111–120 of 306 posts
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For some reason, in Europe, even less people seriously consider cryonics as an option, despite the population being generally less religious. Some view it with cynicism. Others just laugh.
Probably because it's quackery. http://thebaffler.com/salvos/everybody-freeze-pein
Having recently started using ZeroMQ at work, I must admit that Pieter gave the world a really elegant message queue solution. The world is losing another great hacker. Would a black bar be considered?
> Would a black bar be considered? As on top of HN? I guess somone would have to e-mail admins for that.
This keeps me up at night. I hope the collective advancement in science makes it possible to defeat cancer some day. I believe/hope that my contribution as a insignificant CS-student helps somebody develop tools that help somebody researching etc. I am really convinced that every advancement is connected somehow and the collective improvement in efficiency and livings standards makes it possible to commit more resour…
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> hard to fear it more than any other thing that can kill me - a stroke, a car accident, etc. Hm. I wonder your age. Young folk seem to think death impossibly foreign, and fear it / ignore it all equally. Older folk, that have had more first-hand experience with the decline of the flesh in themselves and those they grew up with, have more an appreciation for the difference between an abrupt death in a car accident, a…
Sorry, I didn't mean to speak of death in dismissive form. I've seen too many relatives and those close to me perish in various of ways before old age not to care about it. To me all forms of it ... just feel equally bad in the end from the point of fearing some personal fate or another. My view is not of someone oblivious to life's hardship. Life hits you, you take the punches, and stand as long as you can. "Cancer"…
Depending on the type of cancer, you can go in a few weeks, months, or fight the battle for years.
Even if you endure and persist, which gets progressively easier for a lot of cancers thanks to more advanced therapies, you have to fear recurrence.
I'm not at all opposed to ending one s own life if done without severe psychological issues and done thoughtfully after plenty consideration.
Of course, if you regulate assisted suicide, as some countries in Europe have done, it leads down a very slippery slope. Who makes the decision on whether you are allowed to end your own life?
Most current religions frown upon suicide as a sin. Life is god given and not yours to decide upon (Islam, Christianity). Or suicide is viewed as an unjustified interference in the natural order (Hinduism). And therefore most of our societies reject it.
Admittedly, most suicides that are not connected to terminal illness manifest due to psychological / neurological illness and despair that might be cured or managed with proper therapy and medication, making a return to a happy life possible.
It's a fascinating and very multi-facetted issue to think about.
But when these things start looking more imminent, I hope I have the courage to do what he has just done, I really do.
Incredibly brave decision.
[1]:http://www.glasgowcomascale.org/
Edited to Add: Added link to the Glasgow Coma Scale, shouldn't have assumed knowledge of it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think it meet of a Christian man to speak so at a time like this, or indeed any other? This is cruelty. We are called to kindness. Do you think it's your place to judge what God will and won't forgive? This is arrogance. We are called to humility. Would you demand that someone else continue in unbearable agony to satisfy your own personal notion of the right way to act? This is hatred. We are called to love.
> Do you think it meet of a Christian man to speak so at a time like this, or indeed any other? I do. > This is cruelty. Is it cruelty, or love? Is it kindness to say to someone, 'the world is better off without you in it'? Is it kindness to help someone destroy himself, and with himself every second he could have had? > Do you think it's your place to judge what God will and won't forgive? This is arrogance. We are…