Death

[Hootnow]

Everything we know about the brain aligns with consciousness being a product of the brain. We don't live in our bodies, we are our bodies and our brain is a part of it.

Brain transplants are unlikely to do us any good. There is a theory of a potentially uploading our consciousness into computers at some point in the future. At this point it's very speculative though, so many problems that go beyond the pure engineering problems with this. Is the uploaded consciousness actually "you" or just a copy of you etc.

http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2012/08/06/how-doctors-die/

Incredibly interesting article, one well worth reading.

I am a mature medical student, coming to the end of my training now and even now, I know when the time comes I'd rather just go simply and on my own terms, rather than hooked up to various machines and taking 30 pills a day. Polypharmacy now has become incredible, especially as we strive to start giving medications to stop diseases before they even appear.

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me over the past few years is that medical science has been good at increasing quality of life but much better at increasing quantity of life. I'm unconvinced that our drive to improve life expectancy without similar of increase in QoL alongside is the right thing morally to do but that isn't my decision to make.

 

[braineclipse]

My mums said this to us, and I feel the same way. As soon as I am so old and unwell that I am a burden on the family, do me quickly.

I can't believe that euthanasia is such a polarising topic. For one, it should be nobody else's business whether you choose to go of your own volition.

Agreed. Having the right to choose how and when to go should be a basic human right. Some issues with implementation of course, but whatever those problems are I see them as smaller than the problem of denying people this right.

http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2012/08/06/how-doctors-die/

Incredibly interesting article, one well worth reading.

I am a mature medical student, coming to the end of my training now and even now, I know when the time comes I'd rather just go simply and on my own terms, rather than hooked up to various machines and taking 30 pills a day. Polypharmacy now has become incredible, especially as we strive to start giving medications to stop diseases before they even appear.

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me over the past few years is that medical science has been good at increasing quality of life but much better at increasing quantity of life. I'm unconvinced that our drive to improve life expectancy without similar of increase in QoL alongside is the right thing morally to do but that isn't my decision to make.

It's a very interesting debate. Medical professionals are in a special situation with insight into the actual situation of patients receiving this treatment. And so they're in a situation to make more informed decisions.

Public education on something like this would be really good, but to some extent at least it's up to the individual to make themselves informed. I can see some real problems with a doctor recommending a quality of life over a length of life decision too. It's up to a doctor to present possible treatments and the patient should have a say, but how do you make an informed choice without the education needed to understand the information? What can a medical professional do? Recommend not to receive a potentially life saving treatment? How does the family react to that, would there be a host of law suits that would follow? Tricky tricky situation.

 

[scaramanga]

Is anyone else terrified of death? I'm scared of the concept of just ceasing to be. The idea that I will never be anything again, and just slip away in to darkness.

Whilst I'm aware that my consciousness will stop being, it's still a horrible thought which I can't completely come to terms with accepting. I can't help but think that every day that I live and breathe is one day less before I reach the end of my line in life.

I have some faith in religion but not to the extent that I can switch this fear off. My faith stems from the eco system that surrounds us. The world is both complex, and still somehow simple, to the point that I feel as if the World was created by some being. What was the purpose behind the creation of the World, who knows? Perhaps we are just like bacteria in the Petri dish of this higher power. Perhaps, alternatively, we are being nurtured for something better, who can know?

Anyway, I'm hopeful that this opening post can spark debate, rather than just a tirade of belittling comments but let's see. And in the course of writing this post, I'm another 5 minutes nearer the black void.

Take solace in the fact that you won't "never be anything again".

You will become part of (and please don't take this next bit personally) things far greater than you. Bits of you will, eventually, be part of a star, a comet, a baby, a sandwich (OK, so sandwiches probably won't exist by the time bits of you have recycled into foodstuffs), etc.

Just understanding how incredible, perfect and beautiful that all is makes me feel far better about the fact that I won't be around anymore.

