polite in future, this isn't R&P and I don't normally like to take crap off of people for what I said was a subjective opinion. I know it's hard to grasp but if you're an ass you don't make me want to talk to you.

You have never been in a rollercoaster before have you? Because if you had, then you know that whiplash is out of the question in rollercoasters.
Also, did you read the article I linked at all or was your chain of thoughts something like this:
"Euthanasia = murder + rollercoaster = immoral rollercoaster!!! Must protest!!!1"

If you DID read the article you would have seen that the cause of death are the different G-forces that are produced during the ride. You first have the thrill of speed and then the feeling of euphoria that comes with the loss of blood to the brain.
I wish I had posted this in the R&P forums so that I could ask about your R, though thats pretty obvious.

 

[FortheLegion]

Imagine if the Nazis had this.....

 

[Baradiel]

Wow. Just wow.

I generally support euthanasia, because I believe if someone wants to die they have that right. If they physically can't, they should be able to ask for help.

But still... This is... interesting... and not necessarily in a good way.

 

[Hydro14]

Look, just for one minute indulge me mister clever rollercoaster designing fighter pilot surgeon.

You winch a bunch of sick people up a slope to the top and drop them down a sharp slope. Their heads go forwards and back because, now trust me on this, when someone's near the end of their rope they're very weak. They can well get whiplash from that, the average person no...but a terminally ill person?

Also be more polite in future, this isn't R&P and I don't normally like to take crap off of people for what I said was a subjective opinion. I know it's hard to grasp but if you're an ass you don't make me want to talk to you.

Ok, I know this wasn't directed at me, but I can see two flaws with your logic. Firstly, a well designed roller-coaster doesn't rely on the muscles in the passengers' necks to support their heads. There are headrests to do that from behind, and the over-the-shoulder restraints are often bulky enough to obstruct the movement of the heads to the side. As the roller-coaster crosses the apex of the peak, it begins accelerating, causing the inertia of the person's head combined with air resistance to force it back into the head-rest. If the headrest is properly shaped this will not cause whiplash which is caused by stress on the muscles and vertebrae in the neck by backwards motion of the head beyond it's neutral position, and will at worst cause mild concussion, again, only if the headrest is poorly shaped.

The second flaw in the argument is the belief that the terminally ill are all frail. Often euthanasia is sought by people who have no hope of recovery while they are still in fairly decent condition because they don't want to experience the long, slow decline that their condition will lead them to.

Failing both of these conditions, the passenger can still be given a neck-brace without it impairing the functions that will lead to their death. The point I'm making is that the flaws with the design as a humane form of death that you have pointed out can be easily fixed. I believe the discussion was intended to be more about the concept than the execution anyway.

OT: I would certainly take this over dying in a hospital bed any day. The only flaw I can think of is that you lose the possibility of the whole 'dying surrounded by your family' thing, but then you'd have to be fairly selfish to want to put them through that anyway. Whether it's worth the investment to build such a contraption is less conclusive.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Must find Roller Coaster Tycoon disc...


This looks awesome. If I'm ever put to death for some reason, sign me up!

 

[Verlander]

Dunno where the death penalty came into this. Civilised countries abolished the death penalty years ago

Nah I can't say I'd approve of this. It's making something very serious into something jovial. I think it's been made by someone who doesn't really understand euthanasia, and the emotions that go into it.

Euthanasia is suicide, literally, and how many suicidal people feel the need to go on a rollercoaster? What's worse, is that Euthanasia is assisted suicide, because they are physically incapable of doing so themselves. This means that they are probably in an incredible amount of pain, or have a major physical problem. In that respect, it really is a bad idea to put these people on a "rollercoaster".

Sure some people might choose it, but considering the millions of pounds it would cost to build this thing, it doesn't really seem worth it. Everyone I know who has experienced a loved one who want euthanasia, have made it into a sombre and dignified event, surrounded by loved ones. This farce is just sick. It's death we're talking about here, death because someone is so sick they can't get better, and their life is a misery. Fairground rides are not appropriate in this situation