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Aaron Swartz commits suicide

tech.mit.edu

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Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#421

Post by alaskamiller »

DennisP wrote: post #395
alaskamiller wrote: post #312

I remember most of the teachings from those days, back in the early 2000's. Before hacking, before startups, before entrepreneurs, before changing the world felt like a cool, common thing. Before all of that, I remember this guy doing it, doing it well. And that inspired me to believe I can do it. An artist's only passion is to create, until the day you die. In between you fight all sorts of battles that they don't w…

Upvoted before I got to the "glorious ending" line. Wish I could take it back.

Typo. Meant to write wasn't.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#422

Post by toyg »

beadmomsw wrote: post #252

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. Aaron has been depressed about his case/upcoming trial, but we had no idea what he was going through was this painful. Aaron was a terrific young man. He contributed a lot to the world in his short life and I regret the loss of all the things he had yet to accomplish. As you can imagine, we all miss him dearly. The grief is unfathomable. Aaron's mother

I am so sorry for your loss. Your son was a genius and a generous person true to his beliefs -- the rarest sort.

You should always be proud of him.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#423

Post by wglb »

SquareWheel wrote: post #202
guywithabike wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://aaronsw.jottit.com/reddit

I'm sorry, but merging with a company doesn't make you a cofounder of that company. You were not there when it was founded, thus it's not an applicable label. I'm just asking for a title correction, not trying to slander the guy.

According to Paul Graham, that was the agreement and that Aaron was not wrong in calling himself cofounder.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#424

Post by shuaib »

I know a lot is being speculated about how the whole JSTOR story is what could have possibly pushed Aaron over the edge. And I think the discussion is important in its own right, about easy access to academic journals. But, I think it is very important that we do get to know what it actually was that triggered this extreme act on part of Aaron. If someone as capable and intellectual as Aaron could fall prey to something that makes one end his life, what becomes of the average hacker who tries hard to achieve a level of success such as that of Aaron, and goes through phases of depression in life.

There has to be more to it then just the JSTOR case.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#425

Post by [deleted] »

larrys wrote: post #410
michaelochurch wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you hit someone with enough felony counts sooner or later something can snap. There are the conditions for suicide, and then there's the impulse that drives it to happen. The first is visible and appears over a long period of time-- felony convictions, mental instability, or extreme career adversity-- but it never seems that things are that bad (especially because a lot of people refuse to admit that good things c…

"Thirty years ago, if your life got fucked up, you could pull a Don Draper. You could pay people off to represent themselves as past employers and reconstruct your career under an alternate name, and move halfway across the country. In 2013, that's becoming increasingly hard to do." You can still do that today although agreed it is much harder. You could simply buy someone's company for example with a history and cla…

[deleted]

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#426

Post by FrojoS »

larrys wrote: post #410
michaelochurch wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you hit someone with enough felony counts sooner or later something can snap. There are the conditions for suicide, and then there's the impulse that drives it to happen. The first is visible and appears over a long period of time-- felony convictions, mental instability, or extreme career adversity-- but it never seems that things are that bad (especially because a lot of people refuse to admit that good things c…

"Thirty years ago, if your life got fucked up, you could pull a Don Draper. You could pay people off to represent themselves as past employers and reconstruct your career under an alternate name, and move halfway across the country. In 2013, that's becoming increasingly hard to do." You can still do that today although agreed it is much harder. You could simply buy someone's company for example with a history and cla…

But your old profile is still online. They day it is matched with you (picture) you are uncovered.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#427

Post by hoterran »

beadmomsw wrote: post #252

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. Aaron has been depressed about his case/upcoming trial, but we had no idea what he was going through was this painful. Aaron was a terrific young man. He contributed a lot to the world in his short life and I regret the loss of all the things he had yet to accomplish. As you can imagine, we all miss him dearly. The grief is unfathomable. Aaron's mother

suck copyright, world miss a genius,rip.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#428

Post by sophacles »

alan_cx wrote: post #245
rohamg wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is right. I'm shocked at the "suicide apologists" in this thread.

I'm shocked at "life bullies". Which lets face it is a Christian rule, and not applicable to all people. I would like to die right now. I'm just too cowardly. There is no simple switch to do it quickly and painlessly. No way to stop others being upset. No way to stop others discovering something that may scar them. I do not wish to mess up others. Why? I simply do not belong. I don't understand the human race at all,…

I understand where you're at, I've posted on this here before[1]. Not existing is an option. It is not cowardly to choose "not today", it is a combination of biological drive to stay alive, and the fact that the choice of suicide is a one-time choice, you can't hit undo on a decision like that, so it is prudent to approach very cautiously.

That being said, I find myself to be fundamentally broken in ways similar to what you describe for yourself. I have found that this apartness can be mitigated, lessened and and accepted by myself and people around me. It isn't easy, and I have to consciously focus on it. However, I also know that by having looked at how I can solve my apartness and lack of understanding with less drastic measures, I have found solutions that work for me. This is why I've chosen 'not today' so far.

I would be glad to talk to you about this, share my experiences and strategies for interacting in a world of people I don't get. I won't try to talk you out of your choice - it is not mine to make. I won't condone it either - that too is not my place. The best I can provide is a simple sharing of my brokenness and hacks to fix it. The tl;dr of it tho, is: treat it like a puzzle or game, it helped me figure out the rules, and the resulting deep analysis helped me get some empathy and insight, allowing me to fit in better even though I didn't really "understand", and that feeling like I have a place even if my role is "that weird guy in the group" really is pretty awesome, and worth carrying on for (to me).

contact: $HNUSERNAME at gmail.

[1] clicky: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3350666

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#429

Post by Zak »

hackinthebochs wrote: post #256
jacques_chester wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> By the time you are contemplating suicide, it's not even close. This is classic begging the question. One could easily say someone who claims suicide is never a rational option is the altered one. It must be seriously condescending for those trying to help someone contemplating suicide to offer such plainly specious arguments against it, especially if that person is the contemplative type. It likely does more harm…

It seems to me that the problem in many situations is that suicide is a permanent response to a temporary problem. In most of these cases, were the person being rational, they would probably consider the expected remainder of their life to be more good than bad.

There are certainly exceptions. Terminal illness is an obvious one. A chronic disease - whether physical or mental - that has few prospects for effective treatment is another. I'm inclined to think that Aaron's legal troubles were not, by themselves enough to make suicide a rational option, though I don't know enough about the situation to be sure. If, however, he concluded that his legal troubles were part of conclusive evidence that the world is a bad place that isn't going to get better, suicide might look more rational to me.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#430

Post by mtrimpe »

mscarborough wrote: post #344
mtrimpe wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn you're insensitive. You should be ashamed of yourself. And to the OP: If you're still young (under 25) I'm pretty sure you'll do fine eventually. If not, you're probably doing fine already...

Insensitive? Sure. But the OP is just so over the top. No point in suggesting he get real help because he's already exposed those frauds! He's got it all figured out. 'probably doing fine already' is about the last thing we should be responding with here. What happens at 25 that makes mental illness irreversible? Younger than 25, you just get over it?

It's hard to reply to the OP. Mostly because I, like many here probably, can relate quite well.

I'd wager a guess that he's in his early twenties, struggled with depression through puberty and has currently found stable ground with a nihilistic perspective that helps him get through the day.

If that's the case then (hence the ~25 year comment) most likely he'll learn to build a perfectly healthy life on top of this stability.

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