Sad news, but a very brave and positive response. If I ever end up in a comparable situation I wish I can handle it with this level of poise.
It is worth noting that people are far more flexible in what constitutes a life worth living than most normals believe. Brickman, Coates and Janoff-Bullman (1978) famously argued that individuals who had become paraplegic or quadriplegic within the previous year reported only slightly lower levels of life satisfaction than healthy individuals (and lottery winners also converged on their setpoint). This is particularly interesting given that many people often say they would rather be dead than quadriplegic. They are likely wrong.
It might be a good idea not just to train using tools such as BCI as a preparatory stage, but also to ensure that they get integrated with the action systems of your brain. There is some evidence that people with lock-in syndrome or similar conditions have a hard time learning to use them if they get them after their condition worsened, while people who get them before can use them better. The reason is (by some researchers) believed to be linked with the ability to see oneself as an agent—we normally reinforce this every waking moment, but if you can’t use your agency to affect the world the agency might atrophy. Right now merely a hypothesis, but it might be a reason to attempt to supercharge your agency and extend it to an exoself.
Sad news, but a very brave and positive response. If I ever end up in a comparable situation I wish I can handle it with this level of poise.
It is worth noting that people are far more flexible in what constitutes a life worth living than most normals believe. Brickman, Coates and Janoff-Bullman (1978) famously argued that individuals who had become paraplegic or quadriplegic within the previous year reported only slightly lower levels of life satisfaction than healthy individuals (and lottery winners also converged on their setpoint). This is particularly interesting given that many people often say they would rather be dead than quadriplegic. They are likely wrong.
It might be a good idea not just to train using tools such as BCI as a preparatory stage, but also to ensure that they get integrated with the action systems of your brain. There is some evidence that people with lock-in syndrome or similar conditions have a hard time learning to use them if they get them after their condition worsened, while people who get them before can use them better. The reason is (by some researchers) believed to be linked with the ability to see oneself as an agent—we normally reinforce this every waking moment, but if you can’t use your agency to affect the world the agency might atrophy. Right now merely a hypothesis, but it might be a reason to attempt to supercharge your agency and extend it to an exoself.