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Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

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Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#161

Post by robryan »

eddiegroves wrote: post #130
robg wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just our community. There are twice as many suicides as homicides in the U.S.[1] Yet, every nightly newscast is sure to cover the murders. How many talk about the suicides? Worse, suicide is the leading cause of death among college students [2]. It's an epidemic that no one talks about. We've already lost two freshman at MIT this year. [1] http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/suicide-vs-homicide-b... [2] h…

I'm not sure about how it is in USA but a lot of countries have strict rules around the media reporting suicides, so it is deliberate that the topic is under reported. Naturally a lot of people disagree with this and there's constantly heated debate on the future of the media's role.

Yeah, they are completely avoided in Australia, only time you really hear about one in the media is if it was a public figure. I don't really think this is the right thing to do, it masks that there is any problem so it doesn't get the attention it needs.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#162

Post by pjscott »

billpatrianakos wrote: post #143
Nessuss wrote: post #138

I hope he had a cryonics contract. .... In reading the above, some people might think it insensitive to 'peddle' this here, and I almost censored myself because of that. But that's not helpful at all. People are dying unnecessarily because they don't understand physics, cognitive neuroscience, and the possibilities the future allows. May he live again conditional on him being cryo-preserved. Otherwise, it is sad news…

You should've censored yourself anyway. That is insensitive. What if it was your mother and some stranger said that? Come on, that's something you talk about when a person is alive, not when people are grieving. No one wants to learn about the science or pseudoscience of cronies when in mourning. Just, come on.... Really?! I shouldn't have responded to this. Should've let it die and get buried but that kind of upset…

If cryonics does work out, then bringing it up at inappropriate times could save lives. Please don't be angry at an honest attempt to prevent some people from dying.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#163

Post by Nessuss »

billpatrianakos wrote: post #143
Nessuss wrote: post #138

I hope he had a cryonics contract. .... In reading the above, some people might think it insensitive to 'peddle' this here, and I almost censored myself because of that. But that's not helpful at all. People are dying unnecessarily because they don't understand physics, cognitive neuroscience, and the possibilities the future allows. May he live again conditional on him being cryo-preserved. Otherwise, it is sad news…

You should've censored yourself anyway. That is insensitive. What if it was your mother and some stranger said that? Come on, that's something you talk about when a person is alive, not when people are grieving. No one wants to learn about the science or pseudoscience of cronies when in mourning. Just, come on.... Really?! I shouldn't have responded to this. Should've let it die and get buried but that kind of upset…

This isn't the funeral for the fella.

Being able to discuss taboo subjects is what makes it great to be an intellectual after all - why are they taboo? is the reason a good or illogical?

In this case, death is bad, very bad. Something to resist with all our might, and cryonics is one just one tool in saving lives (yes, you are not dead until your actual neurons irrecoverably die). No need to go into the details of information theoretic death, just look into it yourself.

The point is, people deal with the concept of death in ways to prevent the unpleasant thought that you WILL die. One of these ways is to celebrate what a great life this person had, how sad it is that they have died but they had a good life. It's slightly more obvious that this person did not in fact have a good life (he only had 21 years), but the argument applies to all ages.

It's precisely why I decided to not self-censor here. I wanted to point out that we shouldn't celebrate death. Don't let death become something slightly more inevitable in your mind, fight it!

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#164

Post by weel »

chimeracoder wrote: post #150
grannyg00se wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does it say that Ilya committed suicide?

It doesn't. People are assuming that the lack of explanation + his young age = suicide. It may end up being the case, but at the moment, people are just speculating.

