The clear message is that if you run the body through a large grinder before burial, it will degrade far faster.
> During alkaline hydrolysis, a human body is sealed in a long, stainless-steel chamber, while a heated solution of 95 percent water and 5 percent sodium hydroxide passes over and around it. In low-temperature alkaline hydrolysis, the solution reaches a temperature just below boiling, the process is performed at atmospheric pressure, and the body is reduced over the course of 14 to 16 hours; in a higher-temperature version of the process where the mixture tops 300 degrees Fahrenheit and creates more pressure, the body is reduced in four to six hours. The process dissolves the bonds in the body’s tissues and eventually yields a sterile, liquid combination of amino acids, peptides, salts, sugars and soaps, which is disposed of down the drain at the alkaline hydrolysis facility. The body’s bones are then ground to a fine powder and returned to the deceased person’s survivors, just as the bones that remain after flame cremation are returned to families as ash.
I recall being self conscious after attempting to spread the ashes at the beach on a mildly windy day and inadvertently creating a large dark cloud of human dust. And then wondering what to do with the pile of ash in the sand? I guess I’ll kick this about a bit to spread it around? It was all weird and a little funny, but things you don’t really think about until you do it.
Also it’d be cool to have the option to keep the bones without grinding.
Logically, there’s no reason to get upset about bodies being ground up after they’re dead (since, well, they’re dead). But something about the (cultural?) sanctity of death and burial turns a whole lot of gears in my brain that I can’t explain.
Actually, maybe I know the answer based on that awesome word in your username.
So yeah, cultural sanctity of death is indeed interesting.
I think cemeteries perform a rather useful function which is closer to waste disposal than ritual - the ritual is to soften the blow of that impersonal, utilitarian attitude to death.
The beauty of the plan is that I would not have to worry about any of these.
I tell them that I want simple with my remains, don't go nuts. That way you can spend all that extra money on a 30 foot marble statue of a sword wielding archangel Michael that shoots fire and shouts my name occasionally.
I'm weird. No denying that.
When my partners cat got euthanized she let the vet just walk away with the body for cremation and we got a little box of (hopefully the cats) ashes a few weeks later. Felt gross to me but she didn't want to touch the body and was fine having that sterile veterinary room be the last time she saw her.
We're with our pets a lot more than with extended family so it makes sense that a pet dying can be more intense than losing a friend or family member who does not live with you.
Thanks for sharing.
Perhaps we should say “as long as we brecciate the body, it will biodegrade quickly”
It's useful for methane production, as well as extracting lipids for industrial purposes.
Efficiency in disposal of human remains is a disturbing topic and I'm not sure thats what we should be optimizing for!
It may be important for space colonization one day!