ON THE MATTER OF DEATH

Life was a miracle, religiously and scientifically.  Well, there are no miracles in science, although a case can be made that evolution of initial life was so ridiculously low that this is on par with the Big Bang as miracles, for this latter event began with a singularity, a mathematical condition without explanation.  Then gain, science is always in question, and there are those who think not.

On the other hand, all life does come to an end.  Read this article. Again though, maybe not, for some religions believe in something like Heaven forever, and even some astrophysicists think what is out there will be there forever.

I was inspired to today post on death mostly because of the nitrogen execution this week in Alabama of Eugene Kenneth Smith, 58, the first of its kind in the U.S.  By the way, what do you know about nitrogen?

• It is 78% of the atmosphere, cannot be directly utilized by plants, but keeps the world from burning up.
• Is colorless, odorless and non-toxic.
• In various oxide forms is vital to life.

I probably too much think about death, which for me will not be Heaven or Hell, but some combination of eternal gloom and blackness, or infinite peace.  I can't logically convince myself of any kind of afterlife. That Black Square is the famous contribution of Russian abstract artist Kasimir Malevich.  There are four variants.

I have posted on death on several occasions in this blog site, plus in my SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity, and a couple of Huffington Post articles.

• 
  Way back on 26November2008 I provided details on Part 18 of Chapter 1 of that book, which predicted that executions would someday use nitrogen:

The Next Generation Solution

Ah, but on the horizon is nitrogen asphyxiation, known as killing with kindness. Nitrogen is 78% of the atmosphere we breathe. But if the content is less than 10% oxygen, death can result. Nearly 100 industrial deaths have been caused over the past couple of decades by too rich a nitrogen atmosphere.

In 1981, during final countdown for the Columbia Space Shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center, two NASA technicians entered the aft engine compartment, which was purged with nitrogen to reduce any hydrogen-oxygen build-up, and died in minutes from anoxia (lack of oxygen). Nitrogen has no distinct smell or taste. The same happened to the European Space Agency in 1995 when two more lost their lives from a nitrogen leak into the launchpad.

The body feels suffocation only when the carbon dioxide concentration in your lungs exceeds a certain threshold, as when you hold your breath. The beauty of using nitrogen, if you can call it that, is that in a nitrogen atmosphere, you exhale the carbon dioxide normally, but without the 20% oxygen on inhalation. Thus, death is painless without the feeling of suffocation. No state or nation is considering this option, although when I last visited Norway, being discussed was the use of this gas for the humane slaughter of fish. Maybe nitrogen should be used for turkeys and all livestock.

• 
  On 4March2015 I wrote on NITROGEN:  KILLING WITH KINDNESS.  To quote:

Humanity has been searching for the best way to end the life of the condemned, and has used suffocation, dropping the body from height, stones, swords, the Scottish Maiden (which was more mythical), Halifax Gibbet, guillotine (it was only in 1789 that Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin introduced legislation in the French National Assembly to more humanely and efficiently carry out capital punishment and utilized in France until 1977), hanging, firing squad, electric chair and lethal injection.  

• 
  In that posting I also said:

I've personally been thinking about my end of life, and was told that a whole bunch of sleeping pills and a bottle of vodka would do the job.  Certainly, this would be a lot less odious than a bullet or jumping off a building.  However, anyone can purchase a bottle of nitrogen (oenophiles top a partially used bottle of wine to preserve the taste) and you can figure out how best to engineer the end.  Today, I'm at 15 Craigside, and, well, suicide now becomes unnecessary.  

• Not sure what was on my mind 9 years ago.
• Since then I looked further into this subject.
• In that same posting I also indicated:

So the state of Oklahoma has begun a process that seems destined to be adopted throughout the country and world.  While gas chambers are not new, the replacement of hydrogen cyanide with nitrogen might well become that simple solution.

• What happened to Oklahoma?  Ironically, an Oklahoma doctor in the 1970s developed the lethal injection method to replace the electric chair, but the state has not quite yet applied the nitrogen gas technique.  
• Mississippi also has approved nitrogen, and Nebraska appears to be next.

While more and more countries are abolishing the use of capital punishment, there remain 55 still with this option.  

• 23 of them have not acted for at least 10 years.
• How many people are executed every year?
• China does not release any number, but Amnesty International said 883 in 2022, plus 2016 in the rest of the world, with 325 for drug offenses.  
• 28,282 were awaiting execution at the end of 2022.
• Singapore in 2023 executed the first woman in 20 years for trafficking heroin.
• They provided the following graphic, which excludes China in the first.  The final one is from Wikipedia.

  Abolitionist countries: 111

  Abolitionist-in-law countries for all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances (such as crimes committed in wartime): 7

  Abolitionist-in-practice countries (have not executed anyone during the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions): 24

  Retentionist countries: 53

• 48 nations did not use the death penalty in 1991.  Today, 112 countries.
• How?

