# You will be executed. Choose the method. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635 "2012-12-31T05:29:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/41 "2012-12-31T23:00:48Z")
Guillotine, I’ve always wondered if there’s a few moments of consciousness afterward. ---
**Author:** ![UncleNito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/7cd45c/32.png) [@UncleNito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleNito)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/42 "2013-01-01T01:25:13Z")
Nitrogen. Supposedly breathing pure nitrogen is just like breathing pure air and you just pass out (unlike suffocation, where the burning/suffocating sensation actually comes from C02 buildup in your blood). Or something cool and spectacular. I’m not choosy. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/43 "2013-01-01T01:31:21Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Guillotine, I’ve always wondered if there’s a few moments of consciousness afterward. Yeah, guillotine for this exact reason. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/44 "2013-01-01T01:44:49Z")
I voted guillotine. Of course I’ll be trying to escape regardless, but if I fail, I want my curiosity about post-beheading consciousness answered. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/45 "2013-01-01T02:34:57Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Guillotine, I’ve always wondered if there’s a few moments of consciousness afterward. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Yeah, guillotine for this exact reason. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I voted guillotine. Of course I’ll be trying to escape regardless, but if I fail, I want my curiosity about post-beheading consciousness answered. a kind executioner will have a recent newspaper in the basket so you can catch up on things. a sadistic executioner will have all the front page stories continue on another page. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/46 "2013-01-01T02:50:06Z")
Guillotine. No fuss, but a HELL of a lot of muss. 😃 On the other hand, [this](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Animated/xWLW3.gif) would be hella cool. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/47 "2013-01-01T02:58:03Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > Lethal injection for me. I have seen my dogs being euthanized, it is quick and pain-free, and this is essentially the same thing. Yes, this is my answer too. Unless they really botch it, I think lethal injection would probably be the least suffering by far. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/48 "2013-01-01T03:19:29Z")
Firing squad for me - but only if I were given command of the squad. There’s a fine tradition of disgraced generals giving the order themselves. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/49 "2013-01-01T04:19:21Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Fucked to death by supermodels. That’s the method I chose, several years ago. So far, it’s going well. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/50 "2013-01-01T04:47:14Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > 39 posts, and nobody has stated a preference for ‘botched auto-erotic asphyxiation’?? Sorry, I had to work today. You really think I wanted to say anything about that from a work computer? I’ll take AE. Slow hanging (don’t drop me, pick me up), strangulation, whatever. Done properly, it constricts your carotid arteries, and you pass from consciousness in a Very Pleasant manner long before you start gasping for breath due to excess CO2 in your lungs. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/51 "2013-01-01T04:48:24Z")
I’d be pushed into an active volcano. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/52 "2013-01-01T05:48:03Z")
Drug overdose. This would surely be the best way. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/53 "2013-01-01T09:40:36Z")
I select death from the yet to be invented multiple orgasm machine. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/54 "2013-01-01T13:32:29Z")
lethal injection ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/55 "2013-01-01T16:56:17Z")
Firing squad, at least its quick. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/56 "2013-01-02T10:18:14Z")
My first choice is hypoxia, as some people have said. Nobody’s mentioned pressure drop. Doesn’t that cause unconsciousness painlessly? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/57 "2013-01-02T10:54:56Z")
Whatever is most likely to cause the executioner debilitating post-traumatic stress, please. Probably not lethal injection, it just looks like you go to sleep. The guillotine sounds like it could be quite terrifying, but it’s too fast. Maybe gas. The condemned can alter their breathing pattern to get in a few good minutes of moaning and thrashing to haunt the dreams of the witnesses for the rest of their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/58 "2013-01-02T13:22:59Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > My first choice is hypoxia, as some people have said. Nobody’s mentioned pressure drop. Doesn’t that cause unconsciousness painlessly? You may have some ear pain, depending on whether or not you are able to equalize the pressure in your ears. If you ever have trouble with ear pain when you take a long ride up/down in an elevator, then you may have some trouble with this method: the air pressure needed for fatal hypoxia is much less than the air pressure at the top of the tallest skyscraper. For truly painless hypoxia, you need only displace atmospheric air with an inert gas. Do not use CO2: your lungs will hurt like a mofo. CO works, but it’s not an asphyxiant, it’s a true poison (i.e. it can kill you when just a few hundred PPM gets mixed with otherwise breathable air). Hydrogen would work, but may introduce an explosion hazard. Good choices include nitrogen and any of the noble gases. Painless, and you will quickly become dizzy and pass out. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/59 "2013-01-02T13:59:00Z")
I once exhaled nearly all the air in my lungs and then took a _big_ puff of helium from a mylar balloon. My vision immediately went black and I almost fell down. Luckily I managed to pull my lips away and breathe in some real air or I would have passed out in a second. I really can’t do it justice just how amazingly fast it is that you get knocked out when all your air is replaced with an inert gas like helium. It would seem like just exhaling all the air in your lungs and then holding it would be about the same, but it’s not like that at all. It’s like _wham_ right after you take a breath of all inert gas, you are out and it’s painless and you barely even know what hit you. So yeah, death by hypoxia sounds good. And since I already have experience with Helium, seeing how fast and effective it is in knocking you out, I’ll go with that. ---
**Author:** ![smaje1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@smaje1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaje1)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635/60 "2013-01-02T19:55:40Z")
Death by mau-mau. (League of Gentlemen, yo) Umm, but for reals, this is a tough poll. I guess I’d go with lethal injection… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-will-be-executed-choose-the-method/645635.md?page=4)