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Aaron Swartz commits suicide

tech.mit.edu

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Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#191

Post by jacques_chester »

icelancer wrote: post #180
daeken wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's suffered from mental illness for most of his life, I disagree. While I have things largely under control these days, it had nothing to do with the professional help that was offered/forced on me; in fact, it was a huge impediment. Receiving help is not a panacea, and I can't blame anyone who's dealt with it for a long time for completely lacking hope. I don't think suicide is the answer, but I can at…

Absolutely. The idea that all suicides can be prevented "if only he would have gotten help" is such a trite and simple answer to a complex question. Other comments like "What a waste" and "This didn't need to happen" are borderline insulting. Whether someone realizes it or not, those are incredibly disrespectful comments.

It's not held that all suicides are preventable by treatment.

But depressed persons who receive treatment are less likely to commit suicide.

That's the bottom line. We can't save everyone. But we can save more than just letting it happen.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#193

Post by jxi »

krzyk wrote: post #88
lopatin wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your fucking point?

You pull the trigger and all your problems disappear, just like that. But what about your family, friends? They are devastated for the rest of their lives.

As a stranger who's never known Aaron and who's only just read about what he's done in this world, I can say I'm somewhat devastated as well.

You're blaming Aaron for taking the supposedly cowardly approach and hurting his friends and family in the process, but what about the people who put him in this position? Are they beyond reproach? What about the people who affected those people? Clearly something fucked up along the way because I don't think Aaron deserved to be in a position where he had to do this because he downloaded bytes from a website.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#194

Post by jervisfm »

I didn't know aaronsw personally but I have just checked out his web.py that others have been praising and it's really neat because it's so simple. What an amazing piece of work. For others who may not be aware, just see this brief tutorial [1].

His writings on life and how to get better at it are also phenomenal [2]

It's very sad that aaronsw is no longer with us for he was very gifted and talented. May he rest in peace and my thoughts go out to his family and friends.

[1] - http://webpy.org/docs/0.3/tutorial [2] - http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rawnerve

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#195

Post by Udo »

benesch wrote: post #166
Udo wrote: post #73

It's simply awe-inspiring how much he was able to do with his short life. Time to revisit one of my favourite talks: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4GwftoQElJ0

This talk makes me sick to my stomach. There's so much life, so much energy, so much passion. So much potential—you can feel, through a videotaped talk no less—that he wants to go somewhere in life. What a screwed up world.

Agreed. Others already described it as a waste, and it's hard to disagree with the sentiment, but I doubt he would have been able to appreciate the amazing life he lived. In some of his writings there is little room for anything but the immediacy of his crippling disease and it's all the more inspiring what he was able to accomplish even while battling this condition.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#196

Post by jacques_chester »

paraschopra wrote: post #141

It's easy to deride suicide but fact of the matter is that it is the final but a very powerful option we have at our disposal. Instead of saying that a particular person should not have committed suicide, our hope should be that if a suicide happens, it is well thought through and is not done in haste. If a particular person decides that decades of painful life is much worse than simply ending the existence, who are…

Context certainly matters.

Depressed people are not perfectly rational agents. By the time you are contemplating suicide, it's not even close.

And depression is a factor in almost every suicide.

Depression is insidious because it makes all the alternatives to suicide seem much more difficult than they actually are.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#197

Post by droithomme »

jspthrowaway2 wrote: post #145
jacques_chester wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean to seem rude, but please, seek help. This doesn't sound like a healthy way to think and feel.

He has a point, though. It's pretty conservative to say "get help" for every thought about suicide. I think there's a difference between thinking about doing it or, say, wondering what death is like or whether you'd have the stones to go through with it. Honestly, I wonder what death is like a lot. That being said , I tend to agree with you to be more conservative, but I've had similar thoughts as the guy you're repl…

I was curious if some of those claims are true, especially since angst, existential despair and melancholy have been part of the human condition and described in one form or another by philosophers and others for thousands of years.

I found this:

http://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/Suicide-Myths.html

> Myth: All suicidal people are mentally ill. 'Normal' people do not think about suicide.

> Fact: Thoughts of suicide are not uncommon and can occur for anyone. People who see suicide as an option are in emotional pain and may be desperately unhappy. Although mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may be associated with suicidal thinking and behaviour, not everyone who contemplates suicide is living with mental illness.

They don't cite their sources, though it seems to be an australian national suicide prevention site so presumably their claims are not just made up.

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