Honest question, why are people so obsessed with living? I’d want to be euthanized at the first sign of dementia. Just give me like a week to get my affairs in order. It’s bizarre that people would rather exist as mindless husks than die peacefully at a time of their choosing.

Maybe it’s fear. Most humans live and think like animals whose impulse to survive overrides rationality. Or is there another explanation?

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I am an atheist and I do not believe in an afterlife, so I want every single second of life on this planet I can possibly get. I have had a lot of bad things in my life, including ongoing serious health problems. I have been to 10 on the pain scale multiple times. Dementia doesn’t scare me. I understand why some people don’t want to go out that way because it was the way my father went out, but he went out angry because he was an angry man and eventually didn’t even know why he was angry. I certainly understand why Robin Williams chose to end his life because his mind was his gift to the world.

But I’m not like that. I want to be alive as long as I still know what life is.

I want to be alive as long as possible.

Why? I understand that you want your body to remain alive even when your existence has become a burden on everyone else and has no meaning or purpose, but I’m asking you why.

I do not believe in an afterlife, so I want every single second of life on this planet I can possibly get

So if there were an afterlife you wouldn’t want to live a life that wasn’t worth living? I don’t get it.

How do you define a life not worth living? Because I lost the genetic lottery in huge ways-

Does that mean reaching 10 on the pain scale every day for a few years due to a rare nerve disorder? Me.

Does that mean not having any solid food apart from a couple of bites with my mouth completely numbed since last August? Also me.

On top of that, I have type II bipolar disorder and no job.

A lot of people would say that life is not living, especially when it’s this nerve disorder.

But I would say it is.

That’s fine, you are the authority on whether your particular life was worth living. The question is why you would want to live if your personality, character, and memories were gone — if you were a burden on those around you and could no longer engage in self-reflection and abstract reasoning. What would be the point?

Because that isn’t what dementia necessarily is. My father recognized me when he was down to doing child-level jigsaw puzzles and even though he had a much more primitive mind, he was still him in essence, that wasn’t gone. Not everything goes in every case.

Dementia is a spectrum of neuropathology.

Why would you keep your father alive in such an undignified way? Do you hate him? You’re describing him as playing with child-level jigsaw puzzles, meaning he’s a barely sentient zombie who probably can’t wipe his own ass, meaning you pay someone to do that for him, which is a horrifying indignity. Why would you do this?

Would I keep my father alive? No, because he’s not me. I thought we were talking about what I would do with my own life.

And I gave you my answer- I don’t believe in an afterlife, so I don’t want to end my life unless it has to end. It’s not that you’ll never get an answer, it’s that you don’t like the answer you were given.

And I gave you my answer- I don’t believe in an afterlife, so I don’t want to end my life unless it has to end.

WHY???

Because I enjoy living. I’m not sure why that needs to be made clear to you.

This is circular. If you had dementia, you wouldn’t like living, because you’d be a zombie, and even if you did still like living (doubtful), you’d be an enormous burden on those you love.

Yes, again, there is not one type of dementia. Why are you assuming I would only have the kind of dementia where I wasn’t aware I was alive?

And no I wouldn’t be a burden, I’d be in a nursing home as I have already told my family in the event of dementia.

Who is paying for your nursing home??

Do you already have dementia?

I presume you’ve heard of insurance.

Here’s how your answer sounds to me:

“I would rather pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to waste people’s time wiping my ass than help future generations and my loved ones by passing away with my mind still intact at a moment of my choosing.”

So you haven’t heard of insurance?

It sounds like you haven’t heard of insurance. It’s not free. Someone has to pay for it. And afterwards, that money has to be wasted doing exactly what I described.

Ah, I see. Kill myself when I’m old to help the economy.

I think I’ve heard of that somewhere before…

nbcnews.com/…/texas-lt-gov-dan-patrick-suggests-h…

Keeping your mindless body alive helps the economy just fine. What it doesn’t help is your loved ones or hungry children or the rainforest or whatever it is that you care about — which I’m now realizing is nothing. You care about nothing but your own self.

Do explain how my wife and I not paying a small amount a month toward long-term care insurance will help save the rainforest. This should be interesting.

This conversation has convinced me that you already have dementia.

Look, I get that you really want me to commit suicide, but it isn’t going to happen.

Hey, you’re the mindless husk here. I don’t expect you to do anything purposeful. Rationality is for losers amirite?

Insulting me is also not going to get me to commit suicide, sorry.