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I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words.

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Re: I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words.

#51

Post by arkades »

fsloth wrote: post #29
LeanderK wrote: post #24

This keeps me up at night. I hope the collective advancement in science makes it possible to defeat cancer some day. I believe/hope that my contribution as a insignificant CS-student helps somebody develop tools that help somebody researching etc. I am really convinced that every advancement is connected somehow and the collective improvement in efficiency and livings standards makes it possible to commit more resour…

We all die at some point. While I too abhor cancer I find hard to fear it more than any other thing that can kill me - a stroke, a car accident, etc. The universe is out to get us - we've evolved into tough bastard but we've not defeated mortality.

> hard to fear it more than any other thing that can kill me - a stroke, a car accident, etc.

Hm. I wonder your age. Young folk seem to think death impossibly foreign, and fear it / ignore it all equally. Older folk, that have had more first-hand experience with the decline of the flesh in themselves and those they grew up with, have more an appreciation for the difference between an abrupt death in a car accident, and a slow dissolution like cancer. Quite a lot of people fear dying more than they do death.

Re: I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words.

#52

Post by lettergram »

fsloth wrote: post #29
LeanderK wrote: post #24

This keeps me up at night. I hope the collective advancement in science makes it possible to defeat cancer some day. I believe/hope that my contribution as a insignificant CS-student helps somebody develop tools that help somebody researching etc. I am really convinced that every advancement is connected somehow and the collective improvement in efficiency and livings standards makes it possible to commit more resour…

We all die at some point. While I too abhor cancer I find hard to fear it more than any other thing that can kill me - a stroke, a car accident, etc. The universe is out to get us - we've evolved into tough bastard but we've not defeated mortality.

*yet

I am 100% confident that within the next two hundred years (baring some massive war, dark age, etc.) We will be able to use gene therapy to reduce cancer risk to negligible levels. We will probably even master the ability to program cells to do what we want... At which point all diseases where the body breaks down will likely be gone. That's not to say, we won't have issues regarding illness - just our bodies won't break down as quickly if at all.

Re: I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words.

#53

Post by throwanem »

barrkel wrote: post #48
throwanem wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This use of 'just' is curious. It suggests that some degree of a person's consciousness inheres in their Facebook account. Is this intentional? If so, will you explain how you arrive at that conclusion?

This isn't the forum for that discussion.

True. Please forgive my gaucherie.

Re: I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words.

#54

Post by fsloth »

amelius wrote: post #41
fsloth wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate what makes cancer any more frightening than any other things that may get us? Is it the threat of pain? As long as we are mortal our journey is a finite one anyway.

If you have lost relatives to cancer, it means it runs in the family. That, I suppose, makes it worse than any other disease, i.e., the threat becomes more real.

I think the genetic component of cancer depends very much on the kind of cancer one has. Lots of other conditions have a strong genetic component - poor cardiovascular health, depression, schizophrenia, alzheimer's, strong disposition towards substance abuse, etc. I would not call it "worse" than for example the genetic likelihood of 80% of developing alzheimers at an early age (which luckily I don't personally have).

Perhaps this is a very personal view - but as I've lost relatives to all sorts of maladies including cancer I find it really hard to see cancer as the absolutely worst bogeyman in the room. That's not to say it's not bad.

Re: I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words.

#57

Post by sabmalik »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #47
sabmalik wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in 2 minds about this. Part of me agrees with you but the other part of me doesn't. Personally, I feel death (and afterlife) has played an important role in popularising (selling?) religion.It is still a difficult subject to talk about, in some cultures even joking about your own death is a big no-no. Maybe this is the best way to break this barrier and understand that death is "normal" and it's okay to talk abo…

I agree with what I think you're saying, but the right words can be very tricky here. Maybe this "productization" will get us all to a point where we are all okay talking about it openly and frankly, without making a big deal about it? What's a "big deal"? For my friend, I knew her and she seemed like a nice person. I did not know her that well, though. The first couple of times somebody posted how sad they were on h…

I am not great with words, please accept my apologies.

When I say "big deal", I meant it more like talking about homosexuality is now less of a "big deal" then it was back in the day. I am not saying that the loss itself is not a big deal, just talking about it shouldn't be.

Maybe, if we live in a society where it's easy to talk about death then maybe the grieving process would become easier too. Right now, people tend to act weird around people who has just lost someone (I have experienced that first hand), the people who are suffering the loss feel like they have to "stay strong" and not show their emotions to others because they don't want to be a burden. It's a vicious cycle which we can break by just talking about it.

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