Just have it drill downward, put some more dirt on the coffins, add another layer of coffins, and repeat!

  • immutable@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    I think it’s a shame that when we figured out skyscrapers we didn’t start doing that with the dead. Catacombs in the sky reaching to the heavens.

    I’m gonna go pay my respects to grandma she’s in the towns bonescraper. Smash cut to a giant tower made of skeletons.

    Aliens come down to that kind of society, they’d want to party with us because that’s metal as fuck

  • BougieBirdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    3 months ago

    That might make it difficult to visit the remains of a loved one, but I suppose you can just chuck your flowers in the pit and eventually they’ll work their way down.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I mean if you want to be maximally efficient about it just find it abandoned open pit mine in the middle of nowhere. You could dump all of the trash and corpses the human race has ever produced in it and barely even scratch the surface. Just one problem.

    How the fuck are you going to pay for all the transportation expenses?

    Oh yeah and dignity in death blah blah blah

    • Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      I often wondered about that. Humans have been around for 100,000 years or so and we’ve been putting people in graves for a much smaller portion of that, but it seems we would have an awful lot of graves at this point. But we don’t. You don’t come across cemeteries very often and when you do they’re not enormous.

      SO WHERE ARE ALL THE BODIES?

      • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Did you think graves were perpetual?

        I’m sorry to bake your noodle on this one, but when you get buried you’ll get 6 years tops before the site is recycled for the next person.

        • Technoguyfication@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          What?

          My great grandfather’s grave is still around and he died in the ‘80s, in a cemetery in a highly populated part of my city. Right next to him is his son that was killed in Vietnam in the ‘60s.

          Depends on region of course, but I think most graves are around for much longer than 6 years.

          • needanke@feddit.org
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            3 months ago

            Where I live you usually pay the grave for 20 years at the time of the burial. If you still want to keep it after you have to pay to extend it.

    • Gork@lemm.eeOP
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      3 months ago

      Mm yes but these would be fully automated luxury grave space communal resting places.

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    3 months ago

    I think cremation or donation to science should be mandatory. you can still visit a grave, just a smaller urn. or set them free in their favorite spot, turned into a tree, diamond, etc. a 3x6 foot plot of land that is now useless is stupid in my opinion. at least going to science they can learn more and train new talent.

    • DrownedRats@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      When I die, I want my body donated to a university astrophysics lab. I’m either going to space or getting blown up trying!

  • finley@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    I have always thought it extremely strange that we bury our dead.

    edit: i find it even more strange that several people are responding as if this practice is still necessary.

    • notabot@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      It’s a safe and reliable way to dispose of a corpse that might be diseased, will smell bad as it decomposes, and would certainly attract scavengers if left lying around. The same goes for cremation, it really just depends on local custom.

      • finley@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        i feel it necessary to remind you that it’s 2024 (CE, not BCE), and you’re using a computer to communicate on a global telecommunications network which runs on electricity and digital information.

        • notabot@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          What?!?? I just tap my finger on the glowy thinking rock and demons/faye/angels take my messages to other people’s thinking rocks and bring me their responses. I don’t believe in all that ‘electricity’ witchcraft!

          Seriously, yes burial uses a fair bit of space, which is part of the reason cremation is increasing in popularity in many places. Even with burials though, many graveyards reuse plots after some number of years, once the previous body has decomposed to save space. For those wanting a more ecologically friendly method than cremation, there’s the option of resomation too.

    • PineRune@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Leaving a carcass in the wild would attract scavengers and spread disease, which is prevented by inhumation. Cremation is also an option but requires a large amount of fuel. In early and prehistoric cultures, inhumation was the easy option.

      Edit: to add to this, I read something on how the first “burials” were just piling rocks on top of the dead body, primarily to ward off scavengers. So, aside from honoring the dead, burial and cremation have a practical purpose as well.

    • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      If you think about it it is not strange at all, it is maybe one of the very early things that differentiated us from animals. We have a concept of death and time, future and loss. We mourn our dead. And I strongly believe that all the rituals that we have established are not meant for the dead but in fact serve the living. It is a way to cope with the loss of a person. And with the ever same ways - casket, flowers, music, burying - we give the mourning something to do and get distracted so that they don’t lose themselves in the sadness. It feels “right” because it feels familiar, everyone does it this way. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time someone dies. How to cope, and how to get rid of the body? Well, there is a societal playbook for that.

      There was a dude here on lemmy who actually specialized in American death rites. I think he stopped using lemmy though because of too much negativity, I think people commenting how stupid it is that we don’t just trash our dead on a post was his tipping point. Which is a freaking shame because it sounds like he knew some really fascinating things.

      • finley@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        lots of animals mourn their dead, even ritualistically. humans aren’t special in that way. not to mention that, even among humans, burying the dead is not the only practice. many cultures practice marine burials (dumping the corpse in a body of water), or, more popularly, cremation. many carry out these manners of disposal with no ritual at all.

        Grief and mourning don’t necessitate a burial. other manners of corpse disposal can allow those who remain to process grief, and some can even provide a location for family and friends to visit in memorium.

        • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          Ah, I see, your main issue is specifically with the burying? I assumed you had a problem with any kind of disposal that is not literally using the body for fuel/resources or just trashing it.

          • finley@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            yeah, i understand why humans used to do it long ago. but, nowadays, it’s just a huge waste of valuable space which could be put to far better use. used to live near a gigantic cemetery, and whenever i passed it, all i could think of is what a lovely park it would make, or some affordable housing, perhaps.