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Sebastian_Hagen comments on The Lifespan Dilemma - Less Wrong
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I was thinking of this the other day...
Suppose that a scientist approached you and wanted to pay you $1000 to play the role of Schrödinger's cat in an open-mike-night stage performance he's putting together. Take as given that the trigger for the vial of poison will result in a many-worlds timeline split;(1) the poison is painless and instantaneous;(2) and there is nobody left in the world who would be hurt by your death (no close friends or family). You can continue performing, for $1000 a night, for as long as you want.
Personally I can't think of a reason not to do this.
(1) I'm 83% confidant that I said something stupid about Many Worlds there.
(2) No drowning or pain for your other self like in The Prestige.
That's actually an extremely strong precondition. People in modern society play positive-sum games all the time; in most interactions where people exchange one good or service for another (such as in selling their time or buying a material object for money), that leaves both participants better off.
A productive member of society killing themselves - even if they have no friends and are unlikely to make any - leaves the average surviving member of that society worse off. Many unproductive members of society (politicians come to mind) could probably become productive if they really wanted to; throwing your life away in some branches is still a waste.
None of this applies if you're a perfect egoist, of course.