>> "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.

Define pain free. When you get several Gs in your body I'm not sure you don't feel any kind of pain.

If you like this as art then you are probably the kind of person who enjoy the painted cadaver's exhibitions.

I've done some aerobatic flying, and I would not always describe the experience of high G maneuvers as pain-free. Maybe someone more medically inclined could explain why this roller coaster might be different?

Not to mention the 2-minute trip up to the peak...

I find euthanasia to be horrible, so a euthanasia roller coaster is automatically horrible.

I, 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!

I don't think you realize that euthanasia isn't always voluntary.

Involuntary euthanasia is called murder, and that's already illegal.

There are several forms of euthanasia. Involuntary euthanasia (against the will of the patient) is something most people would agree is wrong and this roller coaster would unlikely be able to be used for it.

Wouldn't "Involuntary euthanasia" just be murder?

Yes, I think so. Although when discussing euthanasia the distinction is probably made because if involuntary euthanasia were legal there would likely be a list of specific reasons you can do it (therefore drawing a distinction between involuntary euthanasia and murder).

There 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.

I find it particularly galling that "Death with dignity" is "a silly loaded catchphrase designed to put opponents off balance" and yet "Death with courage" is something you throw in to support that belief. You need to take a moment to listen to your own rhetoric and think about the people your opinions effect.

Let me make it clear: I am not in the least bit interested in your moral judgement of my beliefs, nor am I interested in your advice regarding my rhetoric.

Of course you are. Otherwise you'd be quietly secure in the knowledge of your own rightness, not trying to pick fights about it on the internet.

Nor are the people who would choose to be euthanized interested in your beliefs. That's their point.

You'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?

There 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...

> The body is always corrupted.

But what of the mind? It's the aspect of choice that lends anything its dignity. Being at peace with your decision. Some people find a measure of dignity in dying naturally, it's in accord with their wishes in that respect. Others don't.

To deny those who are not at peace with it that choice robs them of some of their dignity.

I remember my grandfather dying when I was a teenager, in the hospital he was pleading with everyone around him to kill him. I feel guilty for not doing it whenever I think about him. The one thing the poor bastard wanted, the only thing left anyone could give him.

I can't hold it against him, it's not his fault. When people are suffering that much, they're not really thinking about whether they're asking a child to kill them. But he could have gone weeks earlier, could have been in a position to make the decision for himself rather than being reduced to begging.

He could have been spared that, there'd have been more dignity in it.

> There is no such thing as death with dignity. The body is always corrupted.

Okay! If my inevitable death is going to be corrupt and undignified no matter what I do, then it's a no-brainer to make it quick and painless rather than drawn-out and agonizing.

Oh dear. I've really offended the Silicon Valley Suicide Gods. Be it known that merely having certain unpopular opinions about life issues is an instant 30+ karma hit.

Yeah, the rough thing about free speech is that, sometimes, people disagree with you.

Welcome to Hacker News.

Why do you find euthanasia horrible? It's much more horrible to force someone to endure sever pain against their will.

I would say the argument comes down to how you value life. Those most opposed to euthanasia are likely to hold the belief that all human life is equally valuable, and there is no such thing as a life not worth living, and to support euthanasia and assist someone in actively taking his or her life, is to abet them in the mistaken belief that their life is not worth living.

The typical response to this is that euthanasia opponents are living in a dreamworld, and lying to themselves. It is obvious at its face that some lives are not worth living, and to think otherwise is foolish.

On the other hand, the euthanasia opponent can reasonably ask how can we both support euthanasia and have suicide prevention hotlines? The existence of both seems to indicate that our societal response to an eagerness to die, rather than being about individual choice, is more about encouraging cultural norms about who is to be valued.

I think that someone dying is pretty horrible, even if it is less horrible than dying some other way.

I personally hope I get to go the way I want to.

... struck directly in the head, from behind, caught completely unawares by something moving at several times the speed of sound, with enough size and kinetic energy to very quickly dissociate my body's molecules with negligible loss to the impactor's velocity. A rocket would do nicely.

I know that there's no sensible way to justify the expense for one person's almost-certainly (based on current understanding of physics and biology) painless death.

But a boy can dream. ;)

What would you say to a surprise .50 BMG in the back of the head from a few hundred yards away? It'd leave a bit more corpse, granted, but there wouldn't be much left of your head, which should satisfy the basic requirement, and it'd be a lot cheaper -- M33 ball goes for something like seven dollars a round, on average. Of course, you'd need to find someone with a suitable rifle to do the shooting, but you'd have even more trouble finding someone to do the same with an RPG or whatever.

...I think this is the most macabre thing I've said all year.

$7/pull would be more painful than the round hitting. Ouch. A rich man's sport. Still, not a bad plan, but the Angel of Mercy should be closer. I wouldn't want the job to be botched because he's got the shakes a little maybe, or maybe there's a breeze.

It also violates my desire to not know it's coming if we've had to arrange for me to be still and the shooter to be at a specific distance and frame of mind.

So, $7 for the round plus the going rate of a professional hitman.

I suddenly have a very macabre desire to crunch the numbers on that vs. a traditional open-casket funeral these days. ;)

Dying is horrible? Why? We all die, it is a known end, why will it be horrible?

Fear.

Pain.

There's really no point hashing out the argument here. It's a pointless discussion. I was just pointing out one of the possible reasons someone would find this roller coaster to be horrible.

Do you really want to devolve this into yet another internet debate on the morality of euthanasia? That's really not the point of this thought experiment.

What do you find horrible about it?

This is how it would look like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEklVDlqwbQ

I think two minutes of that 3:20 are just getting to the top. The 10g only lasts 60 seconds.