/sci/ - Science & Math

>>5630756
yeh, of course it'l work. you die without oxygen.
there was a better info image on this, but i didnt save it

best an-hero technique IMO

>>5630756

A steady flow of helium at a higher rate than oxygen, is probably a better option. I would imagine that just getting a rush of helium would be similar to choking to death. Whereas a steady flow would slowly put you to sleep.

>>5630756
I'm skeptical about it being any more effective than just using a bag. Helium, being lighter than air, would remain in the bag while the air already in your lungs would remain there.

>>5630800
nope --- the reason this is a good an hero technique is that the sensation of choking/suffocation is from having too much co2 in your blood, not from having not enough oxygen. If you breathe out the co2 normally, but don't breathe in oxygen, you'll eventually asphyxiate without the panicky/choky phase. People die this way in industrial accidents pretty regularly. They walk into an area with no oxygen, don't really notice, pass out, and if they aren't dragged out of there they'll die unconscious.

Helium, argon, nitrogen, probably even methane'll work.

PSA, though, unless you've got terminal cancer or something, you'll probably be better off alive.

Kinda retarded for several reasons.

Sealing the bag around your neck would indeed lead to asphyxiation, but as >>5630820 kinda pointed out, you really don't need helium to do that. Carbon dioxide would still accumulate within the bag and your lungs, leading to that panic-wrought suffocating sensation, so it would still not be a very enjoyable way to go. In effect, the helium doesn't do anything the nitrogen present in regular air doesn't already do (except make your voice squeaky). Leaving the bag loose around the neck and increasing the flow rate would promote the displacement of oxygen AND carbon dioxide, leading to a less unpleasant asphyxiation, but again that could be accomplished just as easily with any other gas (well, except oxygen of course, or irritant gasses).

Furthermore, there are gasses - most notably, carbon monoxide - are clearly superior for this as they promote asphyxiation not just by displacing oxygen, but also by chemically disrupting oxygen absorption within the blood - completely painlessly, at that.

tl;dr: Carbon monoxide is better.

>>5630825
>PSA, though, unless you've got terminal cancer or something, you'll probably be better off alive.
Suicide is the most irrational thing a living being can do. Not so much true for a dying being. Or lemmings.

>>5630869
>Suicide is the most irrational thing a living being can do.
Not necessarily. Depends on your criteria for rationality.

>>5630825
>"probably even methane'll work."
>choking to death of fart gas
<<<

I don't condone suicide at all. That being said, I find it somewhat fascinating.

>>5630877
Rational in the sense that the best possible outcome is reached. For a living being to conclude that death is the best possible outcome would either take extreme circumstances (pain/suffering) or else it is irrational.

>>5630869
>Suicide is the most irrational thing a living being can do. Not so much true for a dying being.
when you're dying you're still living

and it's rational if experiencing nothing at all is preferable to experiencing the current life you're stuck in.

>>5630892
Methane doesn't have any smell you fucking idiot

>>5630893
>there was a better info image on this, but i didnt save it
yeh, this is what i was talking about

>>5630893

>>5630892
Methane by itself is odorless.

>>5630904
cyanide poisoning aint painless. i'd go with the helium if i was doin it.

>>5630892
You eat food cooked with fart gas.

>>5630902
When you're dying, it is an extreme circumstance where instant death would be preferable to prolonged suffering. It isn't the height of rationality to want to kill yourself over a hangnail or your wife leaving you. But for someone sputtering blood in every cough and feeling the pain of their system shutting down, where every day is a nightmare, that would make the choice, if not entirely rational, more rational than in the first cases I mentioned.

>>5630918
How is it not painless? I thought that these two killed in the same way (i.e. lack of oxygen to the brain).

>>5630910
yeh, sorry, i just read it
they add the odour for safety reasons, apparently

>>5630924
nah, it's a bit different with cyanide, you wont just pass out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanide_poisoning
"If cyanide is inhaled it causes a coma with seizures, apnea (lungs stop working, but you are still consious), and cardiac arrest, with death following in a matter of minutes."

quite painful and uncomfortable symptoms

>>5630934
>If cyanide is inhaled
oh yeh, it'l still be similar if you eat it.
how it get's into your system isnt really the issue, the symptoms are tho

>>5630934
How do you know it's painful? How do you measure qualia?

>>5630940
i just always assumed shit like apnea and seizures would be painful

>>5630899
>>5630902
What about altruism? If you're a worthless parasite to society, it could be better (for society, not you alone) if you were to end your own life.

So, is altruism rational? Where do you draw the line?

>>5630934
>>5630945
and if the cyanide is expired, you'll just vomit for hours instead of dying.

>>5630947
ah, but you're forgetting that most humans are selfish, so they dont mind being a parasite to society, and they certainly wont kill themselves for it

>>5630952
how can cyanide 'expire'??
it's an element, not a yoghurt

>>5630954
Most humans aren't rational. Your argument is irrelevant. The point of discussion here is whether suicide is rational, not whether it is popular.

>>5630957
>how can cyanide 'expire'??
Ask Gavrillo Princip.
>it's an element
Swing and a miss.

>>5630947
Presuming the worth of someone as a human being isn't inherent in themselves but by what they are able to do/contribute to society leads to such bullshit as Objectivism and Eugenics. I.E.: You end up like EK.

>>5630957

It's a fucking diatomic functional group you retarded whore.

>>5630957
>it's an element

>>5630968
>Swing and a miss.
fuck, its CN

>>5630974
(CN)−

>>5630971
>>5630972
>>5630968
hey! i made one fucking mistake! i dont need three people taking the piss out of me!
oh, but i forgot that you're all so perfect and never make any fucking mistakes EVER!

>>5630957
>it's an element

>>5630979
you make one mistake every 10 minutes

>>5630983
shut up

>>5630979
You've made several mistakes ITT, this is just the biggest. I swear, you must have the memory of the proverbial goldfish.

>>5630979
You basically make a mistake every time you post.
So it's not like it's a new thing or anything.

>mfw I just realized that I was eating cyanide everytime I consumed woodrose seeds
>mfw this was extremly painful and unpleasent

>>5630979
here's some syanide. hope you'll take it. no-one i've given it has come back to complain.