Most people do not know how they died

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨j4k3@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨showerthoughts@lemmy.world⁩

At least they do not know the exact reason, if they are even aware that they are dying. Just thinking of some war video footage and my own experience of the crash that broke my neck and back and almost killed me. And those that I have seen die. Some of this is a matter of mental state of awareness, or sudden onset of unknown factors to the individual, while others is a matter of an unseen assailant.

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Diddlydee@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Nah, I’d wager most people know they are dying as it’s a total system over-ride when your heart (the most common) or brain gives up. You might not know the clinical reason discovered in an autopsy, but you know in that moment that you’re fucked.

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PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I wanted to initially reiterate swordgeek’s thought as well, but I see what you have meant. If you refer to people dying from a sudden force, like being shot in the head by a sniper or dying while sleeping, then you do have a point.

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- j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Not just that really. I have watched 3 people die and none really knew what was happening or when it was coming even when intuitively it would seem like they should. I was apparently lucid for parts of 3 hours that was a total blackness in my memory for years. I have 2 little parts that feel like a very fuzzy dream, but if I had died, I wouldn’t have known anything about the last experiences, pain, or struggle. For a long time I thought that was only due to the massive head injury I had, but thinking of others I have watched die, I see a similar lucid like state without much if any awareness. Sure they were in pain, I certainly was, but there is a disconnect between the sensation of pain in the body from wounds and the trauma that leads to death (IMO). That trauma does not seem to have a tie to conscious experience. It is almost like we are in user space, death in in kernel space, and we can never fully experience kernel space.
  
  I’m in so much pain all the time that even breaking bones does little to phase me any more. I already hurt worse than almost anything anyone can do to me. It yields an interesting perspective on the nuance of death IMO. My intended nuances are often missed on Lemmy.
  
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  - PlasticExistence@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    
    My intended nuances are often missed on Lemmy.
    
    I can relate. There are a lot of users who insist on assuming ill intent where there is none.
    
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Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Brian Thompson knows how he died. It’s unclear if he knew why it was happening though. He may have died thinking Luigi was just a random mugger, and him being Brian Thompson was irrelevant to what was happening.

Or, maybe Brian knew why he was being shot. As far as I know there’s no audio, and nobody ever leaked what was said.

Still though, there was another lady there, which means SOMEBODY knows what was said. The fact that she didn’t immediately hit the talk show circuit, like the today show or whatever, shows that she’s not some pussy snitch. Once she read why that happened, she was like “Ooooooooh, ok. I didn’t see nothin!”

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- j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Not my point here. BT did not know he would die. Being scared of the potential is not the same as the experience itself.
  
  When a person is injured and in an unstable state they do not seem to be aware that the moment of death has arrived in most cases that I have seen (3).
  
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  - Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    The first shot was to the back of his head. He fell to the ground immediately. Then, in struggling to pull himself to his feet he locked eyes with Luigi, holding a gun, and saw him shoot 2 more times. That was the last thing Brian Thompson saw.
    
    Pretty sure he knows how he died.
    
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A_A@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Anyone, whatever how they died, don’t know anything anymore.

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swordgeek@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Nobody knows how they died, because they’re dead.

Many people know how they’re going to die, at least approximately. When you’re 93 and have cancer, you know.

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- Eeyore_Syndrome@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I can argue my father did but did not know how he died.
  
  Be my 62 yr old dad. Get terminal glioblastoma diagnosis. Brain melting… Brain melting… Brain melting… Dead 12 months later exactly not knowing who or what he was/is.
  
  Legit beain/brainstem forgets how to breathe/send heartbeat signals and in the end its an off switch with extra steps.
  
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- j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  With some probability but not with certainty. At that age it could be anything.
  
  The post isn’t about knowing in a meaningful or useful sense. In this context it is about the anxiety of the experience in the moments just before it happens.
  
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- NOT_RICK@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  
  Many people know how they’re going to die, at least approximately. When you’re 93 and have cancer, you know
  
  Coke fueled orgies are a great way to go out, I agree!
  
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  - Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I prefer cherry coke. No ice.
    
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