# Death by . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165 "2007-09-23T03:34:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/21 "2007-09-23T19:21:29Z")
Professor Plum in the Ballroom with the candlestick. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/22 "2007-09-23T22:23:09Z")
How could there ever be anything approaching a comprehensive list when the categories are so arbitrary - for example death by being cut into half inch strips _ **is** _ different from death by being cut into three-quarter inch strips, and both of these are different again depending on whether the cutting implement is a laser or a pair of blunt scissors. ---
**Author:** ![iftheresaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/23 "2007-09-24T00:06:12Z")
To while away the hours at work, a coworker and I used to take turns challenging each other to come up with a way you could be killed with the (mostly) innocuous drugstore items around us (e.g. death by Q-tip, death by nail polish, death by neosporin…) We came up with a LOT of ideas - but nowhere near a comprehensive list. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/24 "2007-09-24T02:47:45Z")
> [@](#): > > So should we then say that all death is either caused by a lack of perfusion in the brain or by the compromised physical integrity of the brain itself? No. Because if you suffer a massive heart attack, your brain was doing fine right up until the point of death and then stopped working afterwards. As I wrote in my first post above, life requires the ongoing operation of a number of vital organs. If any of them stop working right it can lead to death and then all the rest will stop working because of death. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/25 "2007-09-24T03:24:45Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] No. Because if you suffer a massive heart attack, your brain was doing fine right up until the point of death and then stopped working afterwards. [/QUOTE] Huh? This sounds like you’re defining death as “when the heart stops,” rather than “when the brain is dead,” which I think is more common. After all, if you have a massive heart atack that stops the heart immediately, you’re still **conscious** for ten or fifteen seconds, and still revivable if the heart starts beating again for five minutes or more after that; if the person was somehow hooked up to a new heart or some kind of heart replacement during that time period, they’d survive. Surely death can’t be defined in such a way that the person can still be conscious after it occurs. I think **Shamozzle** ’s definition works, though you could probably simplify it and say “Death occurs when the brain is irreparably damaged,” whether that damage comes by sudden impact with the sidewalk at a hundred miles an hour or because the neurons are dying from lack of blood. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/26 "2007-09-24T03:32:11Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] No. Because if you suffer a massive heart attack, your brain was doing fine right up until the point of death and then stopped working afterwards. As I wrote in my first post above, life requires the ongoing operation of a number of vital organs. If any of them stop working right it can lead to death and then all the rest will stop working because of death. [/QUOTE] What I’m getting at is that, ultimately, death is caused by the conditions I mentioned previously. So by your example, one does not die when their heart stops working. One dies when pressurized, oxygenated blood fails to reach the brain. Remove the O/P blood (or compromise the brain’s physical structure) and you have death. It seems to me that whatever the initial cause, whether it be poisoning, gunshot, kidney failure, or heart attack, all causes lead to the ultimate condition I’ve described. Actually, if we use [Information Theoretic Death](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_theoretic_death) as our definition, it seems that the ultimate cause of all death is [autolysis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autolysis_%28biology%29). ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/27 "2007-09-24T09:55:52Z")
[QUOTE=Shamozzle] Actually, if we use [Information Theoretic Death](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_theoretic_death) as our definition, it seems that the ultimate cause of all death is [autolysis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autolysis_%28biology%29). [/QUOTE] Information theoretical death! That’s the phrase I was trying to recall. Thanks **Shamozzle**. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/28 "2007-09-24T12:43:37Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] In how many different ways can humans die? How many different things can happen to a human body that would, without intervention, be fatal? For example: Being burned alive Drowning Getting shot in the head Getting shot in the heart Heart attack Starving Brain aneurysm Decapitation Electrocution Poisoning Strangulation Dehydration Suffocation Falling from a great height Bleeding to death Boiled alive Getting blown up Ruptured appendix Gangreen What others can we add? [/QUOTE] Your first item is “being burned alive” yet you don’t mention freezing to death. Or being buried alive. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/29 "2007-09-24T13:40:42Z")
Trivial Pursuit cards are known for errors, but on one question they state that every death has the same cause- lack of oxygen to the brain. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/30 "2007-09-24T13:50:39Z")
I’m a big fan of death by exanguination. Messy ! 😃 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/31 "2007-09-24T14:53:30Z")
You also left out [sepsis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepsis) which is a major cause of death. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/32 "2007-09-24T14:54:08Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] death by being cut into half inch strips _ **is** _ different from death by being cut into three-quarter inch strips, and both of these are different again depending on whether the cutting implement is a laser or a pair of blunt scissors. [/QUOTE] Note to self: Never, ever, ever, get on Ernst Stavro **Mangetout’s** bad side. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/33 "2007-09-24T15:55:08Z")
What about a pointed stick? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/34 "2007-09-24T19:15:02Z")
How about drowning in a vat of sulphuric acid? [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2007/09/23/drown23.DTL&tsp=1](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2007/09/23/drown23.DTL&tsp=1) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/35 "2007-09-24T19:23:03Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] You could always be hit by a speeding ice cream truck. [/QUOTE] That was a bizarre movie. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/36 "2007-09-24T21:48:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Actually, if we use Information Theoretic Death as our definition, it seems that the ultimate cause of all death is autolysis. Rather an arbitrary cutoff, there. Based on the absolutes given in the definition at that Wiki link, the only possible cause of information-theoretic death would be falling into a black hole, and maybe not even that. You can’t just destroy information. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/37 "2007-09-24T21:59:15Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Rather an arbitrary cutoff, there. Based on the absolutes given in the definition at that Wiki link, the only possible cause of information-theoretic death would be falling into a black hole, and maybe not even that. You can’t just destroy information. [/QUOTE] Information is indestructible? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/38 "2007-09-24T21:59:23Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Trivial Pursuit cards are known for errors, but on one question they state that every death has the same cause- lack of oxygen to the brain. [/QUOTE] I remember that question. I thought the answer they gave was heart failure? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/39 "2007-09-24T22:34:01Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] I remember reading once that there were only five main official categories of death: Natural causes, homicide, suicide, accident and undetermined. [/QUOTE] Isn’t a suicide just a specific form of homicide? It’s just a matter of who the victim is (in this case, the murderer him/her self). Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165/40 "2007-09-24T22:47:32Z")
[QUOTE=zev\_steinhardt] Isn’t a suicide just a specific form of homicide? [/QUOTE] Not as I’ve ever seen it defined. It’s always one human killing another. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by/420165.md?page=3)