It is true that people his age don't usually die of disease, but that still leaves other options than suicide. The most common for males 15-24, according to http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa-cause-of-death-by-age..., are traffic accidents, violence, suicide, poisoning "other injuries," and drowning, in that order.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#165

Post by fbishara »

yeison wrote: post #95

Ilya was an incredible person. His heart was truly driven by bringing about positive change in this world. Diaspora was only the beginning. He was genuinely one of the kindest people I've ever met. Along with that, one of the most driven and intelligent peers I've ever encountered. Any time I ever had a chance to converse with him, it was always a very pleasant experience. He was someone I felt I had truly connected…

I couldn't agree with you more. Ilya had the brain of a genius, an incredibly brilliant and extremely humble, which made him extremely unique. Ot top of that he was an idealist who also took action to create more good in the world. He had a big heart and a genius brain, I'm still struggling to accept that he's gone...

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#166

Post by grusk »

21echoes wrote: post #137
newobj wrote: post #87

Holding out hope here... but this whole ball started rolling with one tweet like 14 hours ago. I haven't seen a single source confirm anything yet. Any chance the net is getting punk'd right now?

as his roommate i can confirm that he has indeed passed away. i thank you for your hope and optimism, but sadly these things can only go so far sometimes. life and death are very real and very sudden things, and i hope that his memory spurs you to fight for what you believe in while you can. goodness knows he did.

Can you tell us how? My condolences. I was watching a couple interviews with Ilya on Youtube and it's clear he was a very bright kid with a lot of potential.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#167

Post by NZ_Matt »

edw519 wrote: post #89

Horrible. This news is so tragic I really can't focus on anything else now. Which is probably the way it should be. Our community stresses the importance of achievement, success, and technology so much that it's easy to forget what's really most important: each other. Sometimes it takes terrible news like this to jerk us back to that reality. I never knew Ilya, but if any of his friends of family visits this forum, p…

Very tragic. It's the strong mind people that are some of the most vulnerable.

RIP Ilya

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#168

Post by Joakal »

robryan wrote: post #161
eddiegroves wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about how it is in USA but a lot of countries have strict rules around the media reporting suicides, so it is deliberate that the topic is under reported. Naturally a lot of people disagree with this and there's constantly heated debate on the future of the media's role.

Yeah, they are completely avoided in Australia, only time you really hear about one in the media is if it was a public figure. I don't really think this is the right thing to do, it masks that there is any problem so it doesn't get the attention it needs.

It's against broadcasting rules to publish anything relating to suicide. Especially euthanasia.

I gather that exceptions are made for exceptional news.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#169

Post by davros »

ig1 wrote: post #34

The death of the founder of any well-known startup merits mention here. The startup community is a close knit global one, we don't just meet each other at professional networking events, we share our lives with each other. Perhaps unlike any other profession we have a closeness that binds us, we socialize, we date, we make lifelong friends from within the startup community. Even if we don't know the startup founder d…

When's the last time you asked someone how their startup was doing to get a reply "not so good", founders are expected to be eternal optimists and this expectation can make it harder for those struggling or suffering to ask for help from their friends (who are often from the startup world themselves).

So true, the need to keep that positive projection can really eat people up. It can even be really hard to complain or talk about the downside with friends and family. A mentor who's been through it themselves [1] may be one of the best ways to not only get advice but also release the stress by being really open about problems.

[1] best if they don't have a financial interst.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#170

Post by radicaldreamer »

rms wrote: post #133
robg wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just our community. There are twice as many suicides as homicides in the U.S.[1] Yet, every nightly newscast is sure to cover the murders. How many talk about the suicides? Worse, suicide is the leading cause of death among college students [2]. It's an epidemic that no one talks about. We've already lost two freshman at MIT this year. [1] http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/suicide-vs-homicide-b... [2] h…

The US loses about as many troops to suicide as combat. :( http://www.congress.org/news/2011/01/24/more_troops_lost_to_... I think we'd have a much more harmonious society if we put lithium in the water rather than fluoride. http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/194/5/464.abstract

The suggestion is treating the symptoms rather than the cause though.

If, instead of just putting fluoride in the water, there was a serious effort made to reduce the amount of refined sugars in our diets, there would be many more arguably beneficial effects other than just reducing tooth decay.

Similarly, instead of thinking about lithiated water, we should really try to treat some of the causes of suicide.

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