EMC Co-Founder Commits Suicide 538
The Register is reporting that EMC co-founder Richard Egan has committed suicide. The article has an interesting look back at some of his accomplishments. "Egan had an amazing life, encompassing involvement in the Apollo space program, the US Marines, starting and building the most successful storage company on the planet, and becoming the US ambassador to Ireland. Finally, aged 73 and facing a lingering death, he ended the battle decisively and on his terms. He was never a shrinking violet."
Re:The EASY way out! (Score:2, Informative)
No. Not to be cruel, but it's _not_ natural. If this were in some earlier time frame, or a less "technologically advanced" environment, your relative would've been consumed by some other predator by now. It's _un_natural to develop the technology to prolong a life beyond its natural usefulness; ie. into a vegetative state. We are completely skull-fucking the "natural circle of life."
If this post comes across as unnecessarily cruel, forgive me: I'm drunk on Bacardi 151, right now, and probably shouldn't post. At least I have the wits to select "post anonymously"...
Re:"Committed Suicide?" (Score:5, Informative)
My father in law is currently dying from terminal cancer and I reckon anybody who has seen it happen would look for a fast way out. What I am seeing now is almost indescribably horrible. I don't blame this guy one bit.
Re:"Committed Suicide?" (Score:5, Informative)
For like 25 centuries doctors have been swearing the Hippocratic oath, which explicitly states "do no harm."
First off, the Hippocratic Oath does not say "do no harm". It does say that doctors should not do assisted suicides, perform abortions, or perform surgery. Luckily, doctors don't take it any more and haven't in my lifetime. I'm not sure why people think they do. Some take substitute oaths, like the Declaration of Geneva;* others take no oath.
immediately jumping into legalizing euthanasia would be inappropriate and dangerous
"Immediately"? That's a topic that's been up for debate throughout all of recorded history. Which is why the Hippocratic Oath mentions it. Generally, it's been shot down by religious leaders in western cultures because suicide is a sin. It'd be awful nice if we could get past the argument that an invisible fairy will get mad at you and address it as two questions: Does a person own his or her own life, and if so, under what criteria is suicide appropriate? For example, I could see not allowing someone suicide due to schizophrenia because it interferes with rational decision-making. I could also see it a no-no for the parent of a minor child, under the assumption that his or her duty to the child supercedes any rights to opt outta life. But just screaming that it's wrong isn't gonna last in today's secular political climate.
* Which also does not say "do no harm", but does say "I will maintain the utmost respect for human life". On the flip side, the doctor also promises to never violate human rights - some would argue that the right to die at a place and time of one's own choosing is a human right.
Another Reason to Support Assisted Suicide (Score:4, Informative)
Re:He got on the bus (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't hurt. In fact, it'll probably be the best feeling of your whole life.
If it doesn't work, you're not screwed up, missing body parts, having to explain scars, or a drooling idiot. You're completely fine, and have a chance to try again.
And, most importantly, if it does work, your friends and relatives don't spend years asking themselves "could we have stopped it? Was it something we did?" and will instead say "geez, I sure miss that person, never would've thought s/he was a junkie." Which is a far, far nicer thing to do to all the people you care about than a messy suicide.
Re:"Committed Suicide?" (Score:2, Informative)
Suicide for reasons not relating to terminal disease is totally different tot he case we are discussing.
Re:Suicide Rate in Japan (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, the suicide rate is much higher than that here in Japan. Due to the fact that a fair amount of deaths are officially classified as something other than suicide.
Re:The EASY way out! (Score:2, Informative)
So you were careful, then, to total up all of your out-of-state and Internet purchases, and submit the correct amount of Use Tax for your state of residence? Because anything less is, technically, fraud, and you've made it quite clear what you think of people who cheat the system.
Unless you are from one of the five no-sales-tax states [ecommerce-blog.org], if you purchased anything from an Internet retailer who didn't charge sales tax, and you didn't pay the required tax voluntarily, then you, sir, are a tax cheat.
Re:Suicide Rate in Japan (Score:4, Informative)
I'm pretty sure you're implying China or India, and you have check your facts. Their economies may be large and successful, and some part of the population may be well off even by western standards. However the majority of people, both in China and India live in abject poverty, and their economies are creating ecological disasters of enormous proportions.
Check out this list, http://geography.about.com/cs/worldpopulation/a/mostpopulous.htm [about.com] where the countries are listed by population size. Except for the western countries, every single other one has at least one major issue, besides poverty for a majority of the people, that precludes it from being a success. For instance Brazil is destroying the rain forest, Pakistan is anything but politically stable and large portions are controlled by the Taleban, Nigeria is destroying the Niger delta for oil, and so on.
Re:"Committed Suicide?" (Score:3, Informative)
Re:"Committed Suicide?" (Score:3, Informative)
I freedive quite regularly, and have experienced two shallow water blackouts. I can tell you, assuming you have done proper breathe-ups to rid your system of CO2 before the dive, it would be an extremely peaceful way to go. Both times I blacked out, I wasn't even aware of what happened until it was showed to me on film. One second I'm ascending, the next, out cold. No pain, no discomfort, no fear.
If I ever off myself, that is probably how I'll do it.
Re:Another Reason to Support Assisted Suicide (Score:1, Informative)
The drug they use is Nembutal [wikipedia.org] which is available in Mexico quite easily. Ensure you take an appropriate anti-emetic before taking the barbiturate so you don't vomit. It's peaceful.
Re:"Committed Suicide?" (Score:5, Informative)
You might want to review your logic textbook from college. From "p -> q", it does not follow that "~p -> ~q".
Re:"Committed Suicide?" (Score:3, Informative)
The hippocratic oath includes "to abstain from doing harm"
I didn't know that they didn't take it anymore, thanks
Re:"Committed Suicide?" (Score:3, Informative)
I think the norm for good life insurance policies is that they cover suicide after an initial ~2-year period. This is apparently enough to remove most of the desperate schemers.
I only looked at so-called "cooperatives", as opposed to for-profit companies.
(Apropos of nothing: I still don't see the point of getting any life insurance as opposed to just investing, unless you do actually plan to kill yourself in 2 years.)
Re:Suicide Rate in Japan (Score:3, Informative)
"Poverty" as it's generally discussed in the United States is a political term that bears more or less no relation whatsoever to the meaning of the term when used in any other context. You may as well be having a totally different discussion.
In other words, this is a problem with language that Wittgenstein shed some light on [wikipedia.org].