Gotta love utilitarian moral philosophers, who will do things like declare that their lives are net-negative and all people ought rationally to commit suicide, because this “doesn’t feel as obviously objectionable to me as the other proposed solutions”! :P
(To be extra clear—I am joking, I do in fact love moral philosophers despite their quirks, I don’t think that the answers to these odd population-ethics questions are obvious even though like everyone I have my opinions and gut reactions.)
I think the main arguments against suicide are that it causes your loved ones a lot of harm, and (for some people) there is a lot of uncertainty in the future. Bracketing really horrible torture scenarios, your life is an option with limited downside risk. So if you suspect your life (really the remaining years of your life) is net-negative, rather than commit suicide you should increase variance because you can only stand to benefit.
Gotta love utilitarian moral philosophers, who will do things like declare that their lives are net-negative and all people ought rationally to commit suicide, because this “doesn’t feel as obviously objectionable to me as the other proposed solutions”! :P
(To be extra clear—I am joking, I do in fact love moral philosophers despite their quirks, I don’t think that the answers to these odd population-ethics questions are obvious even though like everyone I have my opinions and gut reactions.)
I think the main arguments against suicide are that it causes your loved ones a lot of harm, and (for some people) there is a lot of uncertainty in the future. Bracketing really horrible torture scenarios, your life is an option with limited downside risk. So if you suspect your life (really the remaining years of your life) is net-negative, rather than commit suicide you should increase variance because you can only stand to benefit.