No, I don’t want to buy one. This came out of a discussion about my brother, who is so much weirder than me if you can believe it, who owns a real human skull.
I don’t know how he got it. I don’t know where he got it from, maybe this company, more importantly, I don’t know why he would want such a thing. He is not a scientist, he works in IT. He did get an MFA in theater, wanted to be a professional theater director and loves Shakespeare, I can’t believe the reason was because he wanted Hamlet to be super authentic.
We’re not all that close, so it really hasn’t come up in conversation. I only know about it because he posted elsewhere a while back that he was on a Zoom meeting at work and he showed it off and couldn’t understand why everyone stopped laughing and got silent. So obviously he thinks it’s cool to own it.
It used to be a person. I’m an atheist and I don’t believe in an afterlife, but that’s just basic disrespect.
Anyway… how can you ethically source a skull and then sell it on the open market?
Well, for the record I think it is super cool to own a skull but I belive it would be cery difficult to “rthically source”
Propably the same way universities get theirs. If you don’t get a passing grade you pass.
Anyway… how can you ethically source a skull and then sell it on the open market?
You pay an intern in your marketing department to write “ethically sourced” on all your customer facing surfaces.
That’s my concern here. Like how would they know if this isn’t similar to China harvesting organs from executed prisoners?
Not knowing just adds spice!
In theory? It’s all about traceability and consent, preferably with a third party auditing system. A good skull salesman should be able to provide you with documentation of the origin PR your skull and the consent obtained, as well as a contact at their third-party auditing firm. if the skull is fair trade, they should also be able to provide evidence that they are paying above market rates for their skull harvesters.
Thank you kind sir and/or madame for providing a great deal more education on the human skull trade than I had ever intended to pursue!
he works in IT
Tell him that buying one instead of harvesting fresh from your local tech company CEO is a total wuss move
I consider myself to be my consciousness. When I die, I am gone. I have no emotional attachment to the body my consciousness existed in. I am an organ donor. I’d prefer my body go to help people, but if parts of it don’t - I have no possible way to care.
I am probably not the only person who feels roughly like this. Seems plausible to me that you could ethically source human skulls. 🤷♂️
This makes me think I need an addition to my will…
to make sure my kid can sell my remains for profit!
The Ferengi were right
They were just selling themselves as souvenirs. Hardly a good business, unless you’re famous. It would have been more Ferengi if they sold themselves for necrophilia or some other high value kink stuff.
Only the lobes are worth selling for that kind of debauchery
They are “Skulls Unlimited”.
I’m a little afraid that they have no limits to the skulls that they provide.
“What do you do? Oh, nice, sales! That’s cool. What do you sell?”
Answer: They don’t.
The majority of these skulls are from people who donated their body to science. But instead of going to science, it goes to companies like this one that sell them. Legal, yes. Ethical, no.
Source that “most” are like this?
Doesn’t matter. Onus is on them to prove its ethically sourced and they fail miserably at that.
Nowhere on their website does it detail they have any sort of processes to ensure the skulls are sourced ethically. It doesn’t seem like any skulls are traceable or that any consent was given for the skulls to be sold commercially.
In fact this statement from their president seems to indicate what OP is saying is accurate.
All natural bone specimens are legally and ethically obtained. Suppliers World Wide send skulls that would otherwise be discarded or destroyed, as they are collected.
Or any
How about a source for any of it
We’re not all that close
Sounds like you should keep it that way lol, what kind of freak shows off a human skull?
not saying this about the brother, but as a more generic answer, Nazis sure love them. not only as insignia but also because they believe in phrenology.
We’re Jewish, so that is not the case here. It’s because he’s a super weird person.
You have no idea. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Let’s just say that one of the least weird things about him is that he goes beyond veganism- he also won’t eat anything with salt or any sort of oil. No cooking with oil, no oil-based salad dressings.
How the fuck does someone even avoid salt?
I mean he doesn’t ever add any extra to his food. If it is naturally part of the thing he’s eating he can’t take it out obviously.
I don’t see the problem. Loads of people have skulls of other animals on display. Why should a human be treated any different.
For one thing, there is very little evidence that most other animals have any sort of reverence for the dead.
I mean… Vultures and other carrion creatures revere the dead, in their own special ways.
/j
Probably not what you were thinking but there’s plenty of stories of dogs not leaving their owners after death like Greyfriars bobby.
Also elephants are known for mourning their dead.
I think if I donated my body to science and they were all done with it, and they could make more money for research by selling bits off to weirdos that would be fine by me. Maybe put a little QR code on it that people could scan and get a little biography of me. That would probably make archeology a lot easier.I could see how one voor find it enjoyable that their skull would be cherished by another human being.
A guy I knew had a skull from the Roman era, that had a hole in it from a ballista arrow. Not the best way to go, but how cool is it that your head can amaze people two thousand years from now
There’s no way that wasn’t a replica. How is that skull not in a museum or something?
It looked convincing enough, but we were quite young back then. The thing that always stuck with me that the hole in the skull was square shaped. It was only untill later that I learned that ballistae arrows did indeed have square arrowheads.
But it coud’ve been a replica, though I’m unsure where one would source one in a manner that wasn’t somehow more dubious than having a real one. (The guy was a historian of sorts). Then again, where I live the Roman history isn’t too far away.
People are saying that that website is selling skulls for 2000-3000$. A roman solider skull Would be a lot more expensive than that, I imagine. Given the age and the historical relevance. So that’s two things to be amazed by when looking at that thing, I think.
If I were him, I’d definitely not mind that fate.
I choose cremation but before, my penis will be removed and donated for politicizing as a gift to the world famous penis museum. It may not be much to look at, but maybe they can sell it as a chotchky or a keychain trinket. Maybe a guy will hang my jewels from his first cubicle to keep snacks. I’m creative, why not end as weird art. Right?
I’ve been there. It’s an awesome museum.
Somehow after all the years, I’m still at the level of key chain trinket. I need to invent something or become famous so I can at least advance to the $9.99 shelve. Maybe one day I could be at the level of resin in shot glass paper weight…you know, like $19.99 level?
What the hell are you talking about about hahahahahha!? I’ve been to the world famous penis museum in Reykjavik
Same same. Just thinking of how to get into the exhibits rather than just the gift shop when I donate my Johnson.
Would it not be an absolute havoc? Like if your house gets searched by police and then they have to treat it as a potential murder scene.
Anyway, to answer your question, I guess if someone died and was willing to sell their skull
My grandfather was an anthropologist and had a human skull. He had some paperwork that showed how it wad obtained. When he died one of my aunts inherited it.
“that sounds awesome, I’d totally buy one!” i thought before looking at the price tags. I think I’ll stick with plastic.
That’s another thing I don’t want to know: how much my brother paid.
How much are they? The skulls never loaded for me, even on a VPN.
$2200-$2400, for the ones that were both complete and actually had price tags.
I’m pretty sure everyone owns a human skull.
Most days I feel like I’m leasing it at best.