If you want to get a bit huggy and sentimental and less sciency about it all, you can always take the view that for all the time memories exist of you, or your influence has touched people, then you still exist.

 

[braineclipse]

Take solace in the fact that you won't "never be anything again".

You will become part of (and please don't take this next bit personally) things far greater than you. Bits of you will, eventually, be part of a star, a comet, a baby, a sandwich (OK, so sandwiches probably won't exist by the time bits of you have recycled into foodstuffs), etc.

Just understanding how incredible, perfect and beautiful that all is makes me feel far better about the fact that I won't be around anymore.

If you want to get a bit huggy and sentimental and less sciency about it all, you can always take the view that for all the time memories exist of you, or your influence has touched people, then you still exist.

(Not having a go, I have no problems with people taking solace in something like this. Just sharing opinions.)

I take very little solace myself in what will happen to the atoms in my body after I die. I care very little about the atoms in my body. If I have a healing wound and pick off a small piece of scab it's a clump of atoms formerly a part of me just as much as the collection of molecules that will make up my body after I die. I flick the small piece of scab away with about as much consideration as I give to the potential that carbon from me will one day be a piece of a straw of grass or a star for that matter.

Perhaps somewhat narcissistic, but I find the story of how I got here much more interesting.

“The knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on earth - the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars- the high mass ones among them- went unstable in their later years- they collapsed and then exploded- scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy- guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems- stars with orbiting planets. And those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that when I look up at the night sky, and I know that yes we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up- many people feel small, cause their small and the universe is big. But I feel big because my atoms came from those stars.”

― Neil deGrasse Tyson

I identify much more with the last "huggy and sentimental" part in your post. I still feel touched by people that now no longer exist, what they meant to me, experiences we shared, things they did for me and I for them. It doesn't make them immortal, but it means that their influence stretches way past their lifespans.

 

[PochettinoPochettinoPochettino]

Guys,

Morbid subject but this got me thinking (again it hurt), and Im sure ive read this subject on here before sadly when a poster sadly passed away. But is there anything in place to find out when a poster (GHod forbid) passes away? Im not sure we would be able to find out unless we were friends of someone who posted but say, for example, I pass away suddenly, would anyone on here know?

 

[Superhudd]

Guys,

Morbid subject but this got me thinking (again it hurt), and Im sure ive read this subject on here before sadly when a poster sadly passed away. But is there anything in place to find out when a poster (GHod forbid) passes away? Im not sure we would be able to find out unless we were friends of someone who posted but say, for example, I pass away suddenly, would anyone on here know?

Its all in the planning, write a will and such things can be done.

 

[El Guepardo]

I was consumed by this subject; I started to think about time and how it disappears. How there's no controlling the time we have, and that every moment experienced is a moment that we'll never experience again. How, it feels as if time is a rug being pulled slowly from under out feet, until we're left falling in to the abyss.

I'm learning that life is what we make of it, death we can't control. I'm learning greater appreciation of those around me & the good parts of my life. To try to take hold of opportunities, rather than let them go. Life is a diminishing force, and as such, we should try new things, take chances, what's the worst that can happen?

 

[Kingdawson]

This is the most depressing thread ever.

 

[Bullet]

try new things, take chances, what's the worst that can happen?

Well, your wife finds you asphyxiw@nking dressed like a hooker so she slaps you and runs outside, you follow her into the street and slip over in some dog mess and crack your head on the kerb, outside your school reunion and someone is sick on you which fills your unconscious mouth and you choke to death on the vomit of the kid at school voted least likely to succeed.

 

[Yossarian]

Well, your wife finds you asphyxiw@nking dressed like a hooker so she slaps you and runs outside, you follow her into the street and slip over in some dog mess and crack your head on the kerb, outside your school reunion and someone is sick on you which fills your unconscious mouth and you choke to death on the vomit of the kid at school voted least likely to succeed.

Now you're talking!