Would you be better off dead?

[Ambivalent1]

I was watching a bit of this Yale series about Death. He asks the class if someone with a good life would be better off alive and then followed up by asking if someone with a bad life would be better off dead.

He said death is a non-state. There's no comparison since you're comparing something to nothing in both circumstances. Anyway, he said that if your life is mostly bad then you might be better off dead since in the non-state, you're not suffering. There was more, but his speaking style is irritating.

I learned that he's famous in South Korea. Asians look at death, especially suicide, differently than the western world.

 

[UKscotty]

Yeah 'better off dead' makes no sense as a saying. If someone is dead they no longer exist so how can they be better off.

I think its more about is someone's suffering untreatable and there is no hope. If so then we CTB. My view anyway.

 

[Forever Sleep]

How is he so confident about what death is? Has he experienced it? I hope it's a non state too but we don't 100% know, so it's kind of impossible to compare the two. Plus, none of us actually know our future either.

So- if you are suffering in this current moment- sure- a non state may well seem preferable. But we don't actually know what our potential lives could be like next month, next year, in five years.

That's not to say he's wrong but I'd argue that all of it is a gamble. It can be an educated gamble I suppose. I feel like we can say we've had enough experience of life to feel confident it won't improve enough for our individual standards.

We can also try to reassure ourselves that there's little definitive proof for things like hell, afterlives and reincarnation. So- death could very well be a non state. If afterlife does exist though. Judgement, purgatory, hell- some of us could end up worse off!

But it's still weird- how can you compare two unknown states with any certainty? It's always going to be your best guess. That's the same for most things in life though really. What subjects to study at school, whether you should propose to someone, whether to go for the cheesecake or ice cream. It's all a guess as to what might make us happier/ better off. It's in some ways easier to do that in life because we normally have some reference point- some experience to go from. All we 100% know about death is that our physical body dies ad rots or is destroyed.

 

[strangelife]

When life turns into torment and there is no hope of getting rid of them, then there is only one way to stop the torment, and indeed it is impossible to compare a bad life and its complete absence, but if life becomes unbearable, then what other options

 

[TiredOfAllThis]

I'd rather be dead than keep being tormented. I actually wish I never existed, in the first place

 

[Ambivalent1]

How is he so confident about what death is? Has he experienced it? I hope it's a non state too but we don't 100% know, so it's kind of impossible to compare the two. Plus, none of us actually know our future either.

So- if you are suffering in this current moment- sure- a non state may well seem preferable. But we don't actually know what our potential lives could be like next month, next year, in five years.

That's not to say he's wrong but I'd argue that all of it is a gamble. It can be an educated gamble I suppose. I feel like we can say we've had enough experience of life to feel confident it won't improve enough for our individual standards.

We can also try to reassure ourselves that there's little definitive proof for things like hell, afterlives and reincarnation. So- death could very well be a non state. If afterlife does exist though. Judgement, purgatory, hell- some of us could end up worse off!

But it's still weird- how can you compare two unknown states with any certainty? It's always going to be your best guess. That's the same for most things in life though really. What subjects to study at school, whether you should propose to someone, whether to go for the cheesecake or ice cream. It's all a guess as to what might make us happier/ better off. It's in some ways easier to do that in life because we normally have some reference point- some experience to go from. All we 100% know about death is that our physical body dies ad rots or is destroyed.

The body has been thoroughly examined. The soul is left unfound. In Hebrew, the soul just meant "the breath." Even Alzheimer's is living proof that the personality and memory are just bits of brain tissue.

 

[groucho]

Yeah 'better off dead' makes no sense as a saying. If someone is dead they no longer exist so how can they be better off.

Surely that is the whole appeal and philosophy of suicide. Not existing being seen/felt as a preferable condition to pain and suffering.

 

[Squidward]

I remember coming across this concept somewhere on ASH, boiled down to simple math;

1 = good life
0 = no life
-1 = bad life

It's left to a simple reasoning that not having life is preferable to having one imbalanced towards suffering.

 

[Ambivalent1]

I remember coming across this concept somewhere on ASH, boiled down to simple math;

1 = good life
0 = no life
-1 = bad life

It's left to a simple reasoning that not having life is preferable to having one imbalanced towards suffering.

What a great epitaph

 

[Praestat_Mori]

Idk if I'm better after I died - I won't be here anymore. I would say it'd be better (here in this world) if I was already dead (in the best case a simple natural death while sleeping) bc that'd be better for myself - my suffering has ended.

 

[Alex Fermentopathy]

I don't believe in eternal nonexistence. So I view death as a change of one life to another. And I view us all as reincarnations of one another. If one has the life which is below average, obviously it seems reasonable to draw a ticket to another one.

 

[sserafim]

Ya

 

[4.I.2.Must.Die]

Yeah 'better off dead' makes no sense as a saying. If someone is dead they no longer exist so how can they be better off.

I think its more about is someone's suffering untreatable and there is no hope. If so then we CTB. My view anyway.

My constructive disagreement with this would be that you're obviously better off or you're not suffering problems that you were never gonna be able to escape in life. However, anyone who talks about death in such a way as to imply they'll know it's better or more peaceful I don't believe have it right because all death can be is an end to something, everything beyond that no longer exists for you.

 

[Lookingtoflyfree]

Absolutely. Life with autism is too much. I've given a lot of effort towards trying and I'm fucking exhausted. What, more decades of this?!?!?!

 

[UKscotty]

My constructive disagreement with this would be that you're obviously better off or you're not suffering problems that you were never gonna be able to escape in life. However, anyone who talks about death in such a way as to imply they'll know it's better or more peaceful I don't believe have it right because all death can be is an end to something, everything beyond that no longer exists for you.

But then we end all possible chance of joy and happiness too

 

[sserafim]

Absolutely. Life with autism is too much. I've given a lot of effort towards trying and I'm fucking exhausted. What, more decades of this?!?!?!

Literally. Fuck autism. Hopefully one day they can develop a cure for this condition. I only have Asperger's/autism level 1 and it already makes life not worth living for me.

But then we end all possible chance of joy and happiness too

In my case, any possible chance of joy and happiness isn't worth the definite pain and suffering. Maybe it's different for other people

 

[DreamEnd]

The body has been thoroughly examined. The soul is left unfound. In Hebrew, the soul just meant "the breath." Even Alzheimer's is living proof that the personality and memory are just bits of brain tissue.

When you smash a radio and it won't work it doesn't mean the signal doesn't exist or that you wouldn't transmit it if you had a new radio. Same goes for brain and consciousness. There is no scientific consensus on where the consciousness comes from and whether it's just a product of the brain. And even if there was consensus, why do we have to look at this specifically through a western scientific paradigm and disregard thousands of stories, cases and experiences that cannot be explained or repeated through scientific experiments ?

 

[Malaria]

I don't know if I would be better off dead but I feel like everyone else would be better off if I died because I'm a nuisance and a burden.

 

[4am]

definitely. i believe that there's no afterlife, that there's just permanent non existence. existence is suffering, while non-existence is a lack of conscience and all feelings. you can't be hurt by non-existence, so the answer is obvious for me

 

[ijustwishtodie]

Yes, I do think that I'm better off dead. To me, permanent non existence is bliss. Also, I don't understand the concept of it being illogical to compare life with permanent non existence all because the latter is a non state. We can compare our lives with permanent non existence because we are alive right now and the comparison tells me that death is better for me than life.

But then we end all possible chance of joy and happiness too

Somebody who is non existent cannot feel any harms or have any complaints from the lack of joy and happiness. Sure, they can't feel happiness either but they wouldn't feel shitty over that as they don't exist

 

[theboy]

yes

 

[Dark Moon]

Yeah my life is not worth living.

 

[kindalone]

Depends. If society deems its design to be sacrosanct and my failures to be solely caused by me or whatever is inherent in me, then I agree. I would be better off dead. In this scenario, the system is perfect and nothing can be done to improve it. The individual is therefore not fit for this perfect society and has a bad life because they're "wrong" or "bad". So yeah, life will be a constant struggle just by being themselves. So why not die, I guess. There's no suffering then.
But then again, fuck religion and fuck Asian priests in particular (I'm Asian myself who had to endure some religious nonsense throughout my life).

 

[4.I.2.Must.Die]

But then we end all possible chance of joy and happiness too

Sadly we all stopped believing in that when we came here and researched methods.

 

[UKscotty]

Yes, I do think that I'm better off dead. To me, permanent non existence is bliss. Also, I don't understand the concept of it being illogical to compare life with permanent non existence all because the latter is a non state. We can compare our lives with permanent non existence because we are alive right now and the comparison tells me that death is better for me than life.

Somebody who is non existent cannot feel any harms or have any complaints from the lack of joy and happiness. Sure, they can't feel happiness either but they wouldn't feel shitty over that as they don't exist

That os why

Sadly we all stopped believing in that when we came here and researched methods.

It's never over until we carry out the act.

 

[brokeandbroken]

I was watching a bit of this Yale series about Death. He asks the class if someone with a good life would be better off alive and then followed up by asking if someone with a bad life would be better off dead.

He said death is a non-state. There's no comparison since you're comparing something to nothing in both circumstances. Anyway, he said that if your life is mostly bad then you might be better off dead since in the non-state, you're not suffering. There was more, but his speaking style is irritating.

I learned that he's famous in South Korea. Asians look at death, especially suicide, differently than the western world.

I mean the exception is if you are religious e.g. heaven. And honestly yes. I think there's a monumental amount of suffering in my future. I would rather not experience it.

 

[mtoro998]

It would be better than this life I have now.

 

[Ambivalent1]

Sadly we all stopped believing in that when we came here and researched methods.

Why do people speak for others? It's so irritating.

It would be better than this life I have now.

That's interesting

 

[ultrasharpy123456]

Yes I would be better off dead, objectively speaking.

For the whole of society: one less mouth to feed

For my family: less money they have to spend, don't have to hear me talking to myself and driving them insane, don't have to worry about taking me to the doctor or what I will be doing for the future

For me: Don't have to live with my trauma and regret, don't have to feel fear everyday, don't have to fight my thoughts, don't have to worry about being poor, don't have to micromanage my emotions just to be a decent human being, don't have to wait for my family to buy me things, don't have to turn to spirituality to feel better, don't have to worry about hurting people, don't have to worry about my mom or my family, don't have to... I can't really think of the rest but there is so much more I wouldn't have to worry about if I were dead

 

[Meteora]

I can't tell, I don't know what to expect on the other side.