• Hanging (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sudan, Pakistan, Palestinian National Authority, Israel, Yemen, Egypt, India, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, the UAE, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Liberia)
• Shooting (the People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Vietnam, Belarus, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, North Korea, Indonesia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen, and in the US states of Oklahomaand Utah).
• Lethal injection (United States, Guatemala, Thailand, the People's Republic of China, Vietnam)
• Beheading (Saudi Arabia)
• Stoning (Nigeria, Sudan)
• Electrocution and gas inhalation (some U.S. states, but only if the prisoner requests it or if lethal injection is unavailable)
• Inert gas asphyxiation (Some U.S. states, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama)

• Actually, that posting of 4March2015 had one more item of interest:

Let me leave you with the theme from MASH, Suicide is Painless, which hit #1 in the UK in 1980.  An interesting sidelight is that the song's lyrics was written in five minutes by Mike Altman when he was 14 years old.  His father, Robert, directed the film, and said on the Johnny Carson Show that in the 80's he only made $70,000 from the film, but that his son earned millions from the song.  Suicide is Painless was used in the film when camp dentist, Captain Walter "Painless Pole" Waldowski (guy in white), contemplated suicide, becoming the theme for the TV series.

• Then the very next day, 5March2015 I posted UPDATE ON "THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE DEAD".
• I used a historic Gallup poll of public opinion on the death penalty.  64% favored the death penalty in 2008.

• Here is the latest Gallup poll by party.  Again a wide difference between Republicans and Democrats.  But the general public support for the death penalty dropped from 64% to 55%.

• Again from the same book, referring to the 3-strikes law passed by some states of keeping criminals in jail after three convictions.

To quote from Chapter 1 of my SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity:

Here is my problem with this (3-strikes) law. As immoral as keeping someone in jail for the rest of his life might be, I think it is not worth my tax dollars. Does this mean I am against such a concept? No, I like the fact that seasoned criminals are kept away, only, let us be truly sensible, maybe, even draconian. First, do we want a better educational system or should we build more prisons? Second, isn’t it cruel to keep someone locked up for a lifetime? Third, how, really, can we actually best prevent that fourth crime. This simple solution will soon be announced...but not quite yet.

• 
  About this subject, I published in 2009 in the Huffington Post:  A Simple Solution for Crime:  Background.
• But I submitted a part 2:  THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE DEAD.
• HuffPo thought it was too provocative.  But you can read that article.
• I will someday return to the concept of THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE DEAD.

I've written other articles for the Huffington Post on this general subject.

• Suicide Dreams.
• Life After Death.
• Gratitude...Not Grief.

So about my death, I reach back to my posting of 27October2019:  PART TWO:  MY FINAL JOURNEY.  A quote:

Realizing all the above, and luxuriating in my, now, 144th day of euphoria, I've been thinking a lot lately about some sort of final journey while I remain coherent and physically able.  Nothing like suicide, which would be awful, but something like a delightful odyssey.

I then talked about the film, Still Alice, dealing with Alzheimer's and suicide, where Julianne Moore won the Oscar for Best Actress.  Like her:

I have thought about someday similarly phasing out under optimally enjoyable conditions.  We have no control over our birth, some smartly plan for their lives... but how many of us plan for our death?  Sure, the estate, wills and those things.  But comprehensively arrange your final journey?

I moved on to talk about religion, my move to 15 Craigside, where they promise to take of me for the rest of my life, and the relative horror of someday finally being sent to our second floor care center, where life only recedes.

So what are some other options?  Well, as I eliminated from consideration earlier, one can commit suicide.  But that's not me.  I heard, though, that if you can find a way to breathe nitrogen--like by fashioning scuba gear to accomplish this task--the death will be easy and painless.  Then again, read this to be unconvinced.

There are right to die laws, but doctors only approve if you are close to dying.  They don't allow death because you'd rather be dead than alive.  So I went to Switzerland to check on their unique service.

The one exception is euthanasia, or assisted suicide, in Switzerland.  An organization called Dignitas, founded in 1998, provides this service, charging between $8000 and $12,000. While all this actually remains illegal in the country, non-profit organizations administering life-ending medicine seem to be tolerated.  Sixty percent of patients come from Germany.  More than 2000 have used this service.  Here is a typical site for one's end of life:

Apparently, Switzerland still provides this service, for 1125 were euthanized in 2022.  The average age was 79.6, with women 60% of the cases.

So I found two individuals who said they would help me get there.  I also in this posting describe this final fantasy trip maybe being another around the world adventure in first class.

I calculated that this final journey would cost around $100,000, a sum I'll need to keep in reserve.  Would I go?  Not sure, but I don't yet need to make this fatal decision.  Also too, more and more, this has become a fantasy blog site.  A few thoughts are not necessarily real.

I would today add that this fantasy remains just that.  I have been known to chicken out on less severe challenges.

To end, here is the opening of Saturday Night Live last night, featuring Donald Trump, who now that Alec Baldwin has other problems, is played by James Austin Johnson.  In case you ever wondered, here is the history of Trump's hair by Doctor Gary Linkov, a licensed doctor, who features Honesty, Compassion and Artistry.

-