When I read your title, I thought "Oh! Something I can relate to" since I'm an Atheist and have attempted suicide (kind of) more than once. Frankly though, I am confused by much of this since I view it as based in a sci-fi realm more than a philosophical one.
First of all, do you think that suicide is an inherently selfish action? Some people say it's the most selfish and hateful thing a person can do aside from killing someone else. Others say it's not selfish at all, because the person has a right to relieve their own suffering and those that actually love the person would understand this and be happy that their loved one is no longer in pain.
The thing I don't understand (most) about your concept is, why does Gil have any care for the Gil's that split off from him? Science cannot prove that such alternate universes exist as of yet, and even if they could, the Gil in our universe/plane of perception would only be able to sense what happens to him and not the alternate versions of him. Why should he care for these alternatives any more than he cares for the loved ones he might be leaving? As soon as they split off from him, wouldn't you think of them as separate people since they have separate destinies? Is it Gil's duty to insure the safety of all his alternatives? I mean, theoretically any choice Gil makes that creates an alternate could lead that alternate to an immediate or eventual accidental death.
If it was possible to make these "copies" wouldn't they want to make them before the person got sick so the likelihood of them committing suicide would be even less? (You do believe clinical depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, correct? No one who is just sad wants to commit suicide.) And if a civilization had the abilities that you describe, wouldn't they be advanced enough to just fix the chemical imbalance when Gil becomes sick so that he never reaches the point of wanting to commit suicide?
Have you ever experienced clinical depression? To the extent you planned your own suicide? (Sorry if this is too personal a question, but I've found that when you read an essay/story/opinion that relates to deep depression I can usually tell who has actually experienced these feelings and who is just postulating what they think it is like from what they have seen/heard. I was not able to do this before I became mentally ill. I thought I knew what the experience was like since I had dealt with what I thought to be deep sadness and had even pondered suicide. Clinical depression is so different - I can't even begin to describe it.) Sorry, serious tangent, but my guess is from reading this that you have not experienced clinical depression. This certainly colors your opinions on the issue (and to be honest, I'm also curious to see if I'm right).
However, while oblivion might be preferable to a long depressing life, a long, and probably painful, death (with a strong likelihood of permanent physical incapacitation) is something that is probably best postponed for as long as possible.
This is what made me question if you had experienced depression. I'm not sure this is true. Even a long, painful death I think would be preferable to most depressives when they are suicidal. My mother has brought up to me the possibility of me physically harming myself beyond repair during my suicide attempts saying things about harming major organs and being crippled the rest of my life. My response to her was if that happened, I would just try to kill myself again until I was successful or I was most likely such a vegetable that my brain only carried on rudimentary functioning and feelings weren't much of a problem anymore.
Of course, no one who is suicidal wants to experience a long, painful death, but in one of my online support-type groups a girl described how she was in so much emotional and mental pain that she curled up beneath a bush and when she was finally able to go to sleep, she expected never to wake up because she didn't see how someone could be in that much pain and still survive. To many, depression is already a long, painful death full of all sorts of incapacitation, even physical.
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First of all, do you think that suicide is an inherently selfish action? Some people say it's the most selfish and hateful thing a person can do aside from killing someone else. Others say it's not selfish at all, because the person has a right to relieve their own suffering and those that actually love the person would understand this and be happy that their loved one is no longer in pain.
The thing I don't understand (most) about your concept is, why does Gil have any care for the Gil's that split off from him? Science cannot prove that such alternate universes exist as of yet, and even if they could, the Gil in our universe/plane of perception would only be able to sense what happens to him and not the alternate versions of him. Why should he care for these alternatives any more than he cares for the loved ones he might be leaving? As soon as they split off from him, wouldn't you think of them as separate people since they have separate destinies? Is it Gil's duty to insure the safety of all his alternatives? I mean, theoretically any choice Gil makes that creates an alternate could lead that alternate to an immediate or eventual accidental death.
If it was possible to make these "copies" wouldn't they want to make them before the person got sick so the likelihood of them committing suicide would be even less? (You do believe clinical depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, correct? No one who is just sad wants to commit suicide.) And if a civilization had the abilities that you describe, wouldn't they be advanced enough to just fix the chemical imbalance when Gil becomes sick so that he never reaches the point of wanting to commit suicide?
Have you ever experienced clinical depression? To the extent you planned your own suicide? (Sorry if this is too personal a question, but I've found that when you read an essay/story/opinion that relates to deep depression I can usually tell who has actually experienced these feelings and who is just postulating what they think it is like from what they have seen/heard. I was not able to do this before I became mentally ill. I thought I knew what the experience was like since I had dealt with what I thought to be deep sadness and had even pondered suicide. Clinical depression is so different - I can't even begin to describe it.) Sorry, serious tangent, but my guess is from reading this that you have not experienced clinical depression. This certainly colors your opinions on the issue (and to be honest, I'm also curious to see if I'm right).
However, while oblivion might be preferable to a long depressing life, a long, and probably painful, death (with a strong likelihood of permanent physical incapacitation) is something that is probably best postponed for as long as possible.
This is what made me question if you had experienced depression. I'm not sure this is true. Even a long, painful death I think would be preferable to most depressives when they are suicidal. My mother has brought up to me the possibility of me physically harming myself beyond repair during my suicide attempts saying things about harming major organs and being crippled the rest of my life. My response to her was if that happened, I would just try to kill myself again until I was successful or I was most likely such a vegetable that my brain only carried on rudimentary functioning and feelings weren't much of a problem anymore.
Of course, no one who is suicidal wants to experience a long, painful death, but in one of my online support-type groups a girl described how she was in so much emotional and mental pain that she curled up beneath a bush and when she was finally able to go to sleep, she expected never to wake up because she didn't see how someone could be in that much pain and still survive. To many, depression is already a long, painful death full of all sorts of incapacitation, even physical.
damn too long ... continued...