Silhalnor comments on Ethics and rationality of suicide - Less Wrong

46 Post author: anonymous259 02 May 2011 01:38AM

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Comment author: Prismattic 02 May 2011 02:44:58AM 24 points [-]

I can't recall the name of it, but I think there was documentary about people jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. The filmmakers interviewed a bunch of people who had survived their attempts, and most or all of them regretted jumping as soon as they were airborne. I'm in favor of a right to suicide (not to be confused with thinking it is a good idea in the vast majority of cases) but I think anyone who is really set on going through with it should be encouraged to do so by means of a slow-acting poison that has an antidote, or some analogous method, just in case they discover an unexpected revealed preference for living after beginning to kill themselves.

Comment author: Silhalnor 21 July 2015 01:23:53AM 0 points [-]

I think an important question is why did they change they minds? Do they feel better about life? Are they happier somehow? Or did coming so close to death simply boost their survival instinct? But I haven't seen this documentary so maybe that question was covered.