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A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

theguardian.com

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Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#31

Post by melling »

gigatexal wrote: post #21
anbop wrote: post #5

I couldn’t find it inspiring, only heartbreaking and anger-inducing. It makes me so geared up to think how shitty the world is to some people who have done nothing to deserve it and so generous to some who have done everything to not deserve it. Just one more reminder of how the world really feels like one wretchedly sick joke concocted in the mind of a wretchedly sick fuck.

Are you mad at the various random mutations of genes, of countless other stochastic processes that leave some people in his situation and others perfectly healthy? Then I share your frustration. I don’t know why anyone has to suffer or why I am privileged beyond someone else. What did I do to deserve my health? How did I win the evolution lottery? It’s just random chance I tell myself and to that end true randomness…

Well, I don’t know why he’s mad, but after living 5 decades, I’m a little frustrated myself.

It’s great that people turn out in support of others. However, you’ve got to wonder if we’d made more of an effort over the past half century in research, many fewer people would have died prematurely. Great progress has been made in childhood cancers, for example:

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-in-children/key-statist...

20% more yearly research compounded over the last 5 decades and we might not be reading this story today.

50 years from now this person would not die in childhood from cancer.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#32

Post by chousuke »

anbop wrote: post #5

I couldn’t find it inspiring, only heartbreaking and anger-inducing. It makes me so geared up to think how shitty the world is to some people who have done nothing to deserve it and so generous to some who have done everything to not deserve it. Just one more reminder of how the world really feels like one wretchedly sick joke concocted in the mind of a wretchedly sick fuck.

If you're angry at the universe, try to channel that anger into action in however small a way you can think to improve the world. Emotions are a powerful motivator.

The universe does not and is under no obligation to care about any of us and just being angry at it is like being angry at a rock, but that is no reason for us not to care. Quite the opposite if you ask me.

I think we are responsible for making the world the best it can be for everyone because we are the only ones here who have the capacity to care about making it so.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#34

Post by sdegutis »

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#35

Post by Arbalest »

sdegutis wrote: post #34

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

Pascals wager is garbage, it underestimates the time, effort and thought cost if there is no god. What sort of reflections would otherwise be meaningful? All the regrets they have? It's a kid, he had cancer, what could he have done differently?

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#36

Post by em-bee »

sdegutis wrote: post #34

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

i am going to disagree here. what he was offered was companionship and compassion in his suffering.

distraction from the pain, sure, but not distraction from reflection.

playing games like this does not prevent you from reflection. i haven't played elite dangerous yet, but other games like it. these games are not a mindless distraction. they can be, but they don't have to be. you play an intelligent being, and how you act in the game reflects on how you act as a person.

being confined to the hospital, the game allowed michael to break out of its confines and act as the human being that he is within a virtual world. doing that allows plenty of opportunity for reflection on your life. and i am sure he did his fair share of it.

in the end, death is not a punishment, but a release from suffering.

someone once said that handicapped people are a test for everyone else around them, how they react and treat them.

the elite dangerous community has passed that test, and hence michael was allowed to leave this earthly plane and ascend.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#37

Post by cheschire »

sdegutis wrote: post #34

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

When I focus intensely on something right before sleep impacts, I've noticed that I seem to simply pause, emotionally. When I wake up the next morning, the emotions from the night before are immediately present again. If I was in a fight, or studying intensely, or playing 12 straight hours of factorio, I wake up continuing where I left off.

If there is anything after this life, I want to wake up to it on a positive note having spent my last hours happy.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#38

Post by cheschire »

melling wrote: post #31
gigatexal wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you mad at the various random mutations of genes, of countless other stochastic processes that leave some people in his situation and others perfectly healthy? Then I share your frustration. I don’t know why anyone has to suffer or why I am privileged beyond someone else. What did I do to deserve my health? How did I win the evolution lottery? It’s just random chance I tell myself and to that end true randomness…

Well, I don’t know why he’s mad, but after living 5 decades, I’m a little frustrated myself. It’s great that people turn out in support of others. However, you’ve got to wonder if we’d made more of an effort over the past half century in research, many fewer people would have died prematurely. Great progress has been made in childhood cancers, for example: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-in-children/key-statist.…

If we reduce the number of people dying, you will still see stories just like this because they have an impact and they cause reflection. They're meaningful stories.

Many fewer people did die prematurely in the last 50 years, precisely because people did the work you're wanting them to do.

The reason this story even could happen is because it's so rare to hear stories like this anymore. It's not like the middle ages where 30-50% infant mortality was common. People wouldn't have the energy to organize emotional support for every child that died in those days.

Child mortality is dropping ridiculously fast. You can't get to zero though.

https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#39

Post by melling »

cheschire wrote: post #38
melling wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I don’t know why he’s mad, but after living 5 decades, I’m a little frustrated myself. It’s great that people turn out in support of others. However, you’ve got to wonder if we’d made more of an effort over the past half century in research, many fewer people would have died prematurely. Great progress has been made in childhood cancers, for example: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-in-children/key-statist.…

If we reduce the number of people dying, you will still see stories just like this because they have an impact and they cause reflection. They're meaningful stories. Many fewer people did die prematurely in the last 50 years, precisely because people did the work you're wanting them to do. The reason this story even could happen is because it's so rare to hear stories like this anymore. It's not like the middle ages…

You’re sort of taking a tangent on what I was saying. It’s not really relevant to my point.

Yes, the world is a much better place. Your article summarized it nicely:

“Rising prosperity, rising education and the spread of health care around the globe are the major drivers of this progress.”

My point is that more research compounded over decades would help us cure more people sooner.

I didn’t say we can cure everyone but perhaps we can make it extremely rare.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#40

Post by dkersten »

Arbalest wrote: post #35
sdegutis wrote: post #34

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

Pascals wager is garbage, it underestimates the time, effort and thought cost if there is no god. What sort of reflections would otherwise be meaningful? All the regrets they have? It's a kid, he had cancer, what could he have done differently?

Also, if there is a god, (s)he surely knows the difference between true belief/faith and pretending just in case.
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