
The Gravekeeper’s Paradox: People want permanent tombstones that also show decay - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/22/slow/the-gravekeepers-paradox
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shillster
Cemeteries are beyond ridiculous, and growing up, I thought there would be a
cultural shift away from such non-sense, but maybe not?

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ovulator
There is a shift towards cremation in the US
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cremation_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cremation_rate),
though seems to still be eschewed in the south. I don't know if there is any
Baptist, or other religious teaching against cremation, or maybe it just has
to do with cheaper land.

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mhurron
Cremation in general has been frowned upon by christianity as pagan.

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jacquesm
At 2 square meters per grave in densely populated areas they're going to
sooner or later have to bury people stacked if they don't want the dead to
crowd out the living.

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FireBeyond
Even as a simple matter of logistics, I've often wondered - why don't we bury
people vertically? About the only downside to it would be in the extremely
rare case that exhumation is needed, which would have to be a (literally?) one
in a million event?

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azeirah
I feel sorry for the gravedigger who has to dig vertical graves.

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jacquesm
Augers.

[http://www.aratri-
trivelle.it/sito2009/eng/DettaglioProdotto...](http://www.aratri-
trivelle.it/sito2009/eng/DettaglioProdotto.asp?ID=48)

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centizen
I wonder if as 3D printing technology improves and spreads, will we see more
plastic headstones by virtue of the fact they can be reasonably easily custom
made? I could see people being attracted to the idea of a custom headstone at
a lower price than the sculptor could provide.

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pavel_lishin
I like the idea of an eternal gravestone. The base is a very slow 3D printer,
constantly extruding a headstone. The material ablates at a predictable rate,
so the oldest bit - the top of the headstone - slowly crumbles away, while the
bottom looks new and fresh.

You'd have to scroll whatever message on it - your name, birth and death
dates, etc. - like a very slow marquee.

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mFixman
You'd only need infinite energy. Easy peasy.

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TeMPOraL
And entropy-proof electronics.

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jessriedel
If they can solve this problem with distressed jeans, they can solve it with
tombstones.

