For those who say that they would prefer to not be informed of the date of their execution, that actually happens in Japan. This practice is widely decried because basically everyday becomes a possibility and you have to wait until the evening to know if you aren’t going to be killed that day.
I donno. I get panic attacks over various things, so I’d need a strong done of Xanax for whatever method I’d choose. If I took enough Xanax, I suppose it wouldn’t really matter which of the various “painless” methods.
My notion was that I’d want to not know it was going to happen at all. Like, supposing that this was the result of some sort of formal trial, they would announce that I’d been cleared of charges, send me on my way, and then quietly arrange to pipe nitrogen into my bedroom one night as I slept. I would feel no fear or anticipation of death - I’d just suddenly be dead, never seeing it coming or knowing it had happened.
Of course if the government is going to make this their normal way of doing things they’re going to have to figure out some way of explaining my death that wouldn’t make future defendants suspicious about their release. That’s their problem though.
I supposed I’d like to be banished to an uninhabited tropical isle, with no chance of escape. The placed would be stocked with two weeks worth of food and drink. On my ankle would be a tracker so the eye in the sky would know exactly what my coordinates were at any time.
Sometime during that two week period (a time picked at random by a computer), a scud missile would be launched, blowing me to bits.
Seems like an enjoyable (but stressful) way to spend your last days.
That’s the ethical option. Put me under so deep that I won’t feel anything, then just dissect me to save some lives. Kinda the opposite of the “nothing clinical” option I had above, but for good, utilitarian reasons.
