The Eternal Cycle of Life: Nature, Death and Burial

[vorcil]

It dosen't rot the ground,

 

[IcedEcliptic]

Not really. Let's say you're dead and a skeleton. That in and of itself isn't going to bring you back to life and keep all your past memories in tact. That information would be in your brain. So really, all you need is a jar with your brain in it. It has the DNA to reconstruct the rest of your body, which is all you really need.

You have been watching too much of Futurama Cyrus! ;)

 

[Moonbear]

I would argue that the bacteria that feast on dead bodies are a good reason to go with cremation. Particularly when people live in high density populations and lack a lot of places to let bodies rot that won't contaminate your water supplies or expose the general population to pathogens that infect human bodies.

Though, my plan is to be used either as a body or organ donor. Spending many years now teaching anatomy, my preference is to become a body donor, because I feel that really is a great way to help the most people by training new med students. Though, if for some reason I'm not useful for that when I die (such as a major trauma), I hope they'll harvest any useful organs for donation. At the end of all that, I would be cremated. No point wasting space burying me.

 

[GeorginaS]

It's also hard to achieve emotional closure if you see your dead loved one lying on your front lawn every morning. Personally, I'd have to at least drag my loved one's dead body into a neighbor's yard.

Okay, brutal but awfully funny.

And yes, to be constructive, in high-density population areas, burial takes up too much real estate. Plus, people who get buried tend to go with the whole coffin routine, so the bio degrading process would take far too long to be sustainable with so many people dying all the time.

You could go with the Towers of Silence route, but according to one account I read, the vultures had a habit of dropping bits of people parts in the city-proper. I don't know that I'd want to live with hunks of dead people falling on me.

Cremation is, to me, a sensible option, after donating any usable parts. And while I realize it's entirely irrational, because I'll be dead, I don't like the idea of being in the ground. It's cold in there. I'd prefer to be warm, thanks.

 

[fufalian]

Not really. Let's say you're dead and a skeleton. That in and of itself isn't going to bring you back to life and keep all your past memories in tact. That information would be in your brain. So really, all you need is a jar with your brain in it. It has the DNA to reconstruct the rest of your body, which is all you really need.

If I'll be buried after death,I believe in the future nature may produce a new life which have connections with my present life and which is worth to live as my life.Since nature had created humans from lifeless chaos,no one can exclude this possibility.

 

[Cyrus]

If I'll be buried after death,I believe in the future nature may produce a new life which have connections with my present life and which is worth to live as my life.Since nature had created humans from lifeless chaos,no one can exclude this possibility.

That seems rather unlikely, as once the 'information' encoded in your brain is lost - it's lost for good.

 

[fufalian]

I would argue that the bacteria that feast on dead bodies are a good reason to go with cremation. Particularly when people live in high density populations and lack a lot of places to let bodies rot that won't contaminate your water supplies or expose the general population to pathogens that infect human bodies.

.

Bacteria are the unsung heroes of gardening. Without bacteria, gardeners would not have the rich, loamy soil in which plants grow without bounds. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that chemically digest organic matter in soils into smaller nutrient components in forms available to plants.

Bacteria not only helps with nutrient availability, it also helps to improve soil structure. Soils with poor structure benefit as bacteria breaks down soil compounds and the soil re-aggregates. Spaces for air and water will open up, and the structure of the soil will become more uniform.

Well structured soils provide plants with necessary oxygen in the root zone. Plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, but they use oxygen for respiration, which is the process whereby plants break down stored sugars and starches to use as energy for growth. They get their oxygen by absorbing it in the root zone. Soils with good structure have plenty of spaces for oxygen. Soils without structure or organic matter generally do not have enough oxygen. When the plant cannot successfully undergo respiration, it cannot grow well.

 

[fufalian]

Okay, brutal but awfully funny.

And yes, to be constructive, in high-density population areas, burial takes up too much real estate. Plus, people who get buried tend to go with the whole coffin routine, so the bio degrading process would take far too long to be sustainable with so many people dying all the time.

You could go with the Towers of Silence route, but according to one account I read, the vultures had a habit of dropping bits of people parts in the city-proper. I don't know that I'd want to live with hunks of dead people falling on me.

Cremation is, to me, a sensible option, after donating any usable parts. And while I realize it's entirely irrational, because I'll be dead, I don't like the idea of being in the ground. It's cold in there. I'd prefer to be warm, thanks.

The one chooses natural burial believes that death is not the final end of life,his life is with nature,the natural process that created human life is a creative and living force.

The one chooses cremation believes that death is the final end of life,it is not necessary to return the body to earth,so destroy it by burn it to gases and ashes.By thus doing the dead was really destroyed and is really the final end of life once for all.

Up right burial won't take much space and the 'coffin' used is biodegradable

 

[Cyrus]

The one chooses natural burial believes that death is not the final end of life,his life is with nature,the natural process that created human life is a creative and living force.

The one chooses cremation believes that death is the final end of life,it is not necessary to return the body to earth,so destroy it by burn it to gases and ashes.By thus doing the dead was really destroyed and is really the final end of life once for all.

Up right burial won't take much space and the 'coffin' used is biodegradable

Lol, that's like throwing someone away!

