From: Sasha Chislenko (sasha1@netcom.com)
Date: Wed Apr 07 1999 - 19:47:58 MDT
At 16:42 04/05/99 , Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
Assisted suicide,
>unlike other forms of assistance, closes off the possibility of getting
>confirmation from the service recipient.
I don't see any problem here, there are lots of important decisions where
lives of people are committed - marriage, lifetime commitments to military
or religious careers, not to mention agreements of war and peace where
governments give prior authorization on disposing of many people's lives.
Possibility of mistake in the verification of decisions somehow hasn't
stopped the same government from prohibiting death penalty.
Pressing a button is a symbolic act on the part of the patient - no more
physical or verifiably intentional than saying "doctor, please, could
_you_ press the button". However, a lucid request to the doctor to
administer a large dose of morphine (mixed with heroin or MDMA) and
then press the button can make things much easier for the patient.
Or for a healthy person who for some reason decided that s/he concluded
everything s/he wanted to do in life and considers its continuation
undesirable.
> Legalizing ordinary suicide addresses the only real problem.
I agree, that would be a good start.
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Sasha Chislenko <sasha1@netcom.com>
Home: <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html>
Work: <http://intelligenesis.net>
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