Euthanasia Coaster
| Euthanasia Coaster | |
|---|---|
Sketch of the plant |
|
| Data | |
| Type | Steel - seated |
| Designer | Julijonas Urbonas |
| length | 7544 m |
| height | 510 m |
| Departure | 500 m |
| Max. speed | 360 km / h |
| Max. acceleration | 10 g |
| Travel time | 3:20 min |
| dare | 1 car, 1 row of seats / car, 1 seat / row of seats |
| Inversions | 7th |
The Euthanasia Coaster ( German about: euthanasia roller coaster ) is a theoretical model of a roller coaster on which the passengers during the journey (by g-forces would) warrants to death. The model was created in 2010 by Julijonas Urbonas, a Lithuanian designer and doctoral student ( Ph.D. ) from the Royal College of Art in London .
background
Urbonas studied Design and Art Research at the Vilnius Academy of Art and Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art in London. During his training, he worked as a designer and engineer for an amusement park in Klaipėda , which he managed from 2004 to 2007. Urbonas got the inspiration for the Euthanasia Coaster from a quote from the former managing director of the roller coaster manufacturer Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Tom Allen: "The ultimate roller coaster is built when you send out twenty-four people and they all come back dead." ( German "You have built the ultimate roller coaster if you send 24 people out and they all come back dead." )
According to Urbonas, he designed the roller coaster to give people who have opted for euthanasia a "not boring" opportunity to pass out of life in a humane way and with euphoric feelings. He describes suicide by roller coaster as an “alternative ritualized death”, which is “attractive” for both the dying and the mourning.
journey
The route begins with a lift hill to the highest point of the facility at 510 meters. The ride to the top of the Euthanasia Coaster takes two minutes. This is followed by the almost vertical, 500-meter-long first drop , in which the train accelerates to up to 360 kilometers per hour within ten seconds. The track then goes through seven loops with ever smaller diameters. After the loops, the route leads back to the starting point without any special driving elements.
Effects on the body
During the loop, an acceleration of around 10 g would act on the passenger's body. The decreasing diameter of the loops means that this load lasts for about 60 seconds. This leads to an insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain, which would initially lead to impaired consciousness such as tunnel vision or the loss of the sense of sight and hearing. Shortly before the onset of unconsciousness, the so-called g- LOC , according to Urbonas, the test person should experience “extreme feelings”, but above all euphoria and even joy. Since the passenger's body would be exposed to the g- forces for about a minute and the brain would not receive any oxygen as long as there was no oxygen, most people would inevitably die by the third loop at the latest. However, some doctors doubt that the euphoric feelings described by Urbonas set in before the unconsciousness, rather nausea and malaise are more likely.
Exhibitions
The Euthanasia Coaster was presented to the public for the first time in 2011 as part of the exhibition "HUMAN +: The Future of our Species" in the Science Gallery of Trinity College Dublin . During the “Update_4” biennial of the Liedts-Meesen-Foundation in 2012, the Euthanasia Coaster was exhibited in Belgium and Urbonas was awarded an audience award at the New Technological Art Awards. In the online exhibition “Design and Violence” of the New York Museum of Modern Art , created between 2013 and 2015, the Euthanasia Coaster was again a much-discussed exhibit. The Exit International organization presented the system in October 2017 as part of their "NuTech Conference" in Toronto, Canada .
reception
criticism
The idea of the Euthanasia Coaster has been harshly criticized primarily by opponents of euthanasia, but also from other quarters. The British non-governmental organization Care Not Killing ruled that the "death of a person [...] can never be humane or euphoric". Other organizations criticized that the roller coaster “has nothing in common with true euthanasia” and that the whole concept is a morbid and bad joke.
Alternative uses
In addition to its use for euthanasia, both Urbonas and other parties made suggestions for further uses of the Euthanasia Coaster. The system could also be used as an alternative to lethal injection or the electric chair as an execution device. An aeronautical engineer suggested equipping passengers with anti-g suits and transforming the Euthanasia Coaster into a non-fatal but extreme roller coaster. Designer Urbonas could also imagine using it as a film prop.
Popular culture
The Norwegian rock band Major Parkinson released the title Euthanasia Roller Coaster in 2013 , which refers to the Urbonas' project.
In the 2013 book Principia Dysnomia , which is defined as a tribute to the Principia Discordia , the sacred scriptures of Discordianism , some sort of advertisement for the Euthanasia Coaster appeared, stating that the facility with a budget of $ 2.5 billion is nearby to be built by Jonesboro in the US state of Arkansas . The roller coaster is said to be named Jack Kevorkian Memorial Euthanasia Coaster , named after Jack Kevorkian (1928–2011), who was one of the most famous advocates and supporters of euthanasia.
The Israeli-British author Lavie Tidhar published the short story Vladimir Chong Chooses to Die in his award-winning Central Station cycle in 2014 . The protagonist of this science fiction story wants to end his life when he registers a beginning mental decline. From a catalog that is shown to him in a suicide clinic, he selects the Euthanasia Coaster as a way to die. In the story it is located in Euthanasia Park , a park in the Arava desert , in which there are different possibilities to commit suicide.
In 2015, director Glenn Paton produced the short film H Positive , in which a wealthy businessman learns that he is suffering from a deadly disease and then has a roller coaster built to commit suicide. The system built in the film corresponds to the model of the Euthanasia Coaster.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julijonas Urbonas: About Me. Retrieved January 3, 2018 (English).
- ↑ Julian Gavaghan: The macabre concept of a 'euthanasia roller coaster' that thrills you ... then kills you. Daily Mail, February 28, 2012, accessed January 3, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Isabel Hunter: The white-knuckle ride to your death: 'Euthanasia rollercoaster' will be the last thrill you ever get - although experts warn you may spend your final moments feeling SICK. Daily Mail, January 16, 2016, accessed January 3, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Leo Wehrli: With this roller coaster you drive to death. Blick am Abend, January 19, 2016, accessed on January 3, 2018 .
- ^ A b c Corinna Trube: Euthanasia Coaster: By roller coaster to suicide. World of Wonders, September 8, 2017, accessed January 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Euthanasia Coaster. Science Gallery / Trinity College Dublin, accessed January 3, 2018 .
- ↑ History 'Update'. New Technological Art Award, accessed January 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Martha Schwendener: Review: 'Design and Violence', Online at MoMA. The New York Times, July 16, 2015, accessed January 5, 2018 .
- ↑ Sander van Walsum: Euthanasia in een Achtbaan of 'zelfmoordkist' - nieuwste snufjes gepresenteerd op 'zelfmoordbeurs'. de Volkskrant, October 30, 2017, accessed January 11, 2018 (Dutch).
- ↑ Loops to certain death. Image, December 20, 2014, accessed January 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Ann Kristin Ødegård: Major Parkinson he tilbake. Bergensavisen, July 23, 2013, accessed January 3, 2018 (Norwegian).
- ^ Rev. Timothy Edward Bowen: Principia Dysnomia . CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4942-9118-1 , pp. 64 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ↑ Lavie Tidhar: Vladimir Chong Chooses to Die . In: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection . 1st edition. St. Martin's Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-1-250-06441-7 , pp. 199–209 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ↑ Matthew Hart: Dark Short Film Shows Off Theoretical Suicide Roller Coaster. Nerdist, April 5, 2016, archived from the original on June 16, 2018 ; accessed on September 4, 2019 .