What happens when you die: Unlike most people, I know. And I have video | Hacker News Reader

What happens when you die: Unlike most people, I know. And I have video

slate.com

65 pointsgus_leonel21 comments

I would argue that the author was not, in fact, dead and the medical notes saying the author was dead were in error. Something is wrong with the definition of death if one can become dead and shortly thereafter become not dead again.

There’s a reason that Granny Weatherwax’s sign said “I aten’t dead” and not “I’m dead, but I’ll be back in a jiffy”.

I think people like to play with the idea of surviving "death" where it's almost a hyperbole, rather than saying "the person doing CPR did it correctly and compressed your heart to keep blood moving".

Also interesting, there are other forms of CPR: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12540141/

there is a state where someone is technically alive, but our current medical knowledge and technology is not able to keep this person alive and bring them back from that state. so while they are not yet dead, there is no more hope. what happens is that as our knowledge and tech improves, our ability to "revive" someone gets better, so the state where someone is really dead gets pushed out more and more.

He lost consciousness as a result of hitting his head, and had the heart attack.

He's really, really lucky there were trained professionals on hand, and that hitting his head meant he didn't have to subjectively experience any of it. (I stayed mysteriously unresponsive. “General appearance: comfortable, in no distress.”)

For medical providers, working on a dying person is itself traumatic. Doing so on the spur of the moment in a hockey game would be doubly so: you're just trying to relax and enjoy yourself, but all of a sudden you're on; then you feel you have to be ready at any time, and can't relax.

Then going back to hockey might sound heroic, but it really puts the EMT and paramedic in a tough spot, having to relive it and also worry about having to take care of patients who risk their lives without regard to their impact on others.

This is well-written, honest, with the essential facts to be a good contribution as an anecdote. I do thank the author and wish him well. He has friends everywhere now.

Think his movie summary was clutching his chest then crumpling, then faceplanting with no attempt to catch himself. I agree he probably hit his head but it does sound like the heart attack came first.

I don't think anything happens after we die. But as human beings is just too hard for us to comprehend things without a beginning or an end. Because it Just doesn't fit the model of our world.

I've always assumed my experience after death will be a parallel of my experience before birth: nothing.

That is why one might recommend psychedelic experiences: you are likely to come back with a conviction that your soul existed for eternity before your birth and will exist for eternity after as well.

I think this is highly dependent on what your beliefs are pre-trip and how you define what makes you you. I've had many psychedelic experiences and while I often feel greater connection to living things around me, I've never been left with the feeling that my "soul" or anything I'd define as me will exist when I'm gone.

This is congruent with the sense that my ‘soul’ is a local aspect of the dynamics that have been playing out in the universe and will continue after my death. I am a little piece of the dance, for a while.

That works for me.

Sure, but you have no more evidence of that sort so what's the point? Get high if you want but it's not going to tell you anything.

Exactly. You've been dead much longer than you've been alive, so death is no mystery :)

If that were so, people would be far more accepting of the idea that life, the one thing we do know that ends for everyone, just... ends, and that there is nothing for the dead after that.

But people struggle with it, the concept of simply stopping to exist is terrifying for some.

I’m trying, but I don’t understand. Birth and death are the beginning and the end, respectively. What’s missing?

Why do you think anything happens when you're alive?

Some may appreciate an anecdote of philopher AJ Ayer's near death experience as well. He is known for logical positivism so his thoughts are interesting to read. https://www.philosopher.eu/others-writings/a-j-ayer-what-i-s...

Thank you for sharing. The fact that Nigella Lawson is his stepdaughter also somehow tickled me.

I feel like death is a one way function. If you suffer some catastrophic event but come back, you were unconscious, not dead. I know doctors like the term clinically dead but I feel like it doesn't make a lot of sense. then again I'm not a doctor..

> Brain death is defined as the irreversible loss of all functions of the brain, including the brainstem. The three essential findings in brain death are coma, absence of brainstem reflexes, and apnoea.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2772257

He couldn’t have been dead, not if he’s here talking about it.

Neat article.

Near death, or death in this case, supposedly gives a person who survives a time is precious appreciation.

The writing seems to emphasize that this person still enjoys playing hockey and has a very comfortable appreciation for their loved ones.

Tldr guy has heart attack when playing hockey and is dead for a few hours. Video is simply footage of the event at the game. Nothing else really.

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