Euthanasia Coaster

Design

The concept design of the layout begins with a steep-angled lift that takes riders up 500 m to the top, a climb that would take a few minutes to complete, allowing the passengers to contemplate their life. (For comparison, the tallest roller coaster ever built, Falcons Flight, has a max height of 163 m.) ) From there, all passengers are given the choice to exit the train if they wish to do so. If they do not, they will have some time to say their last words.

All passengers are required to press a button to continue the ride, which then takes the train down a 500 m drop, propelling the train at speeds up to 360 km/h, close to its terminal velocity, before flattening out and speeding into the first of its seven slightly clothoid inversions. Each inversion would decrease in diameter to maintain the lethal 10 "g" onto passengers as the train loses speed. After a sharp right-hand turn, the train would enter a straight track that goes back to the station, where the dead are unloaded and new passengers can board.

Mechanism of action

The Euthanasia Coaster would kill its passengers through prolonged cerebral hypoxia, or insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. The ride's seven inversions would inflict 10 g (g-force) on its passengers for 60 seconds, causing g-force related symptoms starting with greyout through tunnel vision to black out, and eventually g-LOC (g-force induced loss of consciousness) and death. Subsequent inversions or a second run of the rollercoaster would serve as insurance against unintentional survival of more robust passengers.

Exhibition

The Euthanasia Coaster was first shown as part of the HUMAN+ display at the Science Gallery in Dublin in 2012.{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418054416/https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/04/human-forecasting-our-future.html | archive-date=2011-04-18

In popular culture

In 2012, Norwegian rock group Major Parkinson released "Euthanasia Roller Coaster", a digital single with lyrics alluding to Urbonas's Euthanasia Coaster.

Sequoia Nagamatsu's novel How High We Go in the Dark, published on January 18, 2022, prominently features a euthanasia roller coaster for children afflicted with an incurable plague.

The 2023 television series Mrs. Davis features a roller coaster as a method of ending one's life.

References

References

1. Solon, Olivia. (6 April 2011). "The Future of the Human Species Explored". Condé Nast Publications.
2. Lamar, Cyriaqe. (18 April 2011). "The Euthanasia Coaster, the Last Roller Coaster You'll Ever Ride". Gawker Media.
3. (2 October 2010). "Euthanasia Coaster".
4. (20 April 2011). "A Rollercoaster Designed to Kill Humanely". Halls Create Arts Pte Ltd..
5. Urbonas, Julijonas. (2010). "Julijonas Urbonas".
6. Marden, Duane. "Falcons Flight".
7. (1 February 2011). "HUMAN+ The Future of Our Species". Trinity College Dublin.
8. Gorman, Michael John. (22 April 2011). "HUMAN+ explores the technologically enhanced future of our species". Guardian News and Media Ltd.
9. "Human+".
10. [https://www.ba.no/puls/major-parkinson-er-tilbake/s/1-41-6773136 "Major Parkinson er tilbake"] {{Webarchive. link. (11 January 2021 Bergensavisen. Bergensavisen AS 23 July 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013)
11. [https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/1075543294/pandemic-how-high-we-go-in-the-dark-review-sequoia-nagamatsu “Strap in for highs and lows with the pandemic novel 'How High We Go in the Dark'“]. Retrieved 26 August 2024.