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dxu comments on Why people want to die - Less Wrong Discussion

49 Post author: PhilGoetz 24 August 2015 08:13PM

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Comment author: dxu 31 August 2015 12:48:08AM 2 points [-]

At what point does deteriorating health change your answer to the question of whether you want to die today from "no" to "yes"? This isn't a continuum here; you either want to die or you don't. Do you expect a particular day on which you will wake up and suddenly decide it would preferable to die, having held the opposite preference on the previous day?

Comment author: Jiro 31 August 2015 09:55:56AM 3 points [-]

Yes, I expect that. If that was not so, it would never be possible to have different yes/no answers to any continuous thing. You can walk X distance, you can walk an inch more, when is it too far to walk?

See http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sorites-paradox/

Comment author: entirelyuseless 31 August 2015 12:06:27PM 1 point [-]

This happens the same way you change any other preference or opinion. The reasons for your preference or opinion change on a roughly continuous basis, but in the end you do change the preference or opinion on a particular day.