31–40 of 363 posts
He shouldn't just accept this. There has to be something to be tried. With his notoriety, the option to try some experimental new treatment should at least be considered.
I just wish he'll live the most playful last months of his life with his soon-to-be wife. We cannot wish for anything less.
He shouldn't just accept this. There has to be something to be tried. With his notoriety, the option to try some experimental new treatment should at least be considered.
He knows it's terminal (it's spread all over the place), and if he chooses to live the rest of his life on his own terms and not enduring the significant side effects of chemo, then it's his choice and good luck to him.
My grandmother refused chemo (cancer in bowel, liver, lymph nodes) and I think she made the right choice.
Terrible news. If you're not familiar with Iain's work you owe it to yourself to drop everything and start reading the Culture series[1] right now. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series
Definitely very sad news.
He's a titan of British literature, I've loved his work for a number of years. What a legacy to leave behind.
As an English Brit I'd love to claim him for our own but, to be honest, I think "Scottish literature" is the only appropriate description. This is awful news. I've not been a big fan of his later SF works. But Feersum Endjinn and Espedair St are tremendous and who knows, maybe the later works will grown on me. I hope he lives to see his latest book on the shelves. (Edit: Not that I'm claiming he's not a Titan)
(Or might be plastinated [4] in the alternate history thread in which people actually got up and started to do something about death in the late 1930s [5], when the chemical industry started to be up to the task of building a mass plastination concern).
If you've made no preparations but still have $200,000 or so sitting around, then the certainty of oblivion is still your choice, even at the last minute. (Most people who are cryopreserved fund it through life insurance taken out decades earlier). No judgement on that choice is offered, as the right to vanish is a good right, just judgement on the fact that while other options do exist, they might be far more available for everyone and better thought of were the world just a little bit different.
[1] http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2002/11/cryonics.php
[2] http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2002/12/death-is-an-outra...
[3] http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/02/to-die-in-order-t...
[4] http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2009/04/plastinate-everyo...
[5] http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/05/when-did-we-becom...
FWIW, I've ordered the first three novels of the Culture series. I didn't know of Iain Banks until today and his terrible news. I just wish he'll live the most playful last months of his life with his soon-to-be wife. We cannot wish for anything less.
This is a lamentable loss indeed. It really grieves me that my shelf of Culture novels will likely never grow again.
Fuck this fucking disease. It really makes me angry. The lives cut short, all those possibilities lost. We need to fix this bug and soon.
He shouldn't just accept this. There has to be something to be tried. With his notoriety, the option to try some experimental new treatment should at least be considered.