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

'Suicide pod' is completely legal and approved for use in Switzerland

unilad.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 112 posts

Re: 'Suicide pod' is completely legal and approved for use in Switzerland

#71

Post by tomohawk »

xenospn wrote: post #11
fxd123 wrote: post #7

> "I’ve always wanted to remove the role [and the] need for professional people to prescribe difficult drugs to use Yikes. It seems like you would want a barrier to entry when it comes to legal suicide...

And why is that?

The law doesn't allow the operation of a motor vehicle if you're drunk or intoxicated. Why would the law allow the use of this device in those circumstances. Without too much thinking, there are plenty of reasons there many be legal restriction on this. Keep in mind that alcohol is involved in 40% or more of suicides.

People usually think that they are acting with a sound mind, and in their own interests. Except that they often are not. This is ok when the consequences are less grim than death or permanent disability.

People get confused, depressed, angry, drunk, high, or even have a psychotic break.

Re: 'Suicide pod' is completely legal and approved for use in Switzerland

#72

Post by happytiger »

There are a lot of deeply opinionated and rather thoughtless statements being made here.

Please remember that no matter what your position, others have very different views on this subject.

That said, I am somewhat of an advocate for people having the option to end their lives in some cases. I have seen first hand someone do it due to extreme medical hardship and it was intense but positive for them.

But there is the evidence that safeguards around these technologies suffer from the “slippery slope” problem:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3070710/

We should be thinking very deeply about whether and how these kinds of technologies have their place in society, and maybe give us some deeper consideration.

Re: 'Suicide pod' is completely legal and approved for use in Switzerland

#74

Post by Gabrys1 »

Etheryte wrote: post #31

Assisted suicide is already legal in a number of countries, and I think this is the logical next step. If you can operate the apparatus yourself, you don't leave the scar on someone else's consciousness. You could say that this only shifts the burden one step away, but I think that is enough — if you decide to take your own life, whatever your reasons, it shouldn't be up to someone else to do it for you.

But then you still need someone (your family) to "clean up" your body...

Re: 'Suicide pod' is completely legal and approved for use in Switzerland

#75

Post by hypeatei »

dgrin91 wrote: post #63
hypeatei wrote: post #21

Suicide should NOT be as stigmatized as it currently is in modern society. Everyone was brought into this world without their permission, they should be able to leave it in a safe and reliable way too.

> Everyone was brought into this world without their permission I can never tell if this is satire or not. What does this even mean? Is this a bad thing? Is there some utopian goal where we somehow build some gizmo that can communicate with your consciousness pre-conception and get informed consent to 'being you into this world'?

It's not satire.

> Is this a bad thing? Is there some utopian goal...

Depends on the person. I'm not personally looking for a consent system before being born, merely pointing out the fact you can be born and have no control over anything. Things like illness, defects, abusive parents, etc... so people should have a safe option to leave life too.

Re: 'Suicide pod' is completely legal and approved for use in Switzerland

#76

Post by giraffe_lady »

sho_hn wrote: post #42
giraffe_lady wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to link to specific articles or examples because people will meticulously comb the ones I choose to dismiss them individually, when the real issue is about systems and incentives on a broader scale. The program is called "medical assistance in dying" commonly referred to as MAID. A lot has been written about it the last few years. As you look, I highly recommend prioritizing the words of disabled and ch…

FWIW, I wasn't taunting you to get a reply I could poke holes into. What you describe seems like a plausible outcome to me; I was just curious about a write-up (even if anecdotal).

I know, I wasn't trying to accuse you of that but am cautious from experience on this specific issue on here. A lot of other people are reading and this is flamewar magnet for the "rationalist" crowd that is overrepresented both on HN and in supporting euthanasia. It's also something I've been following and involved in for years, but I don't have a concise primer or easy introduction to it. It's hard to know what is relevant or where to start.

Here is an example of the sort of thing we were worried about, and that was dismissed as a slippery slope. This person doesn't want to die per se, the support she needs is understood and achievable, but it will not be provided. Suicide is offered instead.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/woman-with-disabilities-nears-...

Here's a blog post written around the time when the "forseeable death" restriction was removed a couple years ago. It touches on and predicts specific cases that have since happened as described.

https://socialwork.ubc.ca/news/social-justices-poor-cousin-d...

Re: 'Suicide pod' is completely legal and approved for use in Switzerland

#77

Post by Gabrys1 »

SnorkelTan wrote: post #18
rrgok wrote: post #2

Finally, can't wait to the time they will legalize suicide centers with these pods where everyone, without any reason at all other than wanting it, can easily, quickly, reliably and euphorically end this non-sense called life.

People with dependents are one case that comes to mind when considering why this might not be a great idea. Elderly people with no dependents are one example I can think of why this might not be the worst thing in the world. But in general I tend to agree that there should be some means to humanely end ones own life that doesn't automatically presume insanity. I think there's probably a reasonable middle ground to be…

Re: dependents, should you not be allowed to kill yourself if someone (let's say a selfish spouse rather than your infant child) depends on you? That might even be the reason you don't want to live anymore...

Re: 'Suicide pod' is completely legal and approved for use in Switzerland

#80

Post by sho_hn »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #76
sho_hn wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, I wasn't taunting you to get a reply I could poke holes into. What you describe seems like a plausible outcome to me; I was just curious about a write-up (even if anecdotal).

I know, I wasn't trying to accuse you of that but am cautious from experience on this specific issue on here. A lot of other people are reading and this is flamewar magnet for the "rationalist" crowd that is overrepresented both on HN and in supporting euthanasia. It's also something I've been following and involved in for years, but I don't have a concise primer or easy introduction to it. It's hard to know what is…

Thanks!
Post reply on HN