Poll: Should you be allowed to kill yourself when you reach 40?

[Esotera]

Spoiler: Two assumptions of this thread

- This discussion is unrelated to euthanasia because of terminal illness/pain. Feel free to compare them, but I've deliberately chosen 40 because most people are still healthy at this age..
- There would be rigourous safeguards to prevent mentally ill patients from doing this, and a person would have to wait a year or two to be sure. Again, feel free to discuss practicalities of this.

Iain M. Banks has created a series of novels involving a hyper-advanced civilization called The Culture, who have technology so advanced, that along with a load of other cool things, they are effectively immortal.

Yet in this fictional universe, the majority of characters only have a lifespan of 300-400 years, because despite the unlimited resources & pleasure available to them, they get bored and no longer want to exist. These are people in a perfectly healthy state of mind, and who have enjoyed a long & interesting life - they aren't coerced into it one bit, and the death itself is painless. I feel that we're at a similar point in human civilisation - we work less, have more opportunities for exciting experiences, and have an artifically elongated lifespan. But suicide is almost universally looked down upon.

So the question is, do you believe that you should be able to kill yourself at 40, or any other age, simply because you're bored of existence? Please remember the two assumptions (that the reason the person wants to die is not related to health, and that there are various safeguards in place).

edit: ok means should this be legalised, sorry for any ambiguity.

 

[Blackmagic1515]

My question is, how can you possibly be bored of life at 40? At that point people are still having children and grandchildren. There is so much out there to do in the world, how can you possible have done it all at 40?

I suppose if you really want to kill yourself that's your own choice. But killing yourself because you're bored? Maybe they need to get out and explore more.

 

[Brandon237]

I suppose yes, but it is stupid as hell. When you are bored, go out, give it all up and start / significantly aid a charity organisation. You can FIND something to dedicate your life to, and if you are bored, you have jack-shit to lose, so if it might kill, A-Okay, worth a try right?

Seriously, bad excuse

 

[Lazier Than Thou]

I hate to be a pedantic jerk about this, but you're going to have to describe "ok" to me for me to answer the poll question.

Okay as in legal? Okay as in ethical? Okay as in moral or spiritual?

Legally? I think you should be able to terminate your own life. Your body is your property. It is yours to do with as you will. If a woman can end the life of their unborn child because it's "their body" certainly everyone else should be able to end their own life because it's "their body."

Ethically/spiritually/morally? I think it's wrong to terminate your own life. Your life was given to you by God. By taking your own life you're spitting in the face of God and that's generally not a cool thing to do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm Bi-Polar and, as such, frequently experience suicidal feelings and thoughts. Despite my feelings, though, I think it's wrong. But I also don't think the government should be able to stop you.

Does that make me weird?

 

[Suicidejim]

Maybe move the bar up a bit. 60? Maybe 70. That's the age I've personally set as a suicide point. Although that is strongly related to me aging and my deteriorating health, so perhaps that violates the conditions of this scenario.

If I were to remain relatively healthy, say, staying as healthy as a 30 or 40 year old me, then I don't think I'd commit suicide solely from boredom. Even if it became a factor, there'd probably be a whole bunch of other, more serious, reasons making up the majority of my motivation.

 

[Esotera]

I hate to be a pedantic jerk about this, but you're going to have to describe "ok" to me for me to answer the poll question.

Okay as in legal? Okay as in ethical? Okay as in moral or spiritual?

Legally? I think you should be able to terminate your own life. Your body is your property. It is yours to do with as you will. If a woman can end the life of their unborn child because it's "their body" certainly everyone else should be able to end their own life because it's "their body."

Ethically/spiritually/morally? I think it's wrong to terminate your own life. Your life was given to you by God. By taking your own life you're spitting in the face of God and that's generally not a cool thing to do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm Bi-Polar and, as such, frequently experience suicidal feelings and thoughts. Despite my feelings, though, I think it's wrong. But I also don't think the government should be able to stop you.

Does that make me weird?

Sorry, I meant as in the legal right, I'll append that to the OP now. I feel pretty much the same, but think that if someone has a mental illness, then suicide should be stopped until they are treated to the point where the symptoms are pretty much gone.

My question is, how can you possibly be bored of life at 40? At that point people are still having children and grandchildren. There is so much out there to do in the world, how can you possible have done it all at 40?

I suppose if you really want to kill yourself that's your own choice. But killing yourself because you're bored? Maybe they need to get out and explore more.

Well I didn't necessarily mean 40, more just any age. I set it at 40 as there's no way this can devolve into a flamewar about euthanasia, but get your point. What sort of age would you start to get bored with the world, if at all?

I suppose yes, but it is stupid as hell. When you are bored, go out, give it all up and start / significantly aid a charity organisation. You can FIND something to dedicate your life to, and if you are bored, you have jack-shit to lose, so if it might kill, A-Okay, worth a try right?

Seriously, bad excuse

Fair enough. I'm just wondering how people could stand 80 years of that though, although I suppose it could go quite quickly. Would you feel the same if lifespan was hundreds of years?

 

[Rowan93]

Yes, obviously, it's your life, end of discussion.

That said, I think someone who kills themselves even at age 400 because they're "bored" is completely bugfuck insane. At 1,000, maybe, but four hundred years old? You're not done. You're hardly even started.

 

[Wintermoot]

yes people should be allowed to, 40 is a bit young but the alternative is that people are going to do stupid stuff to kill themselves like jumping in front of a train or jump from a building.

 

[bojackx]

Snip
Ethically/spiritually/morally? I think it's wrong to terminate your own life. Your life was given to you by God. By taking your own life you're spitting in the face of God and that's generally not a cool thing to do.

Even if God did exist, I wouldn't class suicide as "spitting in the face of God". You're forced into your life, and if you're not enjoying it, then how is it rude to your creator if you want to end it?
Surely God's in the wrong by preferring you to live in misery rather than achieve the sweet release of death.

mmm... positive vibes.

 

[Richardplex]

I think it's fairly stupid for it to ever be illegal. It's up to you how to live your life (limits of course being on ability and how much your screwing other people) and it should be up to you if you end it.

 

[SD-Fiend]

I think it's stupid to kill yourself unless your in some serious pain. you wanna die because you're bored? don't see how being dead would be any better.

 

[thylasos]

If you can square it with yourself and how it'll affect the people around you, it's your right to control, and end, your life.

 

[zehydra]

I think it's stupid to kill yourself unless your in some serious pain. you wanna die because you're bored? don't see how being dead would be any better.

Likewise, being dead isn't any better than being in pain, so even when it comes to serious pain it's stupid.

 

[Akytalusia]

this question doesn't make any sense. you can kill yourself at any age. and the ok-ness of it has allways been out of our hands. getting "official sanction" from some equally ignorant third party wouldn't change anything. until we verify the state of post mortem consciousness processing, there's no way to confirm wether or not there's any additional consequences to the event beyond death. right now, it's all hypothesis.

 

[halfeclipse]

Outside of the terminally ill, anyone willing to commit suicide is, by definition, not mentally stable.

So no.

 

[ElPatron]

I think suicide should be prevented.

Not against what people chose to do with their life, but if someone is about to jump from a building the authorities should try to stop the person.

Now, 40 years is too low. Perhaps if you live 300 years it *might* become boring.

I think the biggest motivator for death would be aging. Retaining health would allow you to experience a lot of stuff without stopping, but age really takes a toll on the body.