221–226 of 226 posts
Remember that it's technically a valid evolutionary strategy to live to, say, 25, have a few kids, then off yourself. Suicide before reproduction is all that would be selected against.
Not necessarily true either. If your suicide is beneficial to your siblings, for example, it won't be selected against (assuming they have the trait as well, but it hasn't expressed itself for them).
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Get back to us when you turn 80. :) People's experience change their perspective. What's important to you now will change. What you're able to appreciate changes.
I actually used to have that limit set to 60, but then when I thought about it, I probably would still have some physical strength at 60 and still wouldn't want to die. But at 80 I can't imagine myself being other than a total wreck.
If you remain active through your life, I think you're much more likely to stay active as you're older. I intend to retire by 40, but I don't intend to be idle.
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is it really that astonishing? it means that you're in complete control of your experience. quite a powerful statement. this isn't a blame game, no one's pointing fingers at anyone and saying, 'gee just think more positively man" or whatever. it's a personal strategy for managing one's own suffering, and a quite powerful one at that.
Pointing fingers and telling people to think more positively is a really common reaction to depression. I think that's why I reacted so strongly to it: it sounds so much like a common counterproductive refrain.
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You nailed it. Chronic pain can be really, really, debilitating. Think about what you are going to do in a few hours. Maybe you'll hop on public transit to meetup with someone. Or maybe bike somewhere. Or take a shower. Or make a sandwich. Or make love. Now imagine if you had a really bad joint (ankle, knee) or back. Suddenly, taking public transit has additional complexities, like does the station have a lot of stai…
Chronic pain is very easily treatable. In the US you only got the problem that the usually subscribed extended-release pain killer only works 2/3 of the period, but everywhere else this is a solved problem with its 4-6 hours cycle.
We know so much less about the human body than we think we do. When giving birth to our first son, she was given the maximum dose epideral and was told she wouldn't be able to walk for a few days because of intense numbness. Not only did she walk to the bathroom shortly after giving birth, but it didn't even lessen the pain.
Not everybody responds to and gets the benefits of modern medicine as we'd like. I'm grateful that medicine does work on me and my children though.
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We're talking about considering suicide! Going through with it is a completely different matter, due to very many factors, some outlined in the OP, another sometimes being physically unable to do it... > I've seen people with chronic pain (including long-term fatal cases) that are not just "despair and suffering". Including people who have dreams and follow them (creative work etc) despite the pain. Without any kind…
> Well, what I witnessed may have been outliers, but once you hear a person you care for begging to "please, just make it stop" every time she was able to actually articulate some words instead of screaming in pain... that leaves a mark. You seem to conflate chronic pain with "living in total agony", like some terminal patient. People here are not talking about that. Maybe do some reading about what "chronic pain" me…
While interesting, this article seems to ignore the possibility that most people simply have a very strong desire to live. It assumes that if someone is suffering, and death would end that suffering, then suicide makes sense, and something weird must be going on to make people keep going. But this really doesn't make sense. The entire concept of suffering exists merely to keep us alive. We experience pain and despair…
very strong desire to live. Meh, I just fear hurting the ones I love.