The big questions

Something people often complain about science is that it doesn't deal with the really hard questions. Scientists are busy with trivia like figuring out what the universe is made of and the human genetic and epigenetic code, but don't pay attention at all to questions like:

• Where did I come from?
• Why am I here?
• Where do I go when I die?

I think with science we can certainly answer those questions to a reasonable degree of precision, and the answers are along the lines of:

• Your mommy's belly. You see, when two adults love each other very much...
• Because the wave equations that describe every particle in your body have the greatest probability density at your current location.
• If you're like most Americans, a cemetery.

Cemeteries have been much in the news this year. Several have been accused of selling occupied graves to new customer which has created outrage - especially since these cemeteries catered to historically oppressed minorities. Other stories involved cemeteries that were no longer maintaining their site, either because they could no longer afford to or because the cemetery had long since been abandoned. And naturally, there were pre-Halloween articles of teen vandalism causing a surprising amount of damage - valued in the tens of thousands of dollars.

However, the entire concept is suspect and built on what appears to be an unsustainable business model. The buyer of a cemetery plot believes that they're paying for exclusive use of the ground along with gardener and maintenance services - forever and free of property taxes. Their descendants in 10 or 100 or 1000 years will be able to walk through the well manicured, park-like site to visit the grave with its marker only slightly worse for wear due to weathering.

Historically, only the outrageously wealthy and well connected (think "pharaoh") have been able to get this kind of treatment when they die - and even they can have their corpses dug up and shown in exhibitions worldwide after their civilization transforms to something completely different, their religion vanishes, and their writing becomes unknown and cryptic. For most people, graves historically were temporary locations. The body rotted in the earth or in a tomb and within a few years when the space was needed again the bones were either shoved aside or preserved in some manner. Hence the ossuaries all over Europe and the catacombs of Paris. Alas, poor Yorick indeed!

In some of America's oldest and most historic cemeteries the markers don't match the graves. Church cemeteries are abandoned when the church leaves or goes under; municipal cemeteries are abandoned if the town dies. Private cemeteries, which gain their funds from selling graves and other services, have no viable business model when they fill up. The notion that ones corpse will rest in peace eternally without company in a spot in the ground is becoming non-viable, and it's time for a new - or perhaps old - model.