The Value of Life in Extreme Isolation

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Bob_Crowley said:
I’d knock politely on the hatch, and call out, “Hello…oo…oo! Is there anybody out there?”

Seriously, this question reminds me of a comment my old pastor made about the effect of solitary confinement on tough, hardened criminals. He’d been a prison pastor for a while, and he was amazed at the disciplining effect it had. Most of them feared it.

This would be solitary confinement for years on end. I think there’d be a distinct chance of the person going mad, and thus losing moral responsibility regarding suicide.
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As a prison Chaplain years ago I visited the old solitary confinement cells in the prison I was working in.

It was down in a basement, and was a narrow corridor with cells (6’ by 8’ with no bed, chair, table, toilet or washbasin) on one side.

I went into one and let the guards lock me in and shut out the light (as they used to for 23 hours a day), and then leave the corridor and close that door too.

It was horrendous. The sense of complete and utter powerlessness, and the crushing darkness and silence were terrible.

I was only there a few minutes but it was not an experience I would like to try again. The worse thing was the total lack of freedom, and the blanking of the senses of sound and sight, with nothing to feel or sit on.

Solitary now has lights, and windows.
 
GEddie said:
There is an important distinction between solitary, as in alone, and sense deprivation. In the context of prison they usually go together, but IMNAAHO deprivation of the senses (as achieved by hoods, ear and nose plugs, or prison “holes”) is harder on the mind than just being alone. Some people, ie, solo sailors, do quite well apart from others.

Wasn’t there a Soviet cosmonaut who set a duration record, over a year, solo in one of their space stations? Although a lack of weight weakened his body, he seemed to take it well mentally.

ISTM that any mental distress would result from contemplation of one’s impending death. But some saints have used just that to spiritual advantage, eg., Saint John of the Cross with a skull on his desk.

ICXC NIKA
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Most solo sailors do so by their own choice. Secondly they set foot on shore from time to time. Third they have a regime they follow. Fourth, these days they have radio and communication equipment. There was an American called Joshua Slocum who was the first to sail around the world single handedly, and he would not have had radio since he sailed in the sailed around the world from around 1895 to 1898.

However it took him 3 years, so he obviously had a few breaks. Link refers -

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Slocum

Likewise the Soviet cosmonaut would have had contact with base, so he was at least in touch with other people.

I’m an introvert myself, and generally prefer my own company. On long trips by car, I usually prefer to drive alone, although it can be a pleasant break to have company for a while.

But that’s nothing like solitary confinement, or the sense of abandonment our hypothetical space traveller would experience. I think he’d go mad personally.
 
Bob_Crowley said:
Most solo sailors do so by their own choice. Secondly they set foot on shore from time to time. Third they have a regime they follow. Fourth, these days they have radio and communication equipment. There was an American called Joshua Slocum who was the first to sail around the world single handedly, and he would not have had radio since he sailed in the sailed around the world from around 1895 to 1898.

However it took him 3 years, so he obviously had a few breaks. Link refers -

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Slocum

Likewise the Soviet cosmonaut would have had contact with base, so he was at least in touch with other people.

I’m an introvert myself, and generally prefer my own company. On long trips by car, I usually prefer to drive alone, although it can be a pleasant break to have company for a while.

But that’s nothing like solitary confinement, or the sense of abandonment our hypothetical space traveller would experience. I think he’d go mad personally.
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A solo space traveller would certainly have communications with Houston/Moscow going. Also, he presumably volunteered both to train for space flight and for this particular mission, so he’s more like a solo sailor post-1920 than either Slocum or a solitary prisoner.

For that matter, is he the sole survivor of an accident that wiped out other crew members? If not, then he has been solo for some time already and knows how to handle it. The difference is his impending death, not his ( or her) being alone.

If he or she had survived such an accident, then they would be too busy struggling for life in the wrecked spacecraft to worry about loneliness.

I’d still say that sense deprivation is harder on one’s head than being alone. While NASA astronauts did train to endure it, I doubt very much that sense deprivation of the padded-black-hood (or soundproofed black bodybox) pattern is much of an issue in space travel.

ICXC NIKA
 
triumphguy said:
As a prison Chaplain years ago I visited the old solitary confinement cells in the prison I was working in.

It was down in a basement, and was a narrow corridor with cells (6’ by 8’ with no bed, chair, table, toilet or washbasin) on one side.

I went into one and let the guards lock me in and shut out the light (as they used to for 23 hours a day), and then leave the corridor and close that door too.

It was horrendous. The sense of complete and utter powerlessness, and the crushing darkness and silence were terrible.

I was only there a few minutes but it was not an experience I would like to try again. The worse thing was the total lack of freedom, and the blanking of the senses of sound and sight, with nothing to feel or sit on.

Solitary now has lights, and windows.
Click to expand...
I would immediately go out of my mind, just knowing I was trapped in a small space. I made the mistake of agreeing to accompany my family on a trip 1 mile into the side of a mountain on a mining cart. I had to pray the whole time and still was crying and shaking. My kids were like, “Mom, are you OK?” Of course a claustrophobic in a deep dark hole is NOT OK!!

:eek:

I would MAKE STUFF UP to tell my captors if they put me in such a position.
 
TheRealJuliane said:
I would immediately go out of my mind, just knowing I was trapped in a small space. I made the mistake of agreeing to accompany my family on a trip 1 mile into the side of a mountain on a mining cart. I had to pray the whole time and still was crying and shaking. My kids were like, “Mom, are you OK?” Of course a claustrophobic in a deep dark hole is NOT OK!!

:eek:

I would MAKE STUFF UP to tell my captors if they put me in such a position.
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My LORD. Did you ever need MRI done???

ICXC NIKA
 
I could get all my ironing done in total peace and quiet and without constant interruptions.

Sheer Bliss 😃

Sarah x 🙂
 
GEddie said:
My LORD. Did you ever need MRI done???

ICXC NIKA
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Not so far. I am pretty sure I’d need to be anesthetized. Given LOTS of Valium, etc. and Versed so I wouldn’t remember it.

I was never so happy to see the sunlight as I was when we finally came out of that mine.
 
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