In many cultures, it is not uncommon for them to burn the bodies of dead people. So your notion of being 'one with the earth' is amerocentric (is that a word?...meh, I'm using it).

 

[phyzmatix]

I'd rather be a tree than a diamond.There are huge amount of diamonds in the univers,but no life has been found outside of earth,so a tree or even a bacterium is much more precious than diamonds.

One chooses to be burried in ground and a tree be plant on the above will be the food of the tree and eventually he become that tree.

It's commonly accepted that ash is a great fertilizer so you could just spread that around the base of a tree...or even mix it with some potting soil and sort out whichever plant you want right in your kitchen. No need to plant all of grandpa in the backyard to get some apricots out of him

EDIT: Actually, burying isn't "au naturale" at all once you think about it. Which other species of animal buries their dead? I would think that, naturally, your body would've been devoured by wild animals so perhaps the MOST natural way to go is to turn yourself into some form of dog food (since we no longer have easy access to packs of carnivorous wild animals to do the deed for us). Just a thought.

 

[SticksandStones]

It's commonly accepted that ash is a great fertilizer so you could just spread that around the base of a tree...or even mix it with some potting soil and sort out whichever plant you want right in your kitchen. No need to plant all of grandpa in the backyard to get some apricots out of him

EDIT: Actually, burying isn't "au naturale" at all once you think about it. Which other species of animal buries their dead? I would think that, naturally, your body would've been devoured by wild animals so perhaps the MOST natural way to go is to turn yourself into some form of dog food (since we no longer have easy access to packs of carnivorous wild animals to do the deed for us). Just a thought.

Elephants.

 

[sportsstar469]

how do they get decomposed inside the coffins? arent coffins prohibiting the decompositions?

 

[phyzmatix]

Elephants.

*sigh*

A thin layer of dust, twigs and leaves and 6 feet of soil is not the same thing now is it?

 

[hotvette]

My mother wanted to be cremated because she couldn't stand the thought of people standing around looking at her at the funeral lying about how peaceful and good she looked. We buried the urn of ashes in the cemetery next to my father.

When my father died, the mortician was shocked that we didn't want the customary concrete vault to house the casket in the cemetery. My siblings and I wanted him to go back to the Earth in a reasonably natural fashion.

 

[fufalian]

Why not do something good after death as to be the food of microbes and plants in soil,since most of the animals on Earth are consumed alive by humans during their life time?Why cremate the bodies which had come from other living things to gases and ashes after death for nothing good but just polluting the air?

 

[undidly]

Give away as many organs as you can.
In the future when cloning is legal you can be reborn from the DNA in the donated organs.
No memories of course but the same physical type and personality.
New you would also inherit all your wealth,leave it all to yourself.
Invested money would earn interest on which TAX would be payable.
Are you listening government,tax the dead.Get onto it.Cloning now.

I want the remaining bits to be partially cremated to kill any microbes that are dangerous
but not to burn the carbon.
The carbon would be in the form of charcoal which is a good soil conditioner and lasts
for 100,000 years or until burned.
New me could visit the charcoal and the plants that benefit from it.

 

[IcedEcliptic]

Give away as many organs as you can.
In the future when cloning is legal you can be reborn from the DNA in the donated organs.
No memories of course but the same physical type and personality.
New you would also inherit all your wealth,leave it all to yourself.
Invested money would earn interest on which TAX would be payable.
Are you listening government,tax the dead.Get onto it.Cloning now.

I want the remaining bits to be partially cremated to kill any microbes that are dangerous
but not to burn the carbon.
The carbon would be in the form of charcoal which is a good soil conditioner and lasts
for 100,000 years or until burned.
New me could visit the charcoal and the plants that benefit from it.

Why would future people want to resurrect you? You also make assumption that personality is purely nature, what of nurture? Why would the clone of you inherit, instead of descendants or the government? Lot of assumptions here.

 

[lisab]

It's commonly accepted that ash is a great fertilizer so you could just spread that around the base of a tree...or even mix it with some potting soil and sort out whichever plant you want right in your kitchen. No need to plant all of grandpa in the backyard to get some apricots out of him

EDIT: Actually, burying isn't "au naturale" at all once you think about it. Which other species of animal buries their dead? I would think that, naturally, your body would've been devoured by wild animals so perhaps the MOST natural way to go is to turn yourself into some form of dog food (since we no longer have easy access to packs of carnivorous wild animals to do the deed for us). Just a thought.

Neanderthals.

 

[SticksandStones]

*sigh*

A thin layer of dust, twigs and leaves and 6 feet of soil is not the same thing now is it?

Burying is burying. That's like saying a bicycle isn't a transportation device because it isn't the same thing as a car.

 

[phyzmatix]

Neanderthals.

Buries. Present tense.

Burying is burying.

Nonsense.

That's like saying a bicycle isn't a transportation device because it isn't the same thing as a car.

No mate, it's like saying: Here we have a car and a bicycle (both transportation devices) but a car is quite obviously not the same thing as a bicycle.

(Great strawman by the way )

 

[EnumaElish]

If I had my pick, I'd want to go as a shooting star. (Gravitational-atmospheric cremation.)