A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy • Hacker News Board

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#41

Post by vijayr02 » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 11:42 AM UTC

krilly wrote: post #30

vijayr02 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's fine; cold impersonal anger can be a very powerful motivator if channeled properly. My question is what are WE going to do about it? For me: 1/ support the Grauniad [0]: the gulf between the quality of their journalism and the rest of the market is gaping. I may not agree with all their views but the world is a better place with their investigative push 2/ let's leverage the HN community: one of the consta…

Really? These days the guardian is known for its poor fact checking and misleading headlines

Well you could argue they would do better with more resources.

Anyway: the Guardian is just one paper. Support independent journalism, whether it's the NYT / WSJ / WaPo / FT / your favourite non-clickbait news platform.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#42

Post by Ensorceled » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 11:45 AM UTC

anbop wrote: post #5

I couldn’t find it inspiring, only heartbreaking and anger-inducing. It makes me so geared up to think how shitty the world is to some people who have done nothing to deserve it and so generous to some who have done everything to not deserve it. Just one more reminder of how the world really feels like one wretchedly sick joke concocted in the mind of a wretchedly sick fuck.

This kind of anger will eat you from the inside, shorten your life, and make the years you have miserable. I know. See some one.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#43

Post by ivanhoe » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 11:48 AM UTC

sdegutis wrote: post #34

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

Or, in case there isn't anything "after this life", you could be wasting your last days in unnecessary solitude, facing the fear and pain all alone in the name of tormenting yourself about past and, by that moment, completely irrelevant things. In the end, it's a very personal choice, so why not let everyone choose it for themselves

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#44

Post by warent » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 11:58 AM UTC

sdegutis wrote: post #34

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

I'm not sure how you got "constant distraction" from this. What I saw was an enormous amount of love and support offered to this boy in his final moments.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#45

Post by hirundo » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 11:59 AM UTC

The Hermitcraft gang played Minecraft with a dying kid this season. I wonder if it was the same one, or if this is becoming a (wondeful) trend.

Hermitcraft is a bunch of adults doing their best to play with the spirit of children, and they're good at it. The energy and creativity they spent playing with this kid were impressive. They seemed to get a lot out of it. In fact they should probably make a point of inviting a kid to play regularly, terminal or not, because it seems that they gain from it about as much as the kid.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#46

Post by paulgibbs » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 12:13 PM UTC

o7

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#47

Post by scotty79 » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 12:31 PM UTC

Arbalest wrote: post #35

sdegutis wrote: post #34

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

Pascals wager is garbage, it underestimates the time, effort and thought cost if there is no god. What sort of reflections would otherwise be meaningful? All the regrets they have? It's a kid, he had cancer, what could he have done differently?

Also Pascal wager is wrong because it assumes that believing in god is free or almost free, but if there's no god then the only thing you have is your life and by believing in god you are giving up the only opportunity to live your life the best way you can. Instead you taint everything you got with twisted and wicked thoughts like the one user 'sdegutis' presented: "Kid should suffer more before he died. Because supernatural reasons."

Cost of believing in god in Pascal's wager is infinite because you have to spoil the only thing you got.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#48

Post by scotty79 » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 12:36 PM UTC

sdegutis wrote: post #34

Or alternatively, these are very important days in a person's life where serious thought and reflection might actually be needed, in the event that there really is something after this life, and our decisions in this life do actually have consequences on that. But instead, this person was offered constant distraction until the very end.

If I needed anymore arguments about immorality of religion, immorality of passing fairy tales as even potentially real, I got your comment.

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#49

Post by clmul » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 12:42 PM UTC

scotty79 wrote: post #47

Arbalest wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pascals wager is garbage, it underestimates the time, effort and thought cost if there is no god. What sort of reflections would otherwise be meaningful? All the regrets they have? It's a kid, he had cancer, what could he have done differently?

Also Pascal wager is wrong because it assumes that believing in god is free or almost free, but if there's no god then the only thing you have is your life and by believing in god you are giving up the only opportunity to live your life the best way you can. Instead you taint everything you got with twisted and wicked thoughts like the one user 'sdegutis' presented: "Kid should suffer more before he died. Because sup…

You presume that by believing in a God you're not living life in the best way you can, but is there really an objective (non-religious) "best way" to live life? I would assume that for the average religious person, the way they live their life feels just about right (barring any intrinsic human shortcomings).

Re: A video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy

#50

Post by scotty79 » Sat, Jul 06, 2019, 12:48 PM UTC

clmul wrote: post #49

scotty79 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also Pascal wager is wrong because it assumes that believing in god is free or almost free, but if there's no god then the only thing you have is your life and by believing in god you are giving up the only opportunity to live your life the best way you can. Instead you taint everything you got with twisted and wicked thoughts like the one user 'sdegutis' presented: "Kid should suffer more before he died. Because sup…

You presume that by believing in a God you're not living life in the best way you can, but is there really an objective (non-religious) "best way" to live life? I would assume that for the average religious person, the way they live their life feels just about right (barring any intrinsic human shortcomings).

The best way to live your life is highly subjective and personal. By allowing people to instruct you on how to live your life based not on knowledge but on centuries old guesses almost inevitably prevents you from having best possible life regardless of what it might mean for you.

Relying on old guesses instead of knowledge gives you objectively worse results in any kind of activity. It's not a stretch to assume it also has the same effect on your life as a whole.