Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Protocol for Dying

hintjens.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 347 posts

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#251

Post by anonymous779 »

fasteo wrote: post #241
anonymous779 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find this anger against death weird. Of course you do, because accepting death is a huge part of our culture, a part we developed to make coping easier. It's hard to think differently from how you have been taught to. >Death is part of our lives and we should accept it without the drama Who says that and for what purpose (who benefits from status quo) ? Note that death isn't even a law of physics, it's just a con…

Sorry, can't compute this. And I mean it.

Hope you enjoy your ride till the end, and when being confronted with this very end you won't suddenly change your mind.

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#252

Post by fsloth »

simplify wrote: post #207
fsloth wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would offer an inverse to Pascal's wager as a counterpoint. If there is any chance that our life on earth is the only chance gets on existence, then one should spend it contemplating good life here on earth and not concentrating on a plausibly false hope.

That's the problem, though; such a life is unfulfilling to the soul, even without mentioning the question of what a "good life" even is.

What good life is is the most important philosophical question. Mr. Hintjens writing is extremly important as our mortality is a key facet of our understanding of life. I claim our society is estranged from it and consider it a horror, whereas the tone in Mr. Hintjens text is touching and to the point in helping us to face it. One day we all will be dust like Mr. Hintjens. I hope I can approach my passing with such apparent dignity and compassion as echoed by this text.

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#253

Post by [deleted] »

simplify wrote: post #207
fsloth wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would offer an inverse to Pascal's wager as a counterpoint. If there is any chance that our life on earth is the only chance gets on existence, then one should spend it contemplating good life here on earth and not concentrating on a plausibly false hope.

That's the problem, though; such a life is unfulfilling to the soul, even without mentioning the question of what a "good life" even is.

[deleted]

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#254

Post by dang »

code4life wrote: post #174

Another perspective, adopted by millions is simpler, and more joyful to explain. This life is temporary, but a life with Christ in heaven is eternal. Our christian funerals are often celebrations about a journey on earth well fought.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11548172 and marked it off-topic.

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#255

Post by jsmthrowaway »

simplify wrote: post #213
minionslave wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds beautiful. I guess part of us wants to continue to exist, even after our death. I must point out, as much as I agree with the sentiment, many people give up a happy life on earth (forbidden food, no premarital sex, tithes etc..) for the sake of religion.

In Christianity, religion alone (the act of doing things, force of the will, restraint, etc.) is worthless, even condemned. It's about God changing your heart to love Jesus, such that your love and joy for Him overpowers any past love for sinful things. It's kind of like romantic love here on earth. When you're single, you might really enjoy going out and meeting people (bars, meetups, events, etc.), but once you fin…

I like how the dying subject of the thread has already asked you to take this elsewhere and you are ignoring his wishes just to proselytize your belief system.

How ironically selfish of you. (Which I don't think you intended, but...)

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#256

Post by dang »

anonymous779 wrote: post #247
PieterH wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not correct. I was given five extra years by diligent medical work, expert surgeons and great after care. That didn't come from nowhere.

I'm glad that you or your government were able to afford state-of-art medical treatment. I won't be eligible for such luxurious treatment by virtue of being born in the wrong country. Best regards, yours 3rd world anonymous.

Please don't create a farm of separate accounts to comment with here. HN is a community, and doing that undermines the community. Anonymity is fine, of course, but we need you to participate in the community in good faith, and that means giving your fellow users some kind of identity to relate to.

You've also inundated this thread with many repetitive comments using your different accounts. That's not good. HN is supposed to be about quality, not quantity.

You've also taken the thread off-topic by turning it into a generic screed about "death acceptance culture". When discussions pass from the specific to the generic, and from the personal to the rhetorical, their quality declines.

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#257

Post by shopkins »

Neslit wrote: post #147
rangibaby wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Death is just another part of life. It's going to get you eventually. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori

Personally, I really like living, mainly because there's a lot of awesome stuff to do and see and build, stories to tell, people to be with, etc. The logical next step is that I don't want to die, at least any time soon or involuntarily. Avoiding death may be difficult, but it seems rather sad to just give up; and anyway, say what you will about humans, but we are pretty goddamn clever occasionally. So it seems quite…

Except we're not machines. "You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else," as Tyler Durden would say.

Some might say the next logical step isn't to wish to live forever, but to die, and hope your genes and ideas live on. We're not the eternal ones in this universe, no matter how big our capacity to wish for that.

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#258

Post by mariodiana »

slavik81 wrote: post #143
msamwald wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be consoling to some, but it is hardly accurate.

There would be over a hundred billion people today if nobody ever died, and that's only counting the humans. The practical reality of the world since the dawn of life has been that if you want to shake up the genetic Lego box and create new creatures, the old creatures have to die. Eventually. The analogy is not perfect. To create new Lego creations you have to destroy the old ones first. But analogies are never perf…

I'm not going to remember the exact age, but the actuaries had a look at this question. Even if all medical conditions were treatable and no one ever died from disease, the average age of death due to accident would be somewhere around 400 years.

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#259

Post by dang »

clydethefrog wrote: post #73

A book about psychopaths from a software developer with no qualifications to speak with any authority on psychopathology whatsoever - that doesn't sound highly insightful.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11548216 and marked it off-topic.

Re: A Protocol for Dying

#260

Post by fasteo »

anonymous779 wrote: post #251
fasteo wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, can't compute this. And I mean it.

Hope you enjoy your ride till the end, and when being confronted with this very end you won't suddenly change your mind.

I have been diagnosed with a genetic incurable disease 8-10 years ago. Plenty of time to think about these issues. I am ready to die.

Do not fear death so much but rather the inadequate life

Post reply on HN