[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: starship-design: What is safest?



> From: TLG.van.der.Linden@tip.nl (Timothy van der Linden)
> To Zenon,
> 
> >> I'd also not call it suicide, but I could imagine that the last years of
> >> ones life would not be as comfortable as they would be on Earth. Certainly
> >> not for those that survive the mayority of the crew.
> >
> >Certainly. But who says interstellar exploration
> >must be a nice and cosy affair like munching potato chips
> >on the couch before a TV-set?  ;-)
> 
> What? No potato chips... Well you can count me out ;)
> 
Ehem, now you mentioned it, I too have got some second thoughts
on my readines to go... ;-))


> >> Anyhow, this discussion is probably very close to the Earthly discussion
> >> about euthanasia. Clearly there isn't a general concensus about that topic,
> >> so it's no wonder that the discussion about one-way missions becomes a bit
> >> heated every now and then.
> > 
> >Hmm, possibly, though I think your analogy is wrong -
> >I do not see any correspondence between the two
> >(except, possibly, that they both lead to heated discussions...).
> >For that matter I am principally and unconditionally
> >against euthanasia, while I would gladly go for a one-way
> >mission to Alpha Centauri...
> 
> Euthanasia is ending your life prematurely when all that is left is an
> unworthy way of living (ie. with pain, or without a mind).
> Going on a one-way mission means that you likely have to die 
> (or even want to die) before your life becomes unworthy of living.
> 
I rather see that differently, but it would be too much off topic
to discuss it here, I am afraid. Only two remarks:

- I am not against suicide as such (i.e., I can be against it
  as a way of solving the problem [or from, say, religious reasons], 
  but I grant the right of a person to choose such a solution), 
  but I am against suicide assisted by others, for whatever reasons.

- If going on a one-way mission assumes "wanting to die",
  thet it is a suicide mission, not a one-way mission.
  Did the settlers of other continets went there because 
  they wanted to die?

-- Zenon