Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland • Hacker News Board

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#371

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 5:47 PM UTC

wazdra wrote: post #126

AQuantized wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You really don't want to end up with dementia and related illnesses, it totally sours everyone's view of you. This seems like such an absurd conclusion to this, as though the opinions of other people of you are what matter when you functionally lose your personhood and then die. Maybe a better focus would be that there often isn't a good way for a community to manage a person who suddenly becomes irrational because…

Valuing how others remember you is definitely a motivation in life for many. I respect that it is not your own, respect that it may be mine. It is by no means "absurd".

[deleted]

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#372

Post by hannofcart » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 5:49 PM UTC

I see a lot of comments here expressing disapproval about assisted suicide.

I'd like to quote from the HN guidelines:

> Don't be curmudgeonly. Thoughtful criticism is fine, but please don't be rigidly or generically negative.

With that said I urge you those who disapprove to ask whether you are being "rigidly negative" about this.

1. Is this disapproval perhaps coming from your religious context? If so, please pause and consider why that may not apply to the rest of us. And also whether you really think that your religious beliefs must be forced on the rest of us.

2. Is this disapproval coming from a sense of deep unease that this post causes? If so, know that this unease is shared by most of us. But try and muster the fortitude to go past that unease and consider the decision from a place of compassion.

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#373

Post by l5870uoo9y » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 5:53 PM UTC

Everyone talks about Alzheimer's and dementia, but Daniel Kahneman has neither. He chose to commit suicide because he wanted to avoid “natural decline.” That's an unexpected statement from a 90-year-old. I'm more surprised by his lack of will to live and that he just “gives up” and throws away the most valuable thing he has.

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#374

Post by sashank_1509 » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

I’m young, but I’m at the age where I’ve seen many grandparents pass away and I must say, I support assisted suicide. The helplessness of the last stretch of your life, something that can last a couple of years, where you often need to help to even stand, doesn’t seem like a period of time worth living. Further modern medicines, in my opinion insane focus on extending life of the very old, compounds this situation to something much worse. I know of a relative who had 5 surgeries, 2 ICU admits in his final year, he was 84. First they were convinced his kidney was failing, then his liver, then they thought cancer and on an on that I couldn’t help but suspect whether this was a money grabbing scheme.

I do not know if this was ever widely practiced, but I think the ancient Indian ritual of going to the forest and starving to death in your last days is basically fine. It gives a dignified, sacred end to a life, while the modern medical sciences constant battle against the inevitable ends up distorting and deforming the last days of your life and forces you to leave without dignity clinging to the last vestiges of your humanity that’s left.

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#375

Post by beachy » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

hannofcart wrote: post #372

I see a lot of comments here expressing disapproval about assisted suicide. I'd like to quote from the HN guidelines: > Don't be curmudgeonly. Thoughtful criticism is fine, but please don't be rigidly or generically negative. With that said I urge you those who disapprove to ask whether you are being "rigidly negative" about this. 1. Is this disapproval perhaps coming from your religious context? If so, please pause…

My mum died earlier this year. In hospital, she was approved for assisted dying. There is a mandatory waiting period as part of the process.

Many/most of the nursing staff are Filipino and strongly Roman Catholic.

As she lay dying and unable to speak, one of the nurses undertook to convert her at this last minute to their religion. At night, alone, after all visitors had left, she would come into mum's room and press mum, a very committed atheist, to pray for her salvation.

It's hard to describe how vulnerable someone is who is stuck in their bed and dependant on the nursing team for everything, even sips of water.

I will say this was not representative of her care, but it opened my eyes to the lengths religious believers will go to to push their views on others.

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#376

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 6:04 PM UTC

hackernewds wrote: post #278

seneca wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. It's a not-so-well-kept secret that hospice care is actually assisted suicide in disguise. It's done with a wink and a nudge, hiding behind the principle of double effect, but it's a mercy everyone knows is happening. It's sad that it has to be done covertly.

Which is highly illegal, especially as a form of monetizing pain and lack of agency from elders incapable of decision making but flush with money and inheritors

[deleted]

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#377

Post by hannofcart » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 6:10 PM UTC

beachy wrote: post #375

hannofcart wrote: post #372

I see a lot of comments here expressing disapproval about assisted suicide. I'd like to quote from the HN guidelines: > Don't be curmudgeonly. Thoughtful criticism is fine, but please don't be rigidly or generically negative. With that said I urge you those who disapprove to ask whether you are being "rigidly negative" about this. 1. Is this disapproval perhaps coming from your religious context? If so, please pause…

My mum died earlier this year. In hospital, she was approved for assisted dying. There is a mandatory waiting period as part of the process. Many/most of the nursing staff are Filipino and strongly Roman Catholic. As she lay dying and unable to speak, one of the nurses undertook to convert her at this last minute to their religion. At night, alone, after all visitors had left, she would come into mum's room and press…

That was a heartrending account. Am so sorry for your loss. Both she and you deserved to be treated better.

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#378

Post by Razengan » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 6:11 PM UTC

How much of the taboos against the right to suicide and abortion are because modern societies and economies depend on an ever-increasing population?

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#379

Post by wjnc » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 6:14 PM UTC

dns_snek wrote: post #297

sillyfluke wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent described someone who went above and beyond the norm of other members in his community in his constant positive interaction with his neighbors, collegues, and former students. It is highly likely this kind of person would give a considerable shit if he knew he would become a nightmare for the same community. There may be others reading in the thread who also can relate to the personality of the teacher and…

There's a difference between "I don't want the disease because I don't want to become a menace to others" (what you're saying) and "I don't want the disease because it would make me lose social status" (what the original commenter said).

I am left wondering. Can’t people (in general) understand that Alzheimer’s changes a person fundamentally, irreversibly and forever until death follows? Many positive traits of personality disappear, the negative starts to dominate, I think mainly from fear and a subconscious awareness of what is being lost. That’s pretty much 101 of grieving when a loved one is struck with Alzheimer’s. The person has left. You continue caring for a body / a different person because of the relation you have to a former them. But please don’t connect the persons past deeds and being to the actions with Alzheimer’s.

For myself: I hope for assisted suicide before Alzheimer’s. I value me for me. Not-me I don’t value, and Alzheimer’s does not improve not-me over me. But people who cannot separate me from not-me (with whom not-me loses status for me)… I don’t care about them! (Philosophical mood.)

Re: Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland

#380

Post by LorenPechtel » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 6:18 PM UTC

prmoustache wrote: post #319

Noaidi wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My brother had schizophrenia. No one thought well of him. I guess he should have killed himself as well by the logic some are professing on here. Oh, he tried, but he ended up dying of heart disease. > Maybe a better focus would be that there often isn't a good way for a community to manage a person who suddenly becomes irrational because of an illness. Yes, this is the focus. Science has stalled when it comes to neu…

Dementia and Alzheimer is not something that can simply be managed throught treatment. It is an inexorable descent into suffering for both the person and its entourage with absolutely zero hope of getting better. At best in the last stages you get very short glimpses of normality within hours of confusions, frustrations, anger and pain. If I am ever diagnosed with one of those, I absolutely want the chance to end my…

Yup. Ask me if I want to live. If I'm unable to answer and it's not reasonably expected that I will be able to answer in the future then the answer is no. I am the mind inside, not the body outside. If the mind is gone that's it, the body is worthless.