An industry develops, especially in poor societies and those without a good justice system where people of imminent death are kept (brain-)“alive” in a coma, and get sold as burning material for industry (factories and various production), engines like for big ships, and booby-traps in conflict zones.

We would need crazy fire codes in palative care. Also feel bad for firefighters, and murders are going to be real hard to solve.

I think it would be cooler than funerals.

I think it would be hotter funerals.

The tiktok prank videos are about to get hotter

Hospitals would be incredibly dangerous

I wanna go Dr. Who regeneration style. Supernova bright light that can be seen for miles.

Carrying marshmallows at all times becomes commonplace.

I’m assuming this is some biological phenomenon and not straight-up magic, in which case we’d eventually find a way to identify and suppress it. Or harness the chemistry in some way.

Also, given that it’s biological, there will be some people - how ever small a fraction - who don’t combust upon brain death. Those people will cause all sorts of problems because we won’t be sure if they’re dead or not, at least not until they start to decompose.

Short crematorium stocks, do it now!!!

I think I’ve seen two different anime series like that

Well, I guess it was more spontaneous combustion resulting in death instead of death resulting in combustion.

Replace “combust” with “violently explode” and you basically have the universe of Death Stranding.

When saying goodbye to grandma, we all try to ignore the stranger standing nervously in the corner of the room with a fire extinguisher.

The potential for chain reactions on mass transit or in sports stadiums seems unpleasant.

Wind and solar energy is no longer used because it’s cheaper to just work poor people to death and then use their burning corpses to run a generator.

The orphan crushing machine is now a power plant.

How does society react to this?