Burial or Cremation?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

?

  • Burial

  • Cremation

  • Toss the body in a dumpster


Results are only viewable after voting.
Nov 29, 2006
15,882
4,435
136
I want to be buried in a just a dirt pit. I want the insects etc to eat me so i can become part of the cycle of life for others.
 

Remobz

Platinum Member
Jun 9, 2005
2,564
37
91
As a Roman Catholic we have NEVER cremated a body yet. Always a burial. Notice I said, not yet because I am sure cremation would be done under certain extreme circumstances.
 

Carson Dyle

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2012
8,173
524
126
As a Roman Catholic we have NEVER cremated a body yet. Always a burial. Notice I said, not yet because I am sure cremation would be done under certain extreme circumstances.

I grew up Roman Catholic and _many_ of my relatives have been cremated, including both of my parents, who had Roman Catholic burials and masses and are interred in a Roman Catholic cemetery.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,839
33,898
136
Burial. Cremation isn't natural.
The way burial is done in the modern US, it ain't nothing like natural neither. Fortunately more American mortuaries and cemeteries are honoring offering Muslim burial practices (wrap in cloth, bury by sunset) so hopefully burial will be less revolting in the future.
 

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
14,539
428
136
Burial. Cremation isn't natural.

I dont really see how you can even think that, in your mind is Cremation some sort of modern disposal method? Burial and cremation are easily traced back 20,000 years+, both have been used for thousands of years and both have gone through periods of being common/uncommon depending on the culture and religion of the time and region.
 

Possessed Freak

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 1999
6,045
1
0
Either natural burial or burial at sea. I have no use for the nutrients in my body and burning them for no purpose or locking them away in a box until I am just gas seems to be an amazing waste. I have one last gift to give, and that is my organs (donor) and my body mass.
 

Carson Dyle

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2012
8,173
524
126
Either natural burial or burial at sea. I have no use for the nutrients in my body and burning them for no purpose or locking them away in a box until I am just gas seems to be an amazing waste. I have one last gift to give, and that is my organs (donor) and my body mass.

Huh? So, you think that if your body is thrown into a hole in a cemetery and covered with dirt, with no coffin, then it's going to somehow contribute to the ecosystem?

Bullshit. It's just landfill in a useless piece of real estate either way.
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
I like the idea of a "green" burial... basically they just stick your body in the ground in a decomposable sheet/pine box and let you return to the earth.

no embalming or other chemical treatment.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,741
456
126
Cremation

Harvest what organs you can use and burn the rest. We're wasting too much space with dead people, and the idea of storing them above ground in mausoleums is weird to me. As time goes on, we fill up graveyards. Are we just going to keep filling the ground with bodies until we're out of space? Then what? Are we going to make skyscraper sized mausoleums to hold all the dead people?
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
The Taskmaster 2300 body disposal unit.




Cremation

Harvest what organs you can use and burn the rest. We're wasting too much space with dead people, and the idea of storing them above ground in mausoleums is weird to me. As time goes on, we fill up graveyards. Are we just going to keep filling the ground with bodies until we're out of space? Then what? Are we going to make skyscraper sized mausoleums to hold all the dead people?
But you know how it goes: You keep something around thinking you might need it, and then two days after you finally decided to throw it out, that's when you need it.




The way burial is done in the modern US, it ain't nothing like natural neither. Fortunately more American mortuaries and cemeteries are honoring offering Muslim burial practices (wrap in cloth, bury by sunset) so hopefully burial will be less revolting in the future.
So if I'm put on a jet that's moving at about 1040 mph, permitting me to keep up with Earth's rotation, would I be able to extend my pre-burial shelf-life?
Or heck, what if I die in a spacecraft in interplanetary space?
:hmm:
 
Last edited:

marvdmartian

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2002
5,444
27
91
Cremation. Simpler, cheaper, and you can do cool things like get your ashes made into a diamond, afterward. Or scare the crap out of the local populace, by spreading the ashes around, all willy-nilly, while laughing maniacally, and going on and on about Ebola and how everyone's going to die! (you might want to wait until you're down and out, before doing that last one, as it's likely you're going to sit in a cell for a while afterward!).

I plan on donating my body to science, to be used as a medical cadaver or such. They will usually do the cremation for free after they're done with it, and I believe your family can get the ashes back, with some of those services.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Cremation it costs less & spares the family the agony of picking burial clothing, sitting for a wake that can go on for two or three nights.

You can still do a wake/viewing and many do with a cremation unless they don't have the cash to afford otherwise.

Some also still bury or place the urn in a vault/mausoleum.

You can also buy a coffin that will be cremated with them or rent one for the viewing.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Cremation

Harvest what organs you can use and burn the rest. We're wasting too much space with dead people, and the idea of storing them above ground in mausoleums is weird to me. As time goes on, we fill up graveyards. Are we just going to keep filling the ground with bodies until we're out of space? Then what? Are we going to make skyscraper sized mausoleums to hold all the dead people?

Many burial areas have a 'life time' that is guaranteed that one's body will remain there and list what will happen at that time. One pays a price (sometimes a very high one) for that small piece of property.

No different than those owning any property to begin with.
 
Mar 16, 2005
13,856
109
106
how come we don't find many billions of skeletons of people that died over thousands of years?

because they cremated.