I was watching the Monty Python documentary and they mentioned this. I think one of the Terry’s bought the episodes, which were scheduled to be erased. Otherwise, no Monty Python for America. What was remarkable was many shows that the Pythons had written for, and the ones that had influenced them, At Last the 1948 Show or the Goon Show were gone. So in an alternate timeline, we might be huge Spike Milligan fans.
I'm not for capital punishment (because there is always a chance justice failed), but if you are going to do it, might as will do it in a way that is quick, accurate, reliable, will cost little, and have few complexities. Lethal injection is a mess. Electrocution is ridiculous. Hanging is not super reliable. Gunshot it not quick. Maybe we need guillotine 2.0. Like, if we were to create a modern version of it, what would it look like? What would be the improvements to the design? Hell, there is probably a simulator on Steam for this question already. lol
Well, I suppose you first need to consider what's doing the work on a guillotine; as far as I can tell it's only using gravity to drop the blade. So we'd want to reduce any friction caused by the rails, it'd be easiest to upgrade to aluminum and get some sort of ball bearings or something to keep it as low as possible. Obviously we want a sharp a blade as possible - considering our lack of sustained killings it might be best to move to a one use blade mechanism to keep it pointy since we probably don't have to worry about durability with sustained beheadings.
Hmm, after that we should probably try to introduce more energy into the system since we're still just using gravity. Adding more weight would probably help but wouldn't ever make it go faster than terminal velocity. Maybe the cheapest option would be spring-loading the top of the guillotine so after the lever is pulled it shoots down. Or if you want more future-y could try to make some sort of magnet railgun to propel the blade down at increasingly fast speeds.
For the bottom it seems pretty good, though you'll want to make sure you have the executioner line up the blade to be in-between the vertebrae (gotta try and make it as swift as possible). Then maybe add a pillow, because it doesn't look super comfy there.
There are similar examples from other countries as well. TV was seen as a means for making live broadcasts, so back-ups weren’t made and tapes got recorded over. Source: a course on TV history I took.
It makes for a faster, more efficient execution. This was not what its creator had intended... he just wanted to take executioners too drunk to feel guilt or aim precisely out of the equation. I think he went to his grave regretting his invention, as it was so frequently used during the French Revolution that dogs and cats would lap up the spilled blood.
Most execution methods are, and it never works out as clean and civilized and painless as is claimed. Miscarriages of justice also happen. I’m glad my jurisdiction doesn’t use death penalties any more, and can only hope humanity manages to consign the idea to history someday.
Please for the love of the gods don’t put engineers in charge of anything but engineering projects. You want someone to decide about bridges, dams, power, etc?We’re your people. You want someone do decide what rights people should have or economic policy? Keep us the fuck away we’re basically mad scientists.
I think there’s a balancing point where people in positions to exercise political will would use data to inform their decisions… I feel like that was probably the objective.
The point is not putting engineers in charge of everything. Engineers can make policy on infrastructure. Economists can make policy on the economy and sociologists can make policy on social issues. The point is to stop putting people in charge because they belong to party X or are really good friends with person Y.
Ok cool, I’ve seen plenty of people make the argument that stem people should be in charge instead of that we should be in charge of policy we’re experts of
en.wikipedia.org
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