Assuming that the brain is where our "soul" resides -- isn't death actually just suffocation in one form or another?
For example, if you're decapitated, you aren't suddenly dead -- after all, whats been keeping your brain alive is the blood and the stuff it carries through your circulatory system (oxygen, glucose, etc). Suddenly removing those nutrients doesn't result in sudden, immediate death. Heck, the very laws of physics preclude that from being the case (FTL and all that).
So, what you actually die from when you're decapitated is the loss of the brains supply of glucose and oxygen (etc). The brain starves and its' cells begin to die. Death is when the cells in the brain actually stop functioning as cells, and turn into nothing more than a gelatinous goop.
The same, it seems, can be said for most other forms of death -- heart attack, lethal injection, overdose, cancer, hanging, etc. In a heart attack, your heart stops pumping blood, and your brain dies. In a lethal injection, the usual method is to paralyze the person and then to stop their heart. Again, death comes when the brain finally dies due to lack of nutrients. In an overdose, the drugs screw up your CNS and depress your body's natural heart rate/breathing until your brain starves. In cancer, whatever version of it you're afflicted with, the cancer screws with your body in some form which impedes its normal function. Organs die, the body can't support itself any more, and the brain dies when it's not getting its "food" any more.
The only type of death I can think of that isn't a form of suffocation would be some sort of massive, direct trauma to the head. e.g., a shotgun to the skull or having your head crushed by a tank.
So, all of that considered: Isn't it BS when you hear people say "oh NP, _____ died instantly, so at least they didn't feel any pain!"?
Or is this not the way death works, and it really is like in the movies: you get shot in the chest and you die instantly...?
For example, if you're decapitated, you aren't suddenly dead -- after all, whats been keeping your brain alive is the blood and the stuff it carries through your circulatory system (oxygen, glucose, etc). Suddenly removing those nutrients doesn't result in sudden, immediate death. Heck, the very laws of physics preclude that from being the case (FTL and all that).
So, what you actually die from when you're decapitated is the loss of the brains supply of glucose and oxygen (etc). The brain starves and its' cells begin to die. Death is when the cells in the brain actually stop functioning as cells, and turn into nothing more than a gelatinous goop.
The same, it seems, can be said for most other forms of death -- heart attack, lethal injection, overdose, cancer, hanging, etc. In a heart attack, your heart stops pumping blood, and your brain dies. In a lethal injection, the usual method is to paralyze the person and then to stop their heart. Again, death comes when the brain finally dies due to lack of nutrients. In an overdose, the drugs screw up your CNS and depress your body's natural heart rate/breathing until your brain starves. In cancer, whatever version of it you're afflicted with, the cancer screws with your body in some form which impedes its normal function. Organs die, the body can't support itself any more, and the brain dies when it's not getting its "food" any more.
The only type of death I can think of that isn't a form of suffocation would be some sort of massive, direct trauma to the head. e.g., a shotgun to the skull or having your head crushed by a tank.
So, all of that considered: Isn't it BS when you hear people say "oh NP, _____ died instantly, so at least they didn't feel any pain!"?
Or is this not the way death works, and it really is like in the movies: you get shot in the chest and you die instantly...?
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