The inspiration for writing an article actually came from an NUS confession comment, where someone was bitching about being able to use an electron microscope whatever (worth 800k) after 1 hour of training but not being able to go rock climbing in Utown unless he had a week-long "national standard" instructor course, whatever that means. The important comment that someone said was and I quote
"maybe life > 800k"
That was a very interesting thought. Because we can instinctively understand that life is worth so much, that it is definitely worth more than this obviously low number of $800,000.
But is there a point where we are able to say, hmm, ya his life was worth ending for xxx amount.
Hank does an interesting analysis for this.
500k comes up as the US army's monetary value of life, which is what they payout to families when soldiers die under their charge. There is also a 6-9 million figure being thrown around. please look for the source in that video if you want to learn more.
My personal take on this is that when you're discussing monetary value specifically, it always ALWAYS boils down to supply and demand. If you're a faceless sheep in China or Russia (or even worse, middle east) their government is willing to send waves and waves of you into machine gun fire to the point where they hope their people outnumber your bullets (See: Korean war and most of their wars in fact). That is a crazy thought, for there to be so many people that a powerful organization can throw enough of them at you that they eventually run out of bullets.
On the other hand, if there is only one of you who can do something unique, say you are the only person who knows how to disarm a bomb that threatens the world, your value jumps up exponentially, not just because there is now only a single unit of you as supply, but everyone now demands you, from people who want to live to people who want you to die. So if anyone sends a bounty to get you, expect a lot of bling.
Monetary discussions aside, I think we're missing out on some "less concrete" arguments for ending a person's life. The important thing to note is that we're discussing the idea of killing yourself, because I would kill that bastard in studio at the drop of a hat if I had a way out of it, but then it would turn into a conversation about why you want to kill bastards around the world, and I'm not interested in that. Anyway, I think that a good way to look at justifying suicide is to look at whether living out one's life is worse than not living it. In most cases, it isn't; life is definitely worth living more than not. End Note: I never realised that this is a cost-benefit analysis until I wrote it out in complete sentences.
I think that people who say that no matter how hard life gets, its always better to live are naive. Sure it seems like that in Singapore, but other countries do exist. If I were a Jew and I knew exactly how Nazis were treating my people during the Holocaust, I would have no qualms ending my own life. Heck, I'd even end my child's life to spare him the misery.
Of course, that is the extreme end of the spectrum. It's the middle ground that's always murky. Personally, I have found 2 ways of judging this. First is when the problem doesn't seem solvable, even in the unforeseeable future, save for a miracle. Second is when I am not conscious of my actions and thoughts.
Unsolvable problems, in general, are usually health problems, especially in a first world country like Singapore. Things like the final stages of HIV and cancer seems to fit the bill quite easily. But extraordinary circumstances are also possible, like war, famine, drought, etc.
"What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind" -Dan Quayle. I am quite afraid of dementia and Alzheimer's to be honest. I can't imagine living a life and not being able to catch a though coherently, even in my own brain. It would feel like being lost in an immense library, there are huge walls of books surrounding you, but you can neither understand them nor find people you know. Best case scenario, I have some idea of who my loved one is, but can't recognize who they are or why they are important. I think that scares me more than anything else. But it's not a thought I entertain very often because it's still (hopefully) a long way from now.
Things like comas sort of put things is a difficult area to classify because they always seem like there's a cure for it, but not really. "Holding out" becomes a mental and emotional drain, especially for loved ones. Previously, I would have let my loved ones decide when to take my own life off the resuscitator, because they have a stake in it, emotionally, but now I think it's honorable to not have to put the burden of making the decision to terminate my life on their shoulders. They would simply follow the instructions on my will and not feel like they CHOSE to end my suffering. It alleviates some of the pain of it, I guess.
The last 3 or 4 paragraphs seem a bit unsatisfactory to me, because I got derailed to join a softball game in the middle of writing this. So yeah, there's that.
P.S. I was reminded of this person I read about before, Philip Gale, who despite being a computer genius and making upwards of a million by the age of 17, or perhaps because of it, committed suicide at MIT.
I really resonate with the things he said because it didn't seem like an impulse decision or a short term event that triggered it. This was his suicide note
"Presumably I have jumped from a tall building. [...] I am not crazy, albeit driven to suicide. It is not about any single event, or person. It is about stubborn sadness, and a detached view of the world. I see my life—so much dreary, mundane, wasted time wishing upon unattainable goals—and I feel little attachment to the future. But it is not so bad, relatively. I exaggerate. In the end, it is that I am unwilling (sick of living) to live in mediocrity. And this is what I have chosen to do about it. The saddest part is the inevitable guilt and sorrow I will force on my family and friends. But there is not much I can say. I am sorry. Try to understand that this is about me and my 'fuked up ideas.' It is not because I was raised poorly or not cared for enough. It just is. [...] take care world, Philip." Gale closed his handwritten suicide note with a smiley face and the words "And stay happy!"
P.P.S I'm not going to leave my parents behind so long as they are still alive.
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