Well I don't think my dead self would mind being dead with it being dead and all. So I don't really see how any kind of suffering is better than death. In a way death doesn't really hurt you, since you stop living.
You joke, but from a certain perspective and within certain parameters, there are people who would find this acceptable, and even preferred. I recall the movie Solace (which wasn't great, but I digress) where the premise is that a serial killer has psychic powers that allow him to see others' futures. When he detects a future that is particularly horrible (disease, injury, etc) with no hope of survival, he makes sure their last moments are wildly happy and kills them painlessly with no warning.
If we were to regard the life of the average poverty stricken human as being _terrible_, then killing them painlessly and suddenly becomes less abhorrent. Of course, then we need to define criteria for whose lives are of sufficiently bad quality where sudden death is a superior option.
Some nihilists might say all humans satisfy that criteria. Even if you're a wealthy and generally happy person, you will become old and die. If you were suddenly dead at this second with no warning, you would not care - the only downside would be those who remained alive, who presumably would care. Let's recurse until no one cares.
And the universe moves along just the same.
I am not advocating for this at all, but I felt your comment justified some sort of explanation. And I have been thinking about these existential questions quite a bit recently.
ythn|7 years ago
So maybe we should round up all the poor people and gas them to put them out of their misery?
spurcell93|7 years ago
If we were to regard the life of the average poverty stricken human as being _terrible_, then killing them painlessly and suddenly becomes less abhorrent. Of course, then we need to define criteria for whose lives are of sufficiently bad quality where sudden death is a superior option.
Some nihilists might say all humans satisfy that criteria. Even if you're a wealthy and generally happy person, you will become old and die. If you were suddenly dead at this second with no warning, you would not care - the only downside would be those who remained alive, who presumably would care. Let's recurse until no one cares.
And the universe moves along just the same.
I am not advocating for this at all, but I felt your comment justified some sort of explanation. And I have been thinking about these existential questions quite a bit recently.