system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: The difference between choking someone to unconsciousness and to death. I.e. Video games show choking out and Dexter using a garrote vs. Sméagol murdering Déagol in LOTR. How can the perpetrator know the difference?
gpt
Choking someone by compressing their trachea (like a strong headlock) would result in inability to oxygenate blood which would affect all organs.  One might lose consciousness, but the lack of oxygen would also affect the heart and could result in deadly arrhyhthmias.  On the other hand, choking a person by compressing their carotid arteries (ie. grabbing with two hands) could result in lack of blood flow to the brain and possibly lead to unconsciousness, but blood could still be oxygenated and other organs including the heart would not be affected.  Therefore you could cause a person to become unconscious without necessarily leading to death (although brain death could certainly occur).  

Obviously this is a very broad generalization and choking people is a bad idea regardless.