Interestingly, this is something people expect to agree on more than they actually do. Most people agree that there could be a fate worse than death, but some people would choose to endure anything to keep living, though I don’t know how many of them would maintain this choice once they had to endure a fate worse than death and I don’t see any ethical way of finding out. Both groups, at least from what I’ve seen, see their choice as obvious and are surprised at the existence of people who disagree.
You are right. There are people who believe that nothing is worse than death. There are also people who believe that in the primordial past, thetans brought the material universe into being largely for their own pleasure. I believe that both are wrong. I am not surprised at the existence of people who disagree. I would be surprised by the existence of people who have critically considered their beliefs and decided that there is no fate worse than death, and I would be very interested to hear them explain why they believe this. I don’t, however, believe that just because there are fates worse than death, you should ever kill yourself, for the reason that we can’t see the future, and it is a terrible thing for someone to die who could have possibly had positive life experiences in the future.
Good point. In retrospect there was nothing exceptional about their misunderstanding of their own minds. I do, however, disagree with an unconditional condemnation of suicide due to the possibility of of a positive singularity. Just because we can’t see the future doesn’t mean we can’t make a judgment under uncertainty. Some probability of a fate worse than death must cancel a sufficiently low probability of whatever good experiences are possible. Also, if a sufficiently large amount of money is necessary to prolong someone’s life, perhaps that money could be better spent on improving the chance of a positive singularity for everyone, depending on the exact results of the expected utility calculation.
I agree, and I think many here will.
Interestingly, this is something people expect to agree on more than they actually do. Most people agree that there could be a fate worse than death, but some people would choose to endure anything to keep living, though I don’t know how many of them would maintain this choice once they had to endure a fate worse than death and I don’t see any ethical way of finding out. Both groups, at least from what I’ve seen, see their choice as obvious and are surprised at the existence of people who disagree.
You are right. There are people who believe that nothing is worse than death. There are also people who believe that in the primordial past, thetans brought the material universe into being largely for their own pleasure. I believe that both are wrong. I am not surprised at the existence of people who disagree. I would be surprised by the existence of people who have critically considered their beliefs and decided that there is no fate worse than death, and I would be very interested to hear them explain why they believe this.
I don’t, however, believe that just because there are fates worse than death, you should ever kill yourself, for the reason that we can’t see the future, and it is a terrible thing for someone to die who could have possibly had positive life experiences in the future.
Good point. In retrospect there was nothing exceptional about their misunderstanding of their own minds. I do, however, disagree with an unconditional condemnation of suicide due to the possibility of of a positive singularity. Just because we can’t see the future doesn’t mean we can’t make a judgment under uncertainty. Some probability of a fate worse than death must cancel a sufficiently low probability of whatever good experiences are possible. Also, if a sufficiently large amount of money is necessary to prolong someone’s life, perhaps that money could be better spent on improving the chance of a positive singularity for everyone, depending on the exact results of the expected utility calculation.
I agree with everything you say here. If anything I said disagrees with it, I take it back.