Being burned alive is the most painful? I thought that the flames killed the nerve endings, and you probably passed out from smoke inhalation relatively quickly anyway.
Does anyone know for sure?
For me the idea of freezing to death sounds somewhat appealing, but I assume that would be much more painful.
Well I think if you’re burned at the stake like Joan of Arc, the smoke rises to your Roman nose before the flames really reach you. But if you’re doused with gasoline, it’s more… visceral.
Even if the flames kill the nerve endings, the ‘intermediate process’ of getting the nerve endings killed has to…really hurt. And then there’s still the underlying flesh that has only suffered 2nd-degree burns and not 3rd degree. They’ll be screaming in agony, and that’s flesh that covers your whole body. And the smoke inhalation still takes several minutes to kill or induce unconsciousness, I think.
As for freezing to death, I think it induces a slow sleepy, confused stupor and coma that’s actually not too unpleasant a sensation, unless you mean really sudden freezing (like being put in an absolute-zero freezer) and not merely being in Alberta outdoors in the winter too long.
I would select death through overexposure in Woody Allen’s Orgasmatron machine.
On my 117th birthday, death by overexertion and dehydration, surrounded by a harem well-satisfied blondes, brunettes and a few redheads.
The coroner told me most people in fires die from smoke inhalation, and that’s a blessing. Ever have a serious burn? Remember how much it hurts?
Freezing is very painless when you are extremely drunk.
WHAT do you mean, I have to pick from your list? Sheesh!
Ok, let it be guillotine.
Almost zero pain, a severe cerebro-spinal shock causing instant systemic shock and very rapid death,
and best of all, almost NO way it can be flubbed to hurt me, without killing me.
For those of you who selected Lethal Injection… Read up about the guy that had 6 hours of convulsions, foaming at the mouth, and eventually died of internal bleeding from abdominal arteries ruptured by the convulsions. (1936, i think)
For more recent horror stories, browse through Top 10 Horrifically Botched Lethal Injections - Listverse
Works for me. Although I’ve heard freezing to death is all right - after the initial discomfort of extreme cold, you just drift off.
Eh…I have to challenge this. AIUI, if a firing squad doesn’t successfully kill the condemned man on the first volley, then as you point out, they just simply reload and shoot another volley. And again if still needed, until the job’s done. So by definition they get it done.
But that’s no different than saying, “Well, if the lethal injection attempt was botched the first time, then the physician simply re-administers the drugs and then the condemned dies this time.” So the firing squad DID or CAN botch it.
So firing squads most definitely can get it botched, if it’s defined as not killing the man the first time. In fact, given the haphazard nature of bullets flying some distance to hit a target, and how the body may or may not die based off of just where the bullets entered, I’d much rather go with the precision of an IV needle in my arm veins.
How about death by Gamma bomb in the middle of NYC?
Since capital punishment is wrong always and everywhere, and thus totally inexcusable, the state should have no problem doubling down on the atrocity of what it is doing.
…and with a paper-wrapped sliver of ice-9 strapped to your wrist?
Depends. Will Bokonon write a calypso in my memory before he touches the ice-nine?
… I guess you could negotiate for that.
If I’m allowed to kill others too, I can see an argument for just killing everyone - that way nobody has to miss me or mourn! (Or miss or mourn anyone else either.)
Of course, killing everyone in the same instant (and killing them fast enough that they don’t suffer) is a little tricky to pull off. I’m thinking something like this would be great if we could somehow manage it, though. Plus I think it would be a pretty metal way to go.
Did Candlejack finally track you d
Put me down for snu-snu, also.
Presuming they won’t let me get away with the technicalities like “old age,” I’d go with death by firing squad as long as it was done traditionally. Eat a last meal the night before, choose a blindfold and cigarette, get asked for any last words, the whole shebang. No particular reason, but if I’ve got to go that’s on the ‘not too unpleasant’ side and is at least ending on a classy note.
Nope, the evidence seems to be that burning to death is very painful and very slow. Alas, the nerve endings are not killed, but overstimulated. Smoke inhalation? Not that nice in itself, and it can take a while.
Carbon monoxide poisoning or nitrogen asphyxiation are supposed to be painless and imperceptible.
One way to freeze to death is to get into a hot bath with a bottle of your favorite tipple - anything from naval rum to Jim Beam - and enjoy the booze with no fear of a hangover. The bath water cools down, and then so do you. But you won’t notice it.
I would want to be allowed to perform an auto-vivisection, with the option of verbally indicating that I should immediately be shot in the head at close range (less than 12") with a shotgun, at least 12 gauge.
I’m a bit of a masochist, and I’ve always been curious about the underlying structures of my own body. Never enough to cause self-harm, but enough that I might do it in some weird fantasy scenario like this.
Fugu, prepared by an unqualified chef.