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.
Well, to me, one of the best things about philosophy was that you can use things from sci-fi to explore various concepts, and you can do the reverse at as well. To me, the only 'sci-fi' aspect is the multiple universes argument, which is AFAIK a valid (if presently a little fringe, due to the lack of testable predictions) scientific theory, and so fair game, and the aspect of the Singularity (which was only added to plug a potential hole my SF soul saw in it).
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. No, I don't think it's inherently selfish... or, if it is, it is in a way that is okay. It is a person's own life, and it is fundamentally their own choice. In certain situations it may be more, or less, selfish, just as allowing it may be more, or less, selfish, but just as a baseline, without any context, it doesn't enter into it. However, I do believe that most of the good reasons _against_ it (except in certain transient conditions), are self_less_ ones. To be frank, a not insignificant portion of the time that's the only reason I'm still alive, because I decided that I don't want to cause certain close family members pain. However, if they were gone (in a permanent sense), I would have no such compulsion to stick around. That's part of the reason I was toying with this, I wanted to see if I could come up with a logical argument against it that is 100% selfish, not relying on other people.
(splitting off to multiple replies due to LJs stupid comment char limit)
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Well, to me, one of the best things about philosophy was that you can use things from sci-fi to explore various concepts, and you can do the reverse at as well. To me, the only 'sci-fi' aspect is the multiple universes argument, which is AFAIK a valid (if presently a little fringe, due to the lack of testable predictions) scientific theory, and so fair game, and the aspect of the Singularity (which was only added to plug a potential hole my SF soul saw in it).
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.
No, I don't think it's inherently selfish... or, if it is, it is in a way that is okay. It is a person's own life, and it is fundamentally their own choice. In certain situations it may be more, or less, selfish, just as allowing it may be more, or less, selfish, but just as a baseline, without any context, it doesn't enter into it. However, I do believe that most of the good reasons _against_ it (except in certain transient conditions), are self_less_ ones. To be frank, a not insignificant portion of the time that's the only reason I'm still alive, because I decided that I don't want to cause certain close family members pain. However, if they were gone (in a permanent sense), I would have no such compulsion to stick around. That's part of the reason I was toying with this, I wanted to see if I could come up with a logical argument against it that is 100% selfish, not relying on other people.
(splitting off to multiple replies due to LJs stupid comment char